Pauley Perrette, Francis Shivers and yellow media
I don’t pay much attention to celebrity gossip. Indeed, I take a perverse sort of pride in no longer recognizing most of the names on the magazine covers in checkout lines at grocery stores. I rarely even watch TV anymore, having lost all faith in the networks after ABC cancelled The Unusuals (don’t get me started.) However there is one show I have watched pretty faithfully until recently – CBS’s NCIS.
The plots range from tolerable to good, the chemistry between the characters is compelling, and the characters themselves are delightful. Especially Abby Sciuto, the funky, brilliant Goth Girl in the lab. I know people who call NCIS “The Abby Show.” Everybody loves Abby, and Pauley Perrette, the actress who portrays her with such likability, comes off as charming and fun. In public at least.
It appears that Ms. Perrette has a darker side, one that has exposed itself in her failed marriage to musician Francis “Coyote” Shivers, which has become a protracted drama and media event of its own.
On March 24, the New York Post published an article strongly suggesting that Pauley Perrette is not all sweetness and light.
[Perrette's] ex-husband says he broke up with the 43-year-old “NCIS” star after she slept with the pizza deliveryman, according to a court document.
Now, he claims, she’s living the plot of an unsold film script she wrote and framing him with cops. He faces possible jail time this week for violating a restraining order.
This article, by Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein, stands in stark contrast to Pauley Perrette’s numerous dramatic accusations against her ex-husband. Ms. Perrette publicized those accusations back in September 2006, with the assistance of then Fox News writer Roger Friedman, who also published a follow-up article this past week, on the Showbiz 411 site. He is apparently still sympathetic to Perrette’s “plight.”
Before I show you Friedman’s articles, allow me to provide a glimpse into his ethics. I’m no fan of Fox News, but some days they get it right over there. Back in 2009, Fox fired the gossip columnist, officially citing his review of a pirated copy of ”X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” There was also talk of homophobia on the part of Fox, and of Friedman’s laxity regarding “fact checking.”
Roger Friedman was fired from Fox for unethical journalism, and it appears that the absence of fact checking didn’t just affect the work for which Fox gave him the boot. His hit piece on Francis Shivers is another example.
So let us take a closer look at the brand of journalism Friedman practices.
Let me start by saying I’m not here to paint Francis “Coyote” Shivers as some kind of saint. He’s not a hero. He’s not a superstar. He’s a second tier musician who has managed to remain in “the business” for many years, which indicates competence and talent. He doesn’t just have a documented weakness for predatory, mentally unbalanced women; he marries them. As I said, Shivers is hardly a hero, but to those who know him, Roger Friedman’s portrayal of him as a predator is ludicrous at best.
I’ll do a bit of “fact checking” for Friedman, since he won’t do it for himself; I have somesources. From his Fox News article:
Abby is known for her high level of intelligence and playful energy, but in real life, the actress who plays her has been going through hell.
Citation, Please? Oh. Here’s one from Blair Barnette, who served Pauley Perette divorce papers on behalf of Francis Shivers, and who knew both of them.
She asserted that Perrette was harassing him, by “ filing a restraining order against Mr. Shivers, despite her own story that the only time she had seen him in about six months was when she was entering his residence unannounced in the middle of the night.” This is from Blair Barnette’s Declaration in lieu of live testimony, executed February 4, 2007. *
Golly, who is “stalking” whom? This and other court documents would suggest that perhaps Ms. Perrette, who herself has a very high level of intelligence, was not so much “going through hell,” as in fact putting Mr. Shivers through hell.
More from Friedman’s article:
Shivers [...] didn’t start his reign of terror with Perrette. His second-most recent ex-wife, Bebe Buell, who lives in Maine, has been inundated with a mountain of false police reports, invented complaints and restraining orders for years…
This paragraph is far more telling than Friedman lets on. You see, one of Friedman’s primary sources for his story is Shivers’ ex-wife Bebe Buell, who is also an “ex” of Steven Tyler and mother of Liv Tyler, as well as a renowned drug addled
groupie rock music fan. According to Pauley herself, as stated in court documents, Buell is the one who initiated and pursued much of the court harassment that went on for years.
