When R&B crooner Teddy Pendergrass died in January, he was pretty much penniless. The place that he called home in Penn Valley, Pa., was foreclosed over the summer and will be sold in a sheriff's sale next month. The estate also has an outstanding car loan and a pending lawsuit by a former partner.
His money woes, though, have not stopped his second wife, Joan, and son Teddy II from warring over what's left of the late-entertainer's estate.
Teddy Pendergrass: Dead at 59
Apparently both wife and son have wills that state opposing demands: Joan's will says that Teddy II receives nothing from the estate, while Teddy II's will says Joan is to receive nothing.
It very well may be that the multi award–winning singer may have drawn up the wills in a state of mind that might not have been all there.
On Wednesday, both Joan and Teddy II met with a judge but left the legal process without a binding agreement. The parties are feuding moreso over the singer's legacy than money.
LaDonna Pendergrass Hollerway, one of Teddy's daughters, speculates that Joan only sees dollar signs in her future via books, films about Teddy's controversial life or a reality show:
"She was married to my dad for only a year, and she has turned my family upside down," said Hollerway, a hospital technician in Plano, Texas, to the AP.
On the flip side, Joan's attorney refutes the accusations about his client's monetary ambitions:
"To say it's a money grab is ludicrous - there's just no money to fight about," said Kevon Glickman to the AP.
At a recent tribute that was held at the opening of a documentary about Pendergrass' life, Teddy II and Joan had to take the stage together. Teddy II flat-out refused to hug or be photographed with her. Teddy II had this to say about his father's wife:
"We simply don't see eye-to-eye. What I do know is my father did what he intended to do - and that is, put me in charge for the family."
Joan's supporters say, though, that she was a diligent and caring wife, who bent over backward to tend to the mega-performer's every need. They say that she loved her husband dearly and cared for all his children as well.
Ruth Manuel-Logan
