The former husband of David Geffen sued the entertainment mogul on Tuesday for breach of contract, alleging that his much-older ex ensnared him in a years-long web of exploitation after shopping for a “vulnerable” partner online, then “masquerading as a white knight while hiding behind wealth, philanthropy and fame.”
The 82-year-old mogul filed for divorce from the plaintiff, 32-year-old Donovan Armstrong, in May, citing irreconcilable differences after two years of marriage. The couple reportedly did not have a prenuptial agreement.
Messages sent to the lawfirm of Laura Wasser, Geffen’s divorce attorney, were not immediately returned Tuesday.
In the document, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Michaels says he was a “young vulnerable black man, orphaned as a toddler” who wound up in foster care at 18 months old.
The lawsuit says the couple met via the website Seekingarrangements.com, where Geffen “learned of Michaels’ troubled past — his history of neglect, poverty, instability and legal entanglements. Rather than respond with empathy or offer genuine support, Geffen saw Michaels as an object of exploitation: a young, attractive and gay black man whose trauma could be weaponized for Geffen’s personal gratification and public image.”
“For years, Michaels gave everything – his body, his love, his labor, his youth. Unfortunately, Michaels could not take the abuse from Geffen, nor keep up with Geffen’s proclivities, and suffered from addiction,” the lawsuit states. It adds that he entered a 12-step program and “wanted a clean slate on both sides.”
Michaels said he sought to create an independent identity – “one where he and Geffen could stand shoulder-to-shoulder as equals, in a relationship free from power dynamics and imbalances as he had grown accustomed to.” But that caused problems in the relationship, and after Michaels no longer fit the “carefully curated narrative Geffen had created for his social world,” Geffen cut him off.
“In short, Geffen discarded him just as easily as he had acquired him,” the document states.
Michaels said he first met Geffen in 2016, and was “awestruck” by the then 73-year-old mogul’s background and successful demeanor, and accepted $10,000 for sex. From there, the lawsuit states, Geffen groomed him “into both a private sexual object and a public prop – a symbol of Geffen’s self-proclaimed altruism to impress his powerful network,” taking him around the world as his “paid sex worker.”
Geffen demanded demeaning sex acts, plied him with drugs, alcohol and coercion, the lawsuit said. But sometime during the COVID pandemic, Geffen approached Michaels about transitioning from this paid arrangement – the mogul asked him to forego his modeling career and career ambitions, becoming his full-time domestic partner and emotional support in exchange for an equal share in his estimated $9 billion fortune.
This arrangement went on peacefully for years, and in March 2023, they were legally married.
“In truth, it was a psychological trap,” the lawsuit says.
By June, as the relationship was unraveling and Geffen was aboard his yacht in Venice, Italy, preparing to attend the Jeff Bezos wedding, he demanded that Michaels vacate their New York City residence, “effectively rendering him homeless” and, with no financial support, unable to meet his daily needs.
The lawsuit demands unspecified compensatory and other damages “to be proved at trial,” as well as attorneys’ fees and other costs. Though Michaels’ lawsuit does not give a target number, it suggests he is entitled to half of the value of their shared property and wealth accumulated during their time together.
