If the sunny weather is inspiring you to pick up a juicy beach read, we've got the goods. They came neatly packaged in an eight-page complaint filed in Dallas County District Court by socialite and Pamela Martin Duarte, star of Big Rich Texas, Style Network's homage to Lone Star State excess.
Duarte alleges that Dena Miller, aka Mrs. Highland Park, and Bonnie Blossman Myer, a UNT biology professor (and socialite, obviously), defamed and slandered her name by calling her a stripper and a drunk -- oh, and a sociopath and a liar. Merritt Patterson, who wrote Big Rich Texas recaps for D Magazine's arts blog, is included on the original petition, but Duarte's lawyer tells us his client decided to remove her from the suit. He would not explain why, citing attorney/client privilege.
The Unfair Park are-we-getting-punked detector was on high alert when we realized that such an insider-y fight made its way into court documents, summarized by Courthouse News. We asked Duarte's lawyer, Lawrence Friedman, what seemed like an obvious question: Is there any way this is an April Fools joke? It's not, he assured us. But you'll understand why we asked when you read this excerpt from the complaint:
D. FACTUAL BACKGROUND10. Pamela Martin Duarte ("Pam") is married to a successful husband and is the mother of two daughters. Pam is not only a devoted wife and mother, she is also a successful business woman. Pam is a global marketing executive, an accomplished fiction author, and a popular cast member of the reality television show Big Rich Texas.
11. Approximately a year ago, the Style Network came to Texas looking for successful, attractive women and their daughters to participate in the television show Big Rich Texas. Among the potential cast members that were considered for the show was Dena Miller a/k/a "Queen Bee Dena." Miller is a former L.A. rock groupie who married Vaughn Miller the grandson of real estate magnate Henry S. Miller. Miller, a narcissist who touts herself as one of the "Who's Who of Dallas' elite inner circle," thought she was a shoe-in to be on the show.
12. Unfortunately for Miller, the show's producers decided not to cast her in the show. Miller was enraged over the fact that Big Rich Texas did not cast her. In retaliation for getting left off the show, Miller has set her sights on destroying Pam's
13. Miller and her cohorts Patterson and Blossman who are also jeaious of Pam's success have engaged in a cyber-bullying campaign to defame Pam by maliciously and falsely accusing Pam of, among other things, being: 1) a former stripper; 2) a drunk who pays her bills by servicing old men and stealing credit cards; 3) a sociopath; 4) a pathological liar; 5) a criminal; 6) a gold digger; and 7) a drunken barfly.
Much of the allegations stem from reviews of Big Rich Texas written by Patterson for D Magazine -- like this one accusing Duarte of suspicious age-reversal. She offers her thoughts on each episode and interjects quotes from some of the show's stars, along with inside bits of information from her connections to the show's cast. It's juicy stuff to a certain set, and it should be an interesting battle as reality show gripes turn so real that everyone needs to lawyer up. Make those lady-claws extra sharp at your next mani-pedi, gals.
