Actress Grace Aki alleges domestic abuse in lawsuit against ex-husband
Grace Aki during a performance of her show, ‘To Free a Mockingbird”
According to a Page Six article, actress and Broadway personality, Grace Aki, has filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband, actor Damon Gillespie, alleging that he was abusive towards her during their marriage. Aki’s lawsuit was in response to Gillespie’s own lawsuit claiming her allegations had damaged his reputation and cost him work.
The pair were married in late 2018 but within the year, Aki states that Gillespie started abusing her. According to the Page Six article which quotes Aki’s lawsuit,
“Gillespie verbally harassed, pushed and shoved her, and at one point, abandoned her alone in a foreign country, Aki alleged in the legal papers.
She claims he left their home early in the pandemic, returning without explanation months later. She locked herself in a bedroom to get away from him, according to the suit, and put out a cry for help, telling friends via Instagram that she feared for her safety.
Gillespie allegedly saw her messages and became enraged, forcing her door open so hard it made a hole in the wall, then pulling her out of bed by her leg and threatened her, Aki charged in the litigation.”
Aki, who also serves as co-host of “Today on Broadway” on Broadway Radio, detailed the abuse allegations on her podcast, “Tell Me on Sunday” back in July. She did not name Gillepsie in the episode, which can be listened to below, but did refer to her “husband” as the perpetrator of the abusive behavior.
Gillespie has not commented publicly on the allegations but filed a lawsuit against Aki in Manhattan Supreme Court, claiming her allegations had damaged his reputation and cost him work. It should be noted that after Aki detailed the abuse on her podcast, Gillepsie was cast in the lead role in a regional production of Hair.
Damon Gillepsie in ‘Rise’
“His suit is baseless,” Aki’s lawyer, Valdi Licul, said. “He wants to bring a lawsuit to shut her up.” Licul told Page Six that the intent of a so-called SLAPP(Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) lawsuit is not to score a legal victory, but rather to intimidate and silence critics.
“It is my universal practice that I do not try my cases in the press,” Gillespie’s attorney Richard Altman told Page Six. “Everything I have to say is in the court papers. Neither I nor my client will have any comment.”