The Disney Polygamist!

[nytimez]

What a positively bizarre story:

Woman Finds Husband's Other Wife, Disney Wedding On Facebook

 

[Sosai X]

He's a bigamist, not a polygamist.

The two are very, very different.

 

[nytimez]

He's a bigamist, not a polygamist.

The two are very, very different.

You're right on the first statement -- and that's my mistake. But I disagree on the second -- I don't consider them to be "very, very different."

 

[SKWDW]

What a positively bizarre story:

Woman Finds Husband's Other Wife, Disney Wedding On Facebook

You're right, that was bizarre!

He's a bigamist, not a polygamist.
The two are very, very different.

Actually, a bigamist IS a polygamist. A polygamist is someone that is “married to more than one person at the same time”. A bigamist certainly fits that bill. The bi prefix means two and the poly prefix means many.

 

[Sosai X]

Being married to two different people is bigamy. The man is a bigamist. He is NOT a polygamist. He doesn't practice polygamy, he is not involved in it in any way, shape or form.

 

[nytimez]

Being married to two different people is bigamy. The man is a bigamist. He is NOT a polygamist. He doesn't practice polygamy, he is not involved in it in any way, shape or form.

Sure. But if the defining aspects of a polygamist and a bigamist both involve being married to multiple people, they're not all that different. And as a matter of U.S. law, a polygamist IS a bigamist, even if a bigamist is not necessarily a polygamist.

 

[TisBit]

Back to the story, more than a little bizarre. As is often the case with our media it is full of half stories and cryptic writing. It appears that her "husband" has been living in Florida with their children without her....not sure how that makes a "double life". So they throw in some lawyer talking about business trips, etc...when it isn't even related to this story. And the reporters are too lazy or just don't care about facts to find out if they really are married or not. If the guys lawyer is correct and they are not married there is not story......

 

[DVCconvert]

Let's split the difference and just call the guy a Pigamist.

 

[doconeill]

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the story. However, the marriage of the woman in the article to the husband may be in question. If it is a legal, binding marriage, then when he married the second woman before a divorce decree was entered (whether a divorce was already in process or not, which is not clear), then he is guilty of bigamy (more in a second). If the original marriage is not valid, then he's fine.

This actually happens more often than you think, when people plan weddings before divorces are final...

For those that want to argue definitions: For the most part in the United States, at least with laws following the Model Penal Code, there is a very odd legal distinction between bigamy and polygamy.

Polygamy is is when a person has married more than one spouse (or cohabitates with more than one - spouse does not imply marriage), and the spouses are aware of each other (implying that polygamy is consensual, and is part of a practice). It is also defined as a 3rd degree felony.

Bigamy is defined in the Code as someone entering into a contract of marriage with another while knowing that a previous contract was still valid. Typically the spouses are not aware of each other - if they are, they are also in violation. There is also supposed to be a fairly broad allowance for believing that the previous contract is no longer valid, but most states are more strict. It is also defined as a misdemeanor, although I believe Texas has it as a felony.

Of course, the Model is only a guideline for the states, to help provide some uniformity.

 

[pwdebbie]

I had to wonder if Wife #1 is sure she is the first wife. It is always possible that he may have already been married to someone else when he married her.

Sadly, I have a friend who is involved with a man who lives some distance away that will only see her on weekends, doesn't want calls from her during the week due to his "business" etc. -- I've got major red flags going on, but she doesn't want to hear.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I always thought a Bigamist was fog in Italy---

 

[TisBit]

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the story. However, the marriage of the woman in the article to the husband may be in question.

Those two sentences don't match....there is something wrong with the story when the headlines contradict the content. Real reporters would get the story straight and do a little bit of research before allowing it to go to print. It is also interesting that this is a news article that refuses to name any of the people involved (because they know they would be hit with a Libel suit)......this is the problem with our American Media, they don't report news, they merely try to print a headline that is catchy. This story is worth of the National Enquirer, not a real news organization.

And what really kills me is how many people read it, take it for fact and then try to make it even worse by implying the guy is guilty of even more unfounded/unbased accusations.

 

[diamondpixienc]

This is some frackle-nackle bull.

 

[Golf4food]

And as a matter of U.S. law, a polygamist IS a bigamist, even if a bigamist is not necessarily a polygamist.

All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. Or something like that.

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

Let's split the difference and just call the guy a Pigamist.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Sadly, I have a friend who is involved with a man who lives some distance away that will only see her on weekends, doesn't want calls from her during the week due to his "business" etc. -- I've got major red flags going on, but she doesn't want to hear.

He's not a professional golfer, by chance?

BobK/Orlando