A Disputed Love Match

By Bennett H. Beach

Her ex-secretary serves up a "galimony "suit to Billie Jean King

There is nothing new in tales of sexual shenanigans between a secretary and her boss. But when one such story came to light last week in Los Angeles court papers, it set off shock waves of publicity. With good reason: both parties are women, the spurned secretary is seeking financial support even though her former employer was and is married, and the ex-boss is Tennis Star Billie Jean King.

The biggest shock of all was that King, after first issuing a general denial, called a press conference at week's end and admitted having a lesbian affair with the woman, Marilyn Barnett, 32, a former Beverly Hills hairdresser who in 1973 became her employee, travel companion and confidante. "I made a mistake," said King. "It's been over for quite some time." Despite their intimacy, however, King emphatically rejected Barnett's financial claim and indicated that she would fight the lawsuit. Quite apart from the impact that the case may have on the law, lesbians and the litigants, it clearly carries dangerous topspin for the image-conscious women's tennis circuit.

Barnett's suit is the strangest application yet of the "palimony" doctrine established by the California Supreme Court in a 1976 decision involving Actor Lee Marvin and Michelle Triola Marvin, his former live-in lover. Barnett charges that King promised to provide for all her "financial support and needs for the rest of her life in the same style and manner commensurate with the life-style of King." The suit also contends that King and her sports promoter husband Larry, whom she married in 1965, purchased a $200,000 Malibu beach house for Bar nett's use and promised to deed it to her eventually. During the mid-1970s, many of Barnett's duties were phased out, and in 1979, she says, the Kings ordered her out of the house. Barnett, however, has refused to leave.

The palimony doctrine provides that cohabitants who split up must abide by any prior agreements on how to apportion income and property. The contract is enforceable even if it is simply oral, and in certain cases it need be no more than a pattern of conduct that implies such an agreement. Other homosexuals have sued under this theory, though none of those suits have gone to trial. The novelty of Barnett's action is that she is seeking support from someone who is married and presumably owes her first obligation to her husband. If Barnett succeeds, it could open the door for similar suits by paramours and gigolos. Barnett's attorney, Joel Ladin, says she will back up her claim with more than 100 letters from King, joint credit-card records, and evidence that the tennis star routinely gave her blank checks. She is asking for title to the Malibu house and half of King's income from 1973 to 1979, which is estimated at more than $1 million.

Admitting to the affair was not easy for King. "I had to say it," she said. "You have to live with yourself." Larry kept an arm around her during the press conference and said the episode had not affected his love for her. In turn, Billie Jean said of him: "He's my husband, my lover and best friend."

The Kings' comments about Barnett were sorrowful rather than angry. Ear lier in the week, King had suggested that the former secretary had been "in and out of institutions" and had attempted suicide. Barnett was, in fact, listed on Los Angeles County fire department logs for a "possible suicide attempt" last October, after she was found lying, with a broken back, on the beach 30 ft. below the balcony of the stilt-supported Malibu home.

The incident left her paralyzed below the waist and confined to a wheelchair.

Charges Attorney Ladin: "The Kings brought this up to avoid the issues and merits of the case."

Whatever the legal outcome, the effect on King and her sport could be serious. At her press conference, held at a hotel adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport, the 20-time Wimbledon winner said of her fans: "I hope they will respond with compassion and understanding." No doubt many will. But no one can predict the response of the TV networks whose broadcasts King appears on, and the companies that sponsor tournaments she plays in or whose products she endorses. If they decide that she has been tainted and cancel her contracts, she could lose much of her standing in the tennis world and much of her income.

Beyond that, people on the tennis circuit fear that the case could lead to a series of stories about players' sex lives.

It is no secret that all professional sports, male and female, have a certain incidence of homosexuality. In women's tennis, rumors have swirled around several stars, including King, but until now have rarely got into print. The sport has long struggled to achieve relative parity with men's tennis in prestige and purses, and King has been a leader and a symbol of its progress. It would be sad irony if her imbroglio now precipitated its decline. --By BennettH. Beach. Reported by Benjamin W. Cate/Los Angeles

With reporting by Benjamin W. Cate

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