Search

Entertainment

Ben Vereen Has Been Revealed As A Bigamist

By Amy Feinstein

From the archive: published Sep 8, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.

Sure, celebrity marriages and divorces seem to be more complicated than those of others, but Ben Vereen has perhaps topped even the odd celeb marital situation by being revealed as a bigamist. The story of Ben Vereen’s double dipping is truly strange, and only became public when his first wife filed for Social Security at age 65, and found out that she was still married to Vereen, who went on to marry his second wife. There are additional details that are now public, like the age of the first Mrs. Vereen (Andrea) when she married Ben Vereen in 1965 in Maryland. It turns out that Andrea was 14 and pregnant when she married the 19-year-old Ben Vereen,

Sure, there seems to be different rules for celebrities when it comes to marriage and divorce, but they still don’t get a pass on bigamy. Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert managed to get a very quick, almost instant divorce, and the details were sealed, making people wonder if they pulled some strings, according to the Inquisitr. Questions were raised if Shelton and Lambert had certain politicians break laws in order to get them what they wanted in a hurry.

But PageSix is sharing the long convoluted story of just how crazy things are in the private life of Ben Vereen. Vereen, 69, has in the past been known for his work on Broadway, but it sounds like his private life was interesting too, now that he has been branded a bigamist. Ben Vereen says that he divorced his first wife, Andrea, in the early ’70s, but Andrea was never served papers and a divorce was never filed.

RELATED REPORTS BY INQUISITR

Gwen Stefani Gets Off Easy In Divorce Settlement Despite No Prenup

As Camille Cosby Is Forced To Testify, She Says Bill… – The Inquisitr

Camille Cosby Wins Stay, Delaying Her Deposition Against Bill Cosby

This morning, the long-estranged couple both arrived in a Brooklyn court to take a look at this confusing story. Judge Jeffrey Sunshine heard the whole story, and suggested that the couple try and work this out on their own. He suggested that at this point, they might not want a “stranger in a black robe” to decide the path their lives would take.

Mrs. Andrea Vereen wants her estranged husband to bear the weight of the cost of getting divorced, considering he is a celebrity and she is a Pentecostal minister. Andrea Vereen’s lawyer, Harold Mayerson, made a statement before the court, explaining what has gone on during the last 50 years.

“This case fundamentally raises the issue of more than a 50-year marriage. She raised their child and deserves to benefit from the success of Mr. Vereen, a well-known singer and dancer. Mr. Vereen ‘married’ another woman in LA. He lived with her. He had children with her. He supported her. And he divorced her.”

Ben Vereen was under the impression that he married Nancy Bruner in 1976, but that marriage seems to have been made void by the lack of a divorce from Andrea Vereen,

Andrea Vereen’s lawyer made the point that since the couple didn’t divorce, Ben Vereen’s “California marriage” doesn’t exist. Ben Vereen was under the impression that he divorced Nancy in 2012. After leaving the court, both Andrea and Ben Vereen declined to comment, and Ben Vereen’s lawyer asked for privacy until the details could be worked out.

“This is a personal matter, and nothing has been proven yet.”

Ben Vereen is best known for his work in Pippin, Roots, and in many other shows and films, including a regular spot on How I Met Your Mother.

How do you think Ben Vereen’s bigamy situation should be worked out?

Latest from Inquisitr

Front page