Ric Flair and his daughter Charlotte are facing a $5.5 million lawsuit from her ex-husband, who alleged she made “disparaging and racist comments” during a police incident in North Carolina in 2008.
Riki Paul Johnson claimed in the suit that the wrestling family’s 2017 autobiographical book “Second Nature” contained multiple “falsehoods” about his marriage to the 32-year-old wrestler, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Johnson, also 32, said he was falsely accused of physically and psychologically abusing the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star. They were married from 2010 to 2011.
As part of Johnson’s defense, he alleged Charlotte was an “aggressor in a physical and verbal tirade … directed at the responding police officers, as well as disparaging and racist comments being directed at the Afro-American community in Chapel Hill.”
Johnson filed the lawsuit earlier this month in Charlotte and also named the WWE as a defendant.
Ric, 69, and Charlotte Flair did not comment on the allegations, but the WWE issued a statement to Courthouse News saying, “We recently received what appears to be a meritless lawsuit and we will vigorously defend ourselves.”
While details of the alleged altercation weren’t given in the suit, WTVD reported a 2008 incident when Charlotte was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer.
However, the interaction was detailed in “Second Nature,” which claims Charlotte was arrested after trying to break up a fight between her dad and Johnson in Chapel Hill.
“Police arrived, and all hell broke loose,” a passage in “Second Nature” read. “When one of the police officers entered [Charlotte’s] space and asked her to put her hands behind her back, I heard her say, ‘Don’t touch me. I said don’t touch me.’ The next thing I knew, the officer used a taser to subdue her. She was brought to the floor and taken into police custody in handcuffs.”
Johnson also claimed he was falsely accused of being abusive toward Charlotte.
In one excerpt in “Second Nature,” Charlotte wrote of her volatile marriage to Johnson, detailing an altercation in 2008. “Riki started swinging at me like we were in a street fight. Over his screams, I could hear his fists hit my arms. I managed to block most of the punches, but one shot got me in the ribs. I began to gasp for air, but he didn’t stop,” she wrote. “I think about that girl now, and it brings tears to my eyes. How did I get there? Why was this going on? Why wasn’t I strong enough, brave enough, to end this?”
Johnson disputed this story in the lawsuit along with sections of the book that claim he was fired from two jobs for drug abuse.
“The false assertions in the book were purposely designed to willfully, maliciously and intentionally inflect emotional distress,” the suit reads.
Charlotte will take on Becky Lynch Sunday for the Smackdown Women’s championship at Evolution, WWE’s first all-female pay-per-view.