Oh, and look, Mr. Friedman, I have a source! It is the Declaration of Pauley Perrett 08-19-2001, written and signed by the star herself!
Here are some select quotes for anyone with a short attention span:
Since Mr. Shivers and I met, we have had to deal with the continued harassment by his ex, Bebe Buell. Over the last three years, she has called repeatedly, followed us or had us followed, called and harassed our friends, has continuously and hatefully slandered us both in phone calls, letters, in public and in the press. She has blatantly lied in her signed statement to the court. We have hard proof of all of this…
And how is this?
She has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and occasionally takes medication for this. We are constantly afraid of the times when she does not control herself, and we and others become the victims of her obsessions and her compulsions.
Or this?
[...]because she tracks my whereabouts and has said that she has me followed, and with her history of attacking other women, I do not feel safe going (to New York) and would very much like to, without the threat of her confronting me.
And…
Ms. Buell states in her book that her obsession with him ‘will never, ever be over – never.’”
And yet now, by all appearances Pauley and Bebe are BFFs. Hmmm.
Mr. Friedman continues his masterpiece of sound, ethical journalism with this little gem, a quote from Bebe Buell:
“’Instead he found Pauley,’ Buell says, ‘His next meal ticket.’”
Really? A thirty-one year old, underemployed actress/waitress (which she was at the time) with a resume full of bit parts and commercials is a “meal ticket?” Mr. Friedman (Remember: professional journalist) did not see fit to verify or even question that statement. Oddly though, in the declaration I quoted above, Pauley Perrette emphasizes her and Shivers’ modest financial means, more than once. Perhaps Friedman, the little worm, didn’t read it.
It gets better. (Like you didn’t know it would.) More from the article:
According to both women, Shivers stalked them and inflicted upon each of them endless mental distress. They each claim he terrorized them sexually during their respective relationships. When they compared notes, Buell and Perrette found that their situations, in fact, were eerily the same.
Friedman reports this as if he believes it; as though he did not even question how Perrette and Buell went from victim and stalker, respectively, to teammates waging a coordinated attack on Shivers.
There are more people who have reason to question Perrette’s credibility. Here are excerpts from the Declaration of Lisa Lynch (September 17, 2006)*** a friend so close, she and Perrette have matching tattoos:
After reading some of the Declarations filed with this court, I can say confidently that not only does Ms. Perrette make numerous false statements in her Declarations, but that I am certain she has made these false statements knowingly and willfully.
[...]I have been present when Ms. Perrette has broke up with lovers in her past, and I can say that she has a history of vindictive behavior towards them…Ms. Perrette filled out the paperwork for a Restraining Order in retaliation.
[...]I lived with Ms. Perrette and Mr. Rivas at the time…There was absolutely NO fear of him on the part of Ms. Perrette, and the Restraining Order paperwork she filled out was for the sole expressed purpose of manipulating the court…
[...]Ms. Perrette also made a point of using the supposed Restraining Order to tarnish the reputation of Mr. Rivas…
[...]I was also around when Ms. Perrette broke up with (another man)…and noticed a similar pattern…I never understood why she felt the need to be so vindictive.
[...]I have read Ms. Perrette’s Declarations concerning Restraining Orders against Bebe Buell and I can confidently state that she has misrepresented the situation. It was not Mr. Shivers who was instigating getting Restraining Orders against Ms. Buell, rather it was Ms. Perrette who was eager to file such paperwork. I recall one time when Ms. Buell harassed me at my work, and Ms. Perrette’s response was to be excited about the incident because ‘now we have something on her.’
[Perrette’s] behavior can be very vindictive, manipulative, victimizing, destructive, untruthful, morally wrong, and in my opinion obsessive.
I suppose that Friedman forgot to interview Lynch for his hit piece on Shivers.
Then there is the Declaration of Jason Fishbein, an attorney and former private investigator, at one time another very close friend of Ms. Perrette, and now, oddly enough, not such a close friend any more. (February 5, 2007.)**** Mr. Fishbein stated:
I have witnessed Ms. Perrette’s representation of various facts as she told to me in the past, which do not match the way she has represented those same things to the court during her divorce proceedings.
Now, what was that line from Friedman’s article again?
“When they compared notes, Buell and Perrette found that their situations, in fact, were eerily the same.”
