HOLLYWOOD PAIR'S BITTER WAR OF WORDS

AS he films his new role as Harry Potter's kindly godfather, Gary Oldman may have thought he'd finally shaken off his bad boy image. But his off-screen life will come under the spotlight next month when he faces a court showdown over claims that he is unfit to be a real-life father. Gary's ex-wife Donya Fiorentino will tell a judge the former Hannibal star is a drunken bully who accidentally burned their four-year-old son Charlie with a cigarette and failed to notice he had a broken foot.
They make up part of a series of extraordinary allegations - which Gary vehemently denies - in court documents she has filed in their bitter divorce battle. The marriage breakdown has now degenerated into a bitter feud that has stunned Hollywood. Donya claims London-born Gary is back on drink and drugs - and even sent Charlie and brother Oliver, five, to visit her with painkillers stashed in their overnight bags. Gary, 45, will have to break off filming his role as Sirius Black in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban - due for release next year - to fight for continuing custody of the boys in a special video link from Britain to Los Angeles. And Donya's family is right behind her. Her mother Velma said: "Gary is a male chauvinist who is so wrapped up in his work that he doesn't give a damn about anyone else, including his sons. He spends £7,000 a month on an army of nannies to look after the boys - but he still didn't see that Charlie was hurt. "Donya told me that Charlie recently arrived at Donya's house with a really bad limp. Charlie could barely stand, so Donya took him to hospital. It turned out he'd fallen off a swing five days earlier and broken a bone in his foot. But no-one even noticed he was hurt."
Former model Donya, 36 - who was seduced by Miami Vice star Don Johnson at 16 and lived with Wham! star Andrew Ridgely - is legally banned from talking about her four-year marriage to Oldman, which ended in 2001. But Velma said: "He can't shut me up, too. I have to stick up for Donya and the children. Donya said Gary was reeking of alcohol when he dropped the boys off. "The boys said Gary had peed in the fireplace, fallen off the sofa and, on another occasion, accidentally burned Charlie's neck with his cigarette. Donya said she also found prescription painkillers stashed in the boys' overnight bags. They were all made out to his pseudonym Gary Mandlo with his address and date of birth on them." Oldman is the younger brother of actress Laila Morse who plays Mo Slater in EastEnders. He has previously been married to Uma Thurman and British actress Lesley Manville and won custody of Charlie and Gulliver during the divorce because Donya was then taking cocaine. Now she vows she is drug-free and is suing to get the boys back. Her sister Kiki, a 40-year-old nurse, said: "Donya would be the first to admit that, at the time, he was the better parent. But Donya has been sober for two years now and her whole life revolves around the children. Whereas Gary is always away filming. He is hardly ever there and the boys are left with the nannies all the time. Gary is a control freak."
Donya launched her custody bid by filing an affidavit in Los Angeles about Oldman's behaviour. She claims he confessed to going on weekend benders in New York, running up £13,000 on hotel rooms, drink, drugs and prostitutes. She also claims he has recently resumed using drink and drugs - and is demanding that the doctors prescribing him pills are ordered to give evidence. Donya claims in the court papers: "He is trying to destroy me, but the real people he is hurting are his little boys."
Donya met Oldman, who shot to fame playing heroin-addict Sex Pistol Sid Vicious in the cult movie Sid And Nancy, when they were both patients in an LA drug rehabilitation clinic. Velma said: "He's a surprisingly funny guy. He charmed us all. And I got on so well with his mother that we used to write to each other regularly." No one was happier than Velma when the couple phoned from a Los Angeles hotel in February, 1997 to say they had married only five months after their first meeting. But the court papers accuse Oldman of strutting around like a football thug with his stomach sticking out - and screaming at her while just inches from her face.
Kiki said: "Donya said that Gary was abusing her from the start. She kept hoping things would improve. But she said he was so wrapped up in himself that he wouldn't have noticed if Donya fell from a 10-storey balcony. "She said that on one occasion Gary was holding Gulliver when he started picking on her, goading her to hit him. She told me Gary got into her face and started butting her.
She was terrified and grabbed the phone to call police. Donya said he snatched the receiver and smashed her in the face with it three or four times. He grabbed her round the throat and squeezed. She said she was covered in red welts and bruises. After the police arrived, Donya refused to press charges. "Gary sends Donya vile faxes strewn with four-letter words and punishes her by threatening to cut off her alimony."
As the marriage unravelled two years ago Donya briefly fell off the wagon - snorting cocaine and dulling pain from a car accident with pills. She was rushed to hospital, prompting Oldman to go to court to get custody of the boys. She was later allowed to have the boys to stay every other weekend, but only if there was a nanny present. Kiki said: "The boys have been terribly damaged. If Donya leaves their side for even a minute they scream. Gulliver constantly says, 'Don't go mummy, I need you, I need you'. They cling to her all the time and insist on sleeping in her bed." Donya's family witnessed the children's heartbreak first-hand on a rare summer holiday in the Florida Keys this month. They claim Oldman allows the boys only one break a year with their maternal grandparents. Kiki said: "Gary had a good go at trying to ruin the holiday for everyone. He was demanding to speak on the phone to the boys every two days. But mobile phones don't work well in the Florida Keys and he went berserk when he was not able to get through. "He's threatening Donya with more court action, yet when he has the boys he won't let her talk to them for up to a week." Donya, who once earned £20,000 a day as a model, has the auto-immune disease lupus and a rare form of rheumatism. Without medication she can barely walk.
Kiki claims: "Gary saw Donya as the womb to carry his children. She said that when eight months pregnant with Charlie she had a lupus flare-up. Gary screamed at her, 'My Mum raised three children, so why can't you'." Oldman claims he is now sober - but Kiki says he has so far declined to take a drink and drugs test. Kiki added: "He admits he was drunk for 20 years. He claims to have been clean and sober since marrying Donya in 1997, but six weeks ago she said he turned up at her house dishevelled and reeking of alcohol." Donya, now a photographer, lives in a rented home in Hollywood and will represent herself in court. Oldman still lives in their former home, which is for sale for £1.8million. He has teamed up with Donya's first husband David Fincher, 39, for the court case. Fincher, who directed the Brad Pitt movies Fight Club and Seven, has been awarded custody of his and Donya's nine-year-old daughter Phelix.
Oldman rejects the allegations completely. He recently celebrated his seventh year of sobriety. His manager Douglas Urvanski said: "All the allegations are false. Donya is a disturbed individual. The court appointed professionals who evaluated her last year said she was a pathological liar. Gary feels like he is in purgatory. I am the godfather of his boys and it is a terrible thing to watch what he goes through with Donya. He tries so hard to be a good dad and to be sober. "Where is her evidence that Gary was drunk? Where are the police and medical reports about the cigarette burns and other injuries? Donya says Gary beat her with a phone receiver. We have witnesses who will say they saw Donya applying make-up to look like bruises and then saw it wash off in a swimming pool. "Donya is the one who drank and took pills. Gary is a wonderful father who coaches the school soccer team. The boys are lovely, well-kept and preciously cared for by Gary, his mum and his sisters."

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Mirror Press