In May, David Geffen filed for divorce from his much-younger husband. Geffen is 82 years old and a billionaire. His husband is 32 and never signed a prenup. Predictably, the divorce was messy from the start, as Donovan Michaels (the young husband) wanted Geffen to pay spousal support and perhaps offer some kind of settlement. Bizarrely, Geffen seemed to put up a fight over simply paying off Donovan and making him sign a NDA. I mean, this is pretty standard in these elite circles, correct? You don’t want the bad publicity, you don’t want your sex-worker-turned-husband to start spilling his intimate gossip. In July, Donovan sued Geffen for breach of contract and he alleged all kinds of unsettling things about Geffen. Well, that probably worked. Now Donovan has filed to dismiss the lawsuit and it looks like everything is finally going to be settled quietly and out of court.
Donovan Michaels has dropped a civil lawsuit against his estranged husband David Geffen for an alleged breach of contract. On Friday, Oct. 17, the former dancer, 32, filed to dismiss a lawsuit against the billionaire and former record executive, 82, “without prejudice” in the Los Angeles Superior Court, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.
Lawyers for Michaels and Geffen did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. In the lawsuit, which was filed in July, Michaels (who also goes by David Armstrong), sued Geffen for failing to provide “lifelong support” amid their ongoing divorce. Per the complaint, Michaels claimed that after they separated, Geffen was in “breach of express oral contract” and “breach of implied contract” for “denying” him “full financial support.”
Michaels’ lawyers also claimed in the complaint that Geffen evicted Michaels and “cut him off from his status quo financial support.”
At the time, Geffen’s lawyer Patty Glaser told PEOPLE that “there was no contract—express, written, oral, or implied—that has ever existed.” She continued, “We will be vigorously and righteously defending against this false, pathetic lawsuit.”
Geffen filed for divorce from Michaels on May 16 after less than two years of marriage, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their split. Their separation date was listed as Feb. 22, 2025. Per the filing, the former couple did not sign a prenup before marrying in March 2023.
According to the May filing, Geffen — whose net worth may be around $8.7 billion, per Forbes — was willing to pay Michaels spousal support, as well as his attorney fees. Then, on May 27, Michaels filed a formal request for spousal support, attorney’s fees “all other relief the Court deems just and proper,” according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.
What’s crazy to me is… why not just handle it this way from the start? Obviously Geffen is the one who was done with Donovan, that’s why Geffen filed for divorce in the first place. But he was still with Donovan for years and they were legally married. Why not just offer Donovan an immediate settlement, make him sign an NDA and then enjoy the rest of your 82-year-old life? Why drag it out for months and give Donovan the chance to air out some of your very dirty laundry? I truly hope Donovan is getting a really nice settlement and he has enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
