Tomi Rae Hynie, the woman who says she is the widow of the legendary James Brown, told CNN s Larry King that she doesn t understand why she s being kept from the family estate or why the late singer s adult children have turned against her. However, a longtime lawyer for Brown said in a separate appearance on the show that no vendetta exists, but there are some legal issues that need to be resolved -- including whether Brown is the father of Hynie s five-year-old son.
In an alternately teary, rambling, and bitter interview, Hynie said she was not at Brown s side when he died because she was in a rehab program recovering from an addiction to painkillers that she began taking after her father died three months earlier.
I was going to see him on Christmas, Hynie said. She said that Brown s manager, Charles Bobbitt, called and left a message while she was in a therapy session that said Brown had died.
She insisted she was Brown s legal wife and produced a copy of a marriage license dated Dec.
14, 2001. She said they were deeply in love -- although she admitted they had a volatile, sometimes violent relationship -- and maintained that Brown had intended to renew their vows on Christmas Day, the day he died.
Hynie said she was excluded from the planning for Brown s funeral services, was not asked to speak at any of the services -- or even invited to any of them -- and had to make her presence felt.
She said Rev. Al Sharpton snubbed her at the service at the Apollo Theater, adding that she's been told she may retrieve some belongings from Brown s home in Beech Island, S.C.
, but the estate is now in probate and will have to wait until the reading of the will to find out what Brown set aside for her and her son.
They haven t told me when (the will) will be read, Hynie said.
Debra Opri, a longtime attorney for Brown, appeared after King finished the segment with Hynie.
She said that Hynie was already married when she married Brown in 2001 and that the marriage to Brown was annulled.
Brown s adult children were scheduled to appear on the show, but declined to appear with Hynie, Opri said, and asked her to take their place.
Opri disputed Hynie s account of her treatment since Brown s death.
Tomi Rae embarrassed herself," she said, "and embarrassed the fans and the family the way she came out." "James Brown loved Tomi Rae," but in their last conversation, Hynie told Brown that she had never loved him and she was just in it for the business arrangement, Opri said.
She also said that while Hynie was supposed to be at a rehabilitation center, she was seen partying at a hotel restaurant, and that despite the dramatic story Hynie told about her alleged mistreatment and that of her son, the boy had not been living with Hynie, but with her mother in California until Hynie brought him to the funeral.
I was not impressed with Tomi Rae s performance tonight, Opri said. I wasn t impressed with her performance during the funeral. I was embarrassed for the James Brown family.
Opri said that Hynie had signed a series of documents barring her from discussing details of her relationship with Brown, but had violated the agreement during a scathing interview with the BBC. Opri also said there were questions about the paternity of Hynie s son, although King pointed out that Brown had, publicly at least, treated the boy as his own.
James Brown intentionally did not do any testing of that child while he was alive, Opri said, but he told his lawyers when I m gone, get it done, apparently referring to a DNA paternity test.
I m saying it s an issue that s going to be resolved very shortly.
Hynie told King she had no doubts that Brown was the father of her child and that I d be willing to take any test they d like me to take.
Opri also said that Brown had established a legacy and a trust in 2000 to help and educate underprivileged children, and the money (from his estate) will go to that legacy.
His estate will be turned into a museum like Graceland, she said, the sprawling home of late singer Elvis Presley.
Hynie said the restrictions on the Brown estate prevent her from making a living for herself and her son, but later admitted Brown had set $80,000 aside for them until the legal issues were resolved and that she was able to get the money the day after Brown died.
Tomi Rae needs to accept certain legal realities, Opri said.
The family has no axe to grind. Everything will evolve as it evolves.
Sonia Pierre, a tall, slender black woman who was born in the Dominican Republic, uses her activism to fight for immigrant and citizenship rights for Haitian-Dominicans.
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