Alan Thicke Family Feud Heats Up: Actor’s Widow Accuses Sons of Media Smear-Job

Tanya Callau Thicke says Robin and Brennan Thicke filed a petition with the sole purpose of making her look bad in the press

Alan and Tanya Thicke
Getty Images

Here’s a family squabble that was never depicted on “Growing Pains.”

Alan Thicke’s widow has fired back at the deceased actor’s sons Robin and Brennan Thicke, accusing them of smearing her in the press.

In legal papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Tanya Callau Thicke accuses Robin and Brennan of filing an unnecessary, misleading petition for the purpose of making her look bad in the media.

“A read of this pointless and unnecessary petition also clearly shows it is written for the press, not this Court,” the filing reads. “Now that the Co-Trustees have had their chance to smear Tanya in the tabloids, whose only crime was loving Alan with everything she had for 17 years, it is time to dismiss this petition, because it is preemptive of nothing.”

Tanya accuses the Thickes of leaking the petition to the press simultaneous to filing it, to create the impression that she was contesting the prenuptial agreement she signed with the “Growing Pains” star, when in fact she has never attempted to do so.

“In addition to the fact that Alan’s sons chose to smear Tanya in the press claiming that she had the nerve to challenge the prenup, even though she never did so, they also falsely claim that Tanya threatened to go to the tabloids,” the filing reads. “The exact opposite is the truth, which is all that Tanya will say since none of this should have appeared in any court filing (again, intended for the press, rather than the court).”

Though Tanya says the “ridiculous” prenup contains a “fraudulent statement” and has “many other problems,” she nonetheless intends to abide by it, and she wants the sons’ petition tossed.

In May, Robin and Brennan Thicke, the co-trustees of their father’s living trust, filed explosive legal papers, claiming that Tanya threatened them with bad publicity in order to strong-arm them into ceding a bigger chunk of Thicke’s estate to her.

In the papers, the Thickes say that their father amassed most of his assets prior to marrying Tanya in 2005, and that she signed a prenup prior to the union.

The papers assert that Thicke “generously provided” for his children and Tanya, the actor’s third wife. According to the petition, Thicke left Tanya all of the furnishings from his Carpinteria, California, ranch, as well as 25 percent of his personal effects, a $500,000 life insurance policy, all of his death benefits from his pensions and union memberships and a 40 percent of his remaining estate.

Thicke also said that Tanya could live at the ranch, provided she maintain the property and covered expenses, according to the papers.

However, a petition filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday asserts that Tanya now claims that her prenuptial agreement with Thicke is invalid, and that she’s resorting to “avarice and overreaching.”

Thicke died in December 2016 at age 69, after collapsing while playing hockey with his son Carter.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

Comments