Well, at least the show can now be known for being more than a bizarre footnote in Jerry Seinfeld’s career.
Howie Kohlenberg, who along with his wife Christine, appeared on the debut episode of The Marriage Ref, is claiming that the program is the reason their 14-year marriage ended.
He alleges that she ditched him and their 4½-year-old son to try and become a celebrity, by taking part in a Real Housewives-esque reality show. And it never rains but pours: Kohlenberg said he also went bankrupt and is facing eviction. “Jerry, Mr. Billionaire, I blame. And his show,” he said.
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Kohlenberg’s reason for taking part in the co-created Seinfeld show was to generate some much-needed publicity for their now-defunct Midtown Manhattan spa. Instead, he claims, the show’s producers wanted the star panel of Seinfeld, Eva Longoria and Tina Fey to try a different tactic.
“Our arguments were always over the business, but the argument they [producers] wanted was that I took my wedding ring off when I played basketball,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily a true angle because she really didn’t care if I took it off or not.”
The 47-year-old Kohlenberg continued with a flurry of further remarks. “You’re going to wake up and be stars. You’re going to be famous and make money,” is his allegation of what Christine was told by the staff. This in turn led to her, “getting this huge head. She wants to do Playboy. We almost got kicked off the show because she was putting racy photos on Facebook. I’m not saying our marriage was perfect, but it put it in a whole new direction. It was the nail in the coffin.”
Since the show aired, according to Kohlenberg, Christine went to Los Angeles, playing a pool girl in the indie comedy Chakra Love, where she met a producer from Canada and lived with him. Most recently, she’s taken part in a New York-based reality pilot, Shopaholics.
As for some reaction from the accused, a publicist for Seinfeld simply said, “We are going to respectfully decline comment.” (via New York Post)
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