TV talk man Montel Williams’ wife chucked his clothes out of their Connecticut home yesterday — her 36th birthday — after seeing pictures of him and a curvy Swedish model, The Post has learned.
The National Enquirer called up Grace Williams — a former exotic dancer turned actress whom Montel met during a taping of one of his shows — to ask how she felt about the photos, which were taken in Canada, a source said.
Although the couple had separated last November, Montel’s clothes were still in their Greenwich home, and Grace believed they were still trying to work things out, the source said.
Montel wasn’t home when Grace pitched his duds out the door.
The couple would have celebrated their eighth anniversary in June. The Enquirer call — and the photos — came on her birthday, prompting the tantrum, the source said.
Shortly afterward, Montel’s bodyguard, an assistant and another staffer came by to pick up the scattered belongings and take them to Montel in New York, the source said.
A spokesman for Greenwich cops said he could not immediately say if any officers were dispatched to the scene.
The marriage began to hit the skids last year, apparently around the time the 43-year-old talk-show host announced he was battling multiple sclerosis, a debilitating neurological disease.
“It’s a difficult time for the whole family,” Grace Williams said in a statement yesterday.
“I just hope for some respect and privacy for our children. There’s a lot of love between Montel and me despite what’s gone on. That will never change.”
Grace’s lawyer, Robert Dobrish, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The Williamses have two kids: Montel II, 6, and Wyntergrace, 4.
In a statement, the Emmy-winning host said he and Grace had been “going in separate directions for quite some time.”
“I have decided to end our 7-year-old marriage,” he said. “In light of our difficulties, we agreed to a divorce last November. Since then we’ve been working out the details regarding the separation and our two children, who are our primary concern.
“Yes, it has been the challenges we have had as a married couple which have led to this recent decision.”
The Enquirer refused to comment about the pictures or story, expected to appear in its next issue.
The clothes-tossing was an abrupt breech of the couple’s public behavior, which has been emphatically loyal.
When they were first married, there was snickering in some circles about Grace’s past. Grace, who also was a makeup stylist, and her mother were both showgirls in Las Vegas.
Montel tearfully pleaded with spectators at a celebration for his top-rated talk show for “my wife, who has taken more trash from the media than I think is necessary.”
“Without her, I would not be here,” Montel said. “So do what you gotta do, beat me to death. Leave her alone.”
Montel also took heat after the couple walked out of the Friars Club roast of Whoopi Goldberg in 1993, which included jokes about interracial children. Grace is white; Montel is black.
The couple, for the record at least, were still together at Montel’s announcement last year that he was suffering from MS.
“Grace is the reason I’m able to get out of bed every morning,” he told People magazine last November.
Montel also has made a public show of support for his wife’s decision to turn to acting in 1998 — and is still working on her first flick, “Little Pieces,” which he directed.