Douglas $$-grab sequel Star's lawyer rips ex

By DAREH GREGORIAN
Last Updated: 8:17 AM, April 14, 2011
Posted: 1:43 AM, April 13, 2011

Greed is bad!
Michael Douglas' lawyer yesterday painted his ex-wife as a money-hungry shrew who would stop at nothing to get her hands on more of his cash after she revived her court bid to claim half of his "Wall Street 2" movie income.
"Mrs. Douglas should be ashamed for coming into this court when we have all these budgets cuts and . . . real hardship," attorney Marilyn Chinitz said in response to Diandra Douglas' request that a Manhattan judge reconsider his order that her case be heard in California, where she and the Oscar winner divorced in 2000.




Diandra wants the case heard in New York, where she's been living with her three kids for years -- and where she says the "Fatal Attraction" star is now living, too, despite him having told Judge Matthew Cooper that he lives in Bermuda.
"They said the only reason he was here [last year] was because his wife [Catherine Zeta-Jones] was here on Broadway. He's still here," Diandra's lawyer, Nancy Chemtob, told the judge. "He bought a $5.5 million home in Bedford . . . There are photos almost once a week of him in the New York Post taking his kids to school."
That brought an angry rebuke from Chinitz, who noted that her client had recently fought a public battle with throat cancer.
"Mr. Douglas was cancer-stricken, tragically, and she has the audacity to imply he misled the court," Chinitz said. "He has to stay here . . . His physicians are here."
Chinitz noted that the pictures of him walking his kids to school show him weighing "40 pounds less because he was going to chemotherapy."
Chinitz also suggested that Diandra had gotten enough of Michael's money.
The lawyer noted that Diandra had gotten $45 million in the divorce settlement, "just got another $6 million," and stood to collect another $30 million by selling the ex-couple's former spread in Santa Barbara, Calif.
"That's $75 million and counting," Chinitz said. "We don't have to feel sorry for a woman who's going to sell her house for $30 million on top of everything else she's received."
Chinitz also pointed out to the judge a recent magazine interview with Diandra, in which Diandra declared that if she hadn't lost money in Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, "I probably wouldn't have gone after Michael."
Diandra "shouldn't be wasting this court's precious time," Chinitz said. "She's beaten this horse to the ground."
Chemtob said it was Michael who was tying up the court system by not paying his client half of his royalties for the "Wall Street" sequel.
"Shame on him for not paying what he owes her," Chemtob said. "My client is entitled to her rights. Would anybody else walk away?"
Michael's side maintains Diandra is not due any more cash because while their settlement agreement allows her to get royalties from any spinoffs of movies he did while they were married, "Wall Street 2" was a sequel.
Diandra was in court for the hearing, and afterward shrugged off Chinitz's fireworks.
"I don't feel mudslinging and attacking a single mother is particularly attractive in trying to resolve legal matters," Diandra said. "I've always behaved as a lady, and I always intend to do so in the future."
The judge said he'll rule on her request at a later date.