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"How do you physically move a tragedy that is exploding in front of you?" Richie said of the incident between his then-wife Brenda Harvey and the woman he was dating at the time, Diane Alexander -- which ended in an arrest and Richie knowing, for certain, his marriage was over.
Lionel Richie is speaking out on a fight that ended his marriage to first wife Brenda Harvey -- one between her and the woman who would become his second wife, Diane Alexander.
Harvey was arrested in 1988 on suspicion of corporal injury to a spouse, resisting arrest and battery, per the Los Angeles Times. Richie details the incident in his new book, "Truly," via excerpts from both PEOPLE and E! News.
Richie and Harvey tied the knot in 1975, adopting daughter Nicole Richie together in 1983. In June 1988 came what the singer called "the point of no return" in their marriage and "the scandal of my century."
"What very few people knew was that Brenda and I were separated. I got a place at the beach, and I was hiding out there, trying to be alone, trying to decompress somehow, because it was killing everyone," wrote Richie, adding that he was seeing Alexander at the time, after the separation.
One day, while at Alexander's home, Harvey allegedly showed up announced.
"When the door opens, Brenda is standing there. There is a massive confrontation. Diane is in total shock and I'm trying to leave, to draw Brenda away." recalled Richie. "It's the most awful screaming match of life, and it's all in this small entryway. The question is -- How to stop it? How do you physically move a tragedy that is exploding in front of you?"
He wrote that he left, believing Harvey would follow him -- adding, "But once I was gone, she went back and resumed the argument. The neighbors called the police. Charges were brought and then dropped."
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View Story"The most painful part, the tragedy of our lives, was that Brenda was heartbroken. You never know what you are going to do or feel until you're in the moment and it's in your face. None of us had been in this situation," wrote Richie. "We all deserved a pass because we didn't know what the story was going to be. It was just raw and ugly and disastrous."
While Richie said before that incident, "there was a cloud of uncertainty as to whether I wanted to try to reconcile and not be separated" from Harvey, "the fight changed everything."
"That's the saddest day in the life of a marriage. When you know you may love each other, still, and you have a history that you will always have, but it's over. And you know it," he concluded, before referring to both women as being "strong, loving, and devoted moms."
The pair would divorce in 1993, before he welcomed son Miles with Alexander in 1995. The couple would marry in 1995 and welcome daughter Sofia in 1998, before they, too, split in 2004.
Truly: An Inspirational Journey Through the Life of a Musical Legend is available to buy now.
