Domestic abuse accusations: A look at celebrity cases

In a famous 1988 ABC interview with Barbara Walters, Tyson denied he “beat” or “hit” his then-wife, Robin Givens. What he did say was this: “I grabbed my wife and hold my wife, you know what I mean? I shake my wife up. I never totally struck my wife.”

During the same interview Givens shared her experience saying, “He shakes, he pushes, he swings. Sometimes, I think he’s trying to scare me. ... Just recently, I’ve become afraid.”

Three days later police were called to their home, where Tyson had allegedly become enraged and thrown furniture through some windows.

Soon after, the couple separated.   (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

In 1996, Sheen pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of battery with serious bodily injury after he was accused of knocking then-girlfriend Brittany Ashland to the floor.

In 2011, accounts of battery resurfaced with his then-estranged wife Brook Mueller. Mueller alleged Sheen threatened her life and made anti-Semitic comments. A judge granted a temporary restraining order against Sheen. See the restraining order here.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

In her 1997 autobiography “Nickel Dreams,” singer Tanya Tucker alleged that physical abuse was a staple of her brief early ‘80s affair with singer Glen Campbell, when he was 42 and she was 21, with the violence often playing out in front of others.

Here’s what she wrote of one alleged episode: “[F]inally Glen reared back his arm and brought his elbow down in my face, shearing off my two front teeth right at the roots.... I reached my hand up and felt my mouth, and there was a gaping hole where my teeth should have been.... I was without front teeth for a week, and from that time on.”

Although Campbell denied Tucker’s claims and was never prosecuted, he had discussed their stormy relationship in his own autobiography published three years earlier, “Rhinestone Cowboy,” in which he wrote, “We even fought during sex once or twice.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In November 1999, when they were estranged but still married, Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra were both arrested at a Miami hotel on suspicion of battery; charges against the two were dropped the next month. In January 2003, Rodman was arrested in Newport Beach after an unidentified woman accused him of assault. In 2008, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor spousal battery in a different case and was sentenced to a year of counseling and three years’ probation. He was married to Michelle Moyer from May 2003 to 2012.

Terrence Howard was arrested in September 2001 on suspicion of assaulting his then-estranged first wife, Lori McCommas; he ultimately pleaded guilty in 2002 to disorderly conduct. In 2011, his then-estranged second wife, Michelle Ghent, was granted a restraining order against him after she said the actor had repeatedly hit her and threatened her during their marriage. In 2015, Ghent sued Howard in civil court, saying he’d assaulted her in 2013.

Brolin was cited on a misdemeanor domestic-battery charge in December 2004 after his wife, actress Diane Lane, called police during an argument at the couple’s home.

Brolin, the son of actor James Brolin and stepson of Barbra Streisand, was arrested around 3 a.m. and released on $20,000 bail.

Soon after, a spokeswoman for the couple said the incident was a “misunderstanding” and that they had reconciled.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

R&B singer Brown pleaded guilty in June 2009 to assaulting his former girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, in February of that year.

Brown’s lawyers secured a last-minute deal that allowed him to avoid jail time and another public airing of the domestic-violence allegations that had damaged his clean-cut image.

The deal with prosecutors was finalized in the hours before a hearing at which Rihanna was expected to tell a courtroom packed with reporters and fans how Brown bit, punched and choked her after a pre-Grammy Awards party.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Flavor Flav was arrested and later charged with child abuse, assault with a deadly weapon and battery domestic violence in October 2012 after an incident involving his fiancee and her 17-year-old son. The rapper and reality star, whose real name is William Drayton, chased the son with kitchen knives and threatened to kill him after the teen intervened physically in a dispute on his mother’s behalf. Drayton ultimately pleaded guilty in April 2014 to misdemeanor domestic violence. He was sentenced to a year of probation and 12 counseling sessions with his girlfriend’s son.

Paul Simon and wife Edie Brickell were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct in April 2014 after police responded to a 911 hang-up call that came from their property. He reportedly told police that she’d slapped him and he’d shoved her and called 911. In January 2015, after 13 months of good behavior by the couple, the charges were dropped.