Hulk Hogan suing ex-wife over abuse and gay claims

Hulk Hogan is suing his former wife for defamation because she says he physically abused her and had an affair with a fellow wrestler named Brutus Beefcake.

Linda Bollea was divorced from the 58-year-old wrestling icon in 2009 and makes the abuse claims in her new book Wrestling the Hulk – My Life Against the Ropes. She spoke of an alleged gay affair during a promotional interview.

‘After the four-year crazy divorce I thought I’d heard everything I could hear in the courtroom,’ Hogan told US Weekly. ‘Then, all of a sudden she says I abused her, that I was violent. She told everybody that I was a homosexual.’

While Hogan, whose real name is Terrance Gene Bollea, has been a well-known wrestling star for decades, his former wife and their children became celebrities of their own when they starred with him in the U.S. reality show Hogan Knows Best from 2005-07.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Hogan last week filed an 18-page defamation lawsuit in Florida.

He tells US Weekly: ‘If any of that was true, I would admit it, and (if) I was a homosexual I would embrace it. It’s just so crazy to hear, so I have a real problem with it… If you’re going to say I’m something that I’m not to try to ruin my career and my livelihood… I have to answer her back. It’s so ridiculous. I don’t mean to laugh about it, because it’s not funny. But it’s insane. It doesn’t make any sense to me.’