“Boomerang” star Robin Givens’ career is on a new roll, but one project she’s “relieved” to be left out of is an upcoming Mike Tyson biopic starring Jamie Foxx.
Givens was married to Tyson in 1988 for eight months and alleged abuse, but says she has been “re-victimized” by the relationship for decades since Tyson has routinely trashed her publicly — from alleging that she took his millions to catching her in bed with Brad Pitt.
“It was a continuation of the abuse,” Givens told us. “I did not get one dime from my marriage. I left with absolutely nothing. I left the house, I wanted my life. I was a young person who made a terrible choice. A bad choice. That continuation and perpetuation of these things that are not true [was like] being punched all over again continuously.”
Givens, 55, was worried enough about her potential portrayal in a Tyson biopic that she sent a cease-and-desist from top lawyer Arthur Aidala, alleging that while she has “attempted to move on, she still finds herself fighting the abusive, demeaning and false accounts of their relationship by Mr. Tyson nearly 35 years later.”
But reps for Tyson, who has denied any abuse claims, told Page Six he has no plans to depict their relationship in his film. “To say the least, it’s a relief,” Givens told us on Friday.
Focusing on her own career, the “Riverdale” star just directed her debut film, “A Murder to Remember,” which was a hit on Lifetime. She already has two more films lined up at the network. “It was my dream to go to work and not go do hair and makeup,” she joked of directing.
She recalled when Oprah Winfrey apologized to her on-the-air in 2009 following a Tyson interview in which he said of Givens, “I truly wanted to sock her, but I didn’t do it,” and the audience laughed. “Oprah apologized [and] even after the show was over, she came back running to my room, saying, ‘When it was happening, I knew I was wrong. I didn’t know what to say.’” Givens added that it’s a bad sign when even, “Oprah was having a hard time.”