Multimillionaire bride wants out of marriage

Angie Wagner

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 9:20 a.m.

TV's instant bride has filed for an annulment, saying that her quickie marriage to a multimillionaire was a fraud and that he never mentioned he had "a history of problems" with women.

Darva Conger said in court papers filed Tuesday that the marriage was never consummated and she and Rick Rockwell barely saw each other on their Caribbean honeymoon.

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

On CNN's "Larry King Live" Wednesday, Conger, 34, reiterated that a contest she signed up for as a lark went unbearably wrong when Rockwell, 42, selected her from among 50 contestants on the Fox TV special "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire."

They married on the spot in Las Vegas during the Feb. 15 show, with more than 22 million viewers tuned in.

Despite the smash ratings, Fox canceled a rebroadcast of the show and swore off a sequel and similar program after it was disclosed that a former fiancee obtained a restraining order against Rockwell in 1991 for allegedly hitting and threatening her. He denied the allegations.

"It was not what I wanted, not what I expected. I've never felt that trapped before," Conger said. She said she knew from their first kiss the marriage was a mistake, but she went through with it out of a sense of obligation.

That, she said, and "that dress so big I couldn't run."

Conger said the media attention given the marriage has been painful and confounding to her.

"No one was hurt, no one was killed. Worse things happen every day."

She said the attention cost her her job as an emergency room nurse, her dignity, her privacy, and time with a brother who died after the broadcast.

When asked whether she deserved criticism that her appearance on the program hurt the institution of marriage, she said, "Whatever criticism I deserve I have taken."

She said she didn't think through the consequences of the show, which the show's producers, the contestants and the audience were all excited about. "It's almost a minor brainwashing - and I'm not blaming them because I was there," Conger said.

In court papers she said Fox misrepresented Rockwell's personality and background. She said she was unaware Rockwell "had a history of problems with his prior girlfriends and was the subject of at least one restraining order for threatening and dangerous behavior."

Fox declined comment. Rockwell's home telephone number has been disconnected and he did not immediately return a call place through his publicist.

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

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

Clark County has no residency requirements to file for an annulment. It takes four to six weeks on average for an annulment to be approved.