14 DAY TRIAL // Bill O’Reilly and his wife of 15 years, Maureen McPhilmy, were separated in 2010 and divorced one year later. After 2 more years, what turned out to be a specifically nasty custody battle ended, with the judge granting sole custody to the mother.
Gawker has uncovered more details of the case, starting with the accusation that O’Reilly beat up his now-ex-wife in front of his daughter, when he thought she wasn’t around to see him do it.
Court documents reveal domestic abuse incident
Between the separation date and the date when the custody case was settled, and even before the separation, O’Reilly treated his family members in the worst manner possible, particularly McPhilmy, the report notes.
Even worse, he was also physically violent towards her, with one argument turning brutal and ending with him dragging her down the stairs by the neck, at their Manhasset home. According to Gawker, the daughter, who was a teen at the time, told a court-appointed forensic examiner that she had witnessed the scene.
No timeline is offered for the alleged incident, but the publication assumes it took place shortly before the couple’s separation. The daughter talked about it just recently, presumably a year or so ago, as the custody battle raged on. The forensic examiner testified about it in a closed hearing.
For what it’s worth, O’Reilly is denying the allegations made against him, saying in a statement, “All allegations against me in these circumstances are 100% false. I am going to respect the court-mandated confidentiality put in place to protect my children and will not comment any further.”
A very bitter divorce and custody battle
O’Reilly and McPhilmy were married for 15 years, as noted above. Serious trouble began when the Fox News star found out that, after their separation, McPhilmy started dating a police officer from the Nassau County Police.
Admittedly, he pulled all the strings he could and he set out to have the man fired, forcing the department to launch an internal investigation on him, thus wasting taxpayers’ money and important departmental resources.
After the divorce became final, the two were granted joint custody, but O’Reilly was caught hiring the court-appointed therapist as his nanny, and pretty much dropping all his parental responsibilities on her. The therapist was supposed to act as counselor for the both of them. When word of this got out, the judge ruled that McPhilmy should get full custody.
O’Reilly also tried to have the marriage annulled at one point during the divorce proceedings, and when that failed, he attempted to have his soon-to-be-ex excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.