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Act 2 - The ex-wife
Violence Against Women. Australia Says NO!
7 hours and 40 minutes till the end of Latham
Latham's ex-wife tells of 'fear'
July 4, 2004
OPPOSITION Leader Mark Latham's former wife has revealed she was distraught over his infidelity and scared by his explosive temper.
Gabrielle Gwyther has told friends she fled the marital home in fear before he returned from a holiday with another woman one Christmas.
Several friends have now revealed the intimate details of Ms Gwyther's marriage to Mr Latham.
But the ALP leader branded her claims as lies. "Gabrielle Gwyther has given many interviews over the past seven months, making false claims against me and my family. I have dealt with those in the past and really don't see the need to make any comment."
The claims come in the lead-up to today's Channel 9 Sunday program, said to contain "explosive" revelations.
Already, Mr Latham has been forced to deny he king-hit a fellow Labor member.
Ms Gwyther's friends said she fled their Sydney home when Mr Latham secretly went on a holiday with his new girlfriend, Janine Lacey, at Christmas 1997. The pair later married.
Friends said she was frightened of her husband, then a brash Labor frontbencher.
One said: "Gabrielle told me, 'Well, I left the house under circumstances which were . . . I didn't want to hang around the house any longer. I needed to get away'."
That was especially so after Mr Latham suffered what amounted to a mid-life crisis and started spending time with other women, Ms Gwyther told friends.
Another friend recalled Ms Gwyther saying: "There's nothing new in his philandering ways. But it wasn't just that.
"He went through a period of pretty gross behaviour. And presumably if he was gross to me, he was gross to others.
"He's a very intimidating man. I left. I just got away."
Friends said the clashes were not necessarily over his womanising.
One friend recalled Ms Gwyther saying: "Everyone seemed to know about it other than me. I didn't even know he was womanising."
Now remarried with a young child and a PhD in sociology, Ms Gwyther told friends that Mr Latham used to scream abuse at her for the most trivial things.
"Gabrielle said, 'He's a relatively abusive type of man. He's an aggressive man. I don't want to go any further than that'," one friend said.
She said she felt "damaged" by the situation.
"He didn't hit me. But you can threaten people without actually doing that," she told a friend.
"He didn't need to threaten. It was erratic behaviour. One minute he was trying to be nice, and the next minute it was all too much for him and he'd just go off his rocker."
Ms Gwyther now finds it depressing to discuss her marriage. She has only feelings of disgust for her former husband, one friend said.
Their relationship lasted for 12 years, seven of them married, before they divorced in 1999.
Another friend recalled Ms Gwyther reflecting on her marriage: "What happened was that he went through some period which I didn't understand at the time. It was a mid-life crisis."
Violence Against Women. Australia Says NO!
7 hours and 40 minutes till the end of Latham
Latham's ex-wife tells of 'fear'
July 4, 2004
OPPOSITION Leader Mark Latham's former wife has revealed she was distraught over his infidelity and scared by his explosive temper.
Gabrielle Gwyther has told friends she fled the marital home in fear before he returned from a holiday with another woman one Christmas.
Several friends have now revealed the intimate details of Ms Gwyther's marriage to Mr Latham.
But the ALP leader branded her claims as lies. "Gabrielle Gwyther has given many interviews over the past seven months, making false claims against me and my family. I have dealt with those in the past and really don't see the need to make any comment."
The claims come in the lead-up to today's Channel 9 Sunday program, said to contain "explosive" revelations.
Already, Mr Latham has been forced to deny he king-hit a fellow Labor member.
Ms Gwyther's friends said she fled their Sydney home when Mr Latham secretly went on a holiday with his new girlfriend, Janine Lacey, at Christmas 1997. The pair later married.
Friends said she was frightened of her husband, then a brash Labor frontbencher.
One said: "Gabrielle told me, 'Well, I left the house under circumstances which were . . . I didn't want to hang around the house any longer. I needed to get away'."
That was especially so after Mr Latham suffered what amounted to a mid-life crisis and started spending time with other women, Ms Gwyther told friends.
Another friend recalled Ms Gwyther saying: "There's nothing new in his philandering ways. But it wasn't just that.
"He went through a period of pretty gross behaviour. And presumably if he was gross to me, he was gross to others.
"He's a very intimidating man. I left. I just got away."
Friends said the clashes were not necessarily over his womanising.
One friend recalled Ms Gwyther saying: "Everyone seemed to know about it other than me. I didn't even know he was womanising."
Now remarried with a young child and a PhD in sociology, Ms Gwyther told friends that Mr Latham used to scream abuse at her for the most trivial things.
"Gabrielle said, 'He's a relatively abusive type of man. He's an aggressive man. I don't want to go any further than that'," one friend said.
She said she felt "damaged" by the situation.
"He didn't hit me. But you can threaten people without actually doing that," she told a friend.
"He didn't need to threaten. It was erratic behaviour. One minute he was trying to be nice, and the next minute it was all too much for him and he'd just go off his rocker."
Ms Gwyther now finds it depressing to discuss her marriage. She has only feelings of disgust for her former husband, one friend said.
Their relationship lasted for 12 years, seven of them married, before they divorced in 1999.
Another friend recalled Ms Gwyther reflecting on her marriage: "What happened was that he went through some period which I didn't understand at the time. It was a mid-life crisis."
