Multimillionaire bride wants out of marriage

Angie Wagner

Wednesday, March 8, 2000 | 2:16 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - The woman who married a multimillionaire on national television now wants to play a new game - who wants to forget the marriage ever happened.

Darva Conger filed for an annulment of her marriage to Rick Rockwell Tuesday in Clark County Family Court, saying the marriage was a fraud.

"Neither the contestants nor the show's producers seriously contemplated creating a proper marriage," Conger said in the filing.

Rockwell, a San Diego resident, selected Conger from among 50 contestants on the Fox television special "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire" on Feb. 15. The show was filmed in Las Vegas.

Conger, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., later said she participated in the show on a lark and never would have been interested in Rockwell. The two went on a "honeymoon," but hardly spent any time together.

The court filing said the marriage was never consummated and Conger and Rockwell never lived together at any time.

Despite smash ratings, Fox canceled a scheduled rebroadcast of the show in the wake of revelations that Rockwell was named in a 1991 restraining order obtained by his ex-fiancee, who said Rockwell had hit her and threatened to kill her. Rockwell denied ever hitting the woman.

Conger also said in the court papers that Fox misrepresented Rockwell's personality and background to her.

"Plaintiff was unaware that defendant had a history of problems with his prior girlfriends and was the subject of at least one restraining order for threatening and dangerous behavior," she said.

Fox had no comment on the court filing.

Conger said the marriage was a "mutual mistake of fact and was entered into solely for an entertainment purpose."

She said she never intended to become Rockwell's wife and believes he never intended to be her husband.

Conger and Rockwell both signed an agreement before the show that they could annul the marriage.

In Clark County, there are no residency requirements to file for an annulment. Conger and Rockwell will likely be married another four to six weeks, the average length of time it takes for an annulment to be approved, according to a court clerk.