A Las Vegas judge officially pulled the plug on Rick Rockwell and Darva Conger’s made-for-TV marriage yesterday — granting the bride an annulment.
Conger, a 34-year-old nurse, testified that she was kept in the dark about Rockwell’s past, including a restraining order that alleged he hit a former fiancée.
“He was not honest and did not represent those restraining orders,” said Conger, who ditched Rockwell as soon as their sex-free honeymoon ended.
Rockwell, a standup comedian who has denied the abuse allegations, was not in court.
“I am kind of disappointed the annulment is final, because, for a while, I was the only man in the world who could meet a woman and tell her, ‘My wife doesn’t understand, and we’re splitting up’ and she would actually believe it,” he said in a statement.
Family Court Judge Steven Jones said he could have granted the annulment based solely on Conger’s written request, but he insisted on a hearing because the newlyweds had a “very legal” ceremony.
The couple tied the knot moments after meeting each other on the Fox special “Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?” The show drew spectacular ratings, but was quickly mired in controversy as details from the groom’s past emerged.
The network scuttled plans for future episodes after revelations surfaced about the 1991 restraining order against Rockwell.
When he and Conger returned from a Caribbean cruise, they went their separate ways. She immediately filed for an annulment, saying she’d gone on the show as a lark.
After becoming a single woman once again, Conger said she never wants to see Rockwell again.
“I never should have been there to begin with … I didn’t want to be,” she said.
When a reporter asked if she planned to marry again, she quipped: “Is that a proposal?”