Imagine that; Pauley Perrette and Bebe Buell do have quite a bit in common, don’t they? It appears that they are both highly skilled in the art of lying, using courts and slimy, supplicating little douchebag journalists to wage vendettas.
Friedman goes on at length from there, in a manner that would do William Randolph Hearst proud. He (somehow) dredges up another of Shivers’ exes:
In July, one of Shivers’ former girlfriends, Angela Garber, filed a complaint against him in Los Angeles Superior Court for assault, battery, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Of course she didn’t file a complaint until two years after the alleged incidents (odd timing, that) and apparently the police didn’t take the case. Friedman doesn’t mention that Ms. Garber continued her relationship with Shivers for months, even though the first “assault,” a brutal kidnap and rape no less, occurred within a week of their meeting.
Friedman also doesn’t mention that Pauley Perrette is rumored to have paid all of Garber’s legal expenses, and has hired her as some sort of assistant. Nor does he mention that Garber’s allegations against Shivers were part of what Perrette used to obtain a restraining order on him, and that once that restraining order was obtained, Garber dropped her case against Shivers.
Okay, now take a look at this. Here’s another of Shiver’s former girlfriends, one who didn’t jump on Pauley Perrette’s bandwagon, and isn’t on Pauley Perrette’s payroll. This is from the Declaration of Jamie Broyles, October 28, 2009, a former girlfriend of Shivers who Perrette alleged was abused by him.
[...]Francis Shivers, has never been violent with me, nor has he ever threatened violence. I am not afraid of any physical harm from him…I was encouraged by other parties to file my request…I want to make it clear that the reference to his ex-wife Laura “Pauley” Perrette was in no way meant to lend credibility to Ms. Perrette or her claims (redacted) and want NO association with those claims or Ms. Perrette.
Then Friedman shares snippets of his sympathetic conversations with Pauley Perrette, in which she claims Shivers vandalized her home, apparently as a form of harassment. She even “discovers” yet another bit of evidence of his evil machinations, right there during the interview at her home! What an amazing coincidence! So very dramatic and convincing.
She detailed an unending series of harassments… leaving thousands of notes on small pieces of yellow paper.
While we were talking, Perrette turned over a standing ashtray, and a yellow missive fell out.
“I thought I got the last of them,” she said, “but they are everywhere.”
And of course, according to Perrette, the police have been no help. Friedman wonders why, but there is no indication that he ever asked, you know, the police. He does, however, quote a Celebrity Hollywood Private Investigator, John Nazarian.
Nazarian says that after dealing with many celebrity stalkers, Shivers — who, we must add, denies it all — may be the worst. Perrette agrees.
Well. Pauley Perrette probably knows a stalker when she sees one.
Oh, and one last little tidbit that Friedman forgot to report on in the midst of his reporting. He took a stab at self disclosure in the interview he did with Perrette:
Full disclosure: I knew Shivers slightly in the mid-1990s when he was married to Buell and living in New York, although I haven’t seen him in at least eight years.
Full disclosure? Hardly. He didn’t know Shivers, unless “knowing” him meant that he saw him once. He knew Buell. They are good friends. Buell even mentions him in the same sentence with her mother in the appreciations she wrote for her book.
And that is how he got involved with this story, and why he continues to do her favors by going after Shivers. Friedman does the grunt work for Buell’s vendetta, which she now shares with Perrette, and Friedman gets the benefit of an inside track on some of the rock stars from Buell’s past, like Steven Tyler:
Sorry, Friedman, but full disclosure would have included the admission of what a scumbag you are.
Roger Friedman’s articles on Francis Shivers are nothing more than sleazy hit pieces, doubtless born of an avaricious desire to curry favor with celebrities who can bring him a payoff. That would be particularly helpful since he is “no longer with” media giant Fox.
On that note, I will close with a Tweet from Roger Friedman’s Showbiz 411 site, dated Sunday, March 24, in response to the New York Post article. You know, the one that cites legal documents:
Funny thing, Mr. Friedman. Francis Shivers was indeed convicted, of walking in to the wrong restaurant at the wrong time. Much more on that will be coming out on this website within a matter of hours.
But if I were a journalist like you, I would not be so high and mighty about missing things.
Just saying.