America’s Got Talent winner Terry Fator’s mother filed a lawsuit against him and requested to legally terminate their relationship, The Blast reports.
Marie Fator Sligh claimed in court documents obtained by the website on Friday, January 18, that her son’s actions have been detrimental to her health and well-being. She is seeking $1.4 million for elder abuse, intentional infliction of emotional distress and harassment.
Sligh, 74, further alleged that Fator, 53, has been working to “obstruct and prevent his mother from investigating the death of her daughter in [his] home,” according to The Blast. Sligh’s daughter and Fator’s sister, Deborah Fator Beard, was found dead at his Las Vegas house in June 2015. The 46-year-old’s death was ruled a suicide from multiple drug toxicity.
Sligh claimed in her suit that Beard had been estranged from Fator for several years before they started talking again in December 2014. Beard later moved into her brother’s home. Sligh said she “discovered a number of puzzling inconsistencies about the death of her daughter” and has since questioned Fator’s reaction to the loss, according to the site. Sligh also alleged that Fator refused to attend his sister’s memorial and cut off all family members the day after the service.
The Blast reports that Sligh vowed to drop her $1.4 million lawsuit to $975,000 if the ventriloquist, who won season 2 of America’s Got Talent in 2007 and now performs in Las Vegas, makes a public apology. She has also asked him to donate $200,000 to a charity she launched for abuse victims.
In response to the allegations, Fator’s rep tells Us Weekly: “This is not the first time that Ms. Sligh has surfaced with these sorts of baseless and defamatory allegations against Mr. Fator in an effort to extract unwarranted financial concessions from him.”
Fator’s rep, who noted that the impressionist obtained a restraining order against his mom in February 2017, adds: “Mr. Fator has no intention of dignifying Ms. Sligh’s latest unfounded claims with any further comment.”
