14 DAY TRIAL // Legendary actor Dennis Hopper is battling advanced prostate cancer, with reports saying a while back that he was dying and so heavily medicated that he couldn’t possibly still be aware of his surroundings. Yet, he filed for divorce, a decision that was admittedly influenced by his family, who wanted to see wife Victoria excluded of the will. As the latest developments show, this is far from the case, as TMZ informs.
A court hearing in the divorce proceedings took place the other day and the Dennis Hopper and his legal representative painted an entirely different picture of his reasons for divorce than his estranged wife Victoria. For one, the actor says that she was literally killing him by putting him under severe stress that made it so much harder for him to cope with his disease as well. The decision to file for divorce had nothing to do with money and cutting Victoria out of what should have rightfully been hers, but rather with Mr. Hopper wanting to be able to fight cancer for a longer period of time.
“Victoria has ‘repeatedly subjected [him] to severe emotional distress.’ According to Dr. David Agus’ declaration, ‘The presence of his estranged wife is hampering Mr. Hopper’s present cancer care...’ Dr. Agus added, ‘It is my belief and recommendation that the less Mr. Hopper has to do with his estranged wife at this time, the more likely he is to have his life extended.’ Dennis is asking the judge for an order keeping Victoria 15 yards away from him and barring her from his residence,” TMZ says.
Dennis Hopper was granted the restraining order, which is to become valid once she’s out of the actor’s house, which should happen on March 11, meaning 60 days after filing for divorce, as the prenup states. As per the document, Victoria is not allowed within 10 feet of the actor of his family and must vacate the property she’s currently living on. During the same court hearing, Mr. Hopper also convinced the judge that he was fit to make his own decisions about his personal life and estate, and was not in any way incapacitated by drugs as his estranged wife was claiming a while back. A prenup was also unveiled and, according to it, Victoria gets almost nothing.
“Dennis keeps all his property – which includes a house and a condo in Venice, a building in New Mexico on 320 acres, land in Arizona and a number of other properties. Dennis keeps his ‘separate property pension and retirement benefits.’ Dennis keeps his huge collection of fine arts worth over $2.5 million, including a $350,000 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Victoria has to move out of his house within 30 days of either party filing for divorce ... but it’s bumped up to 60 days if they have a child together, which they do. And here’s the kicker: Victoria was guaranteed a $250,000 life insurance policy and 25% of everything in his will... but only if they’re married AND living together at the time of his death,” which is not the case, TMZ says.
Should things have worked out between the two, Victoria would have been left with a fortune to the tune of $6.5 million, but that was before she and her mother started to constantly nag the star about how much longer he’d live so she could be left with all this money, as Mr. Hopper told the court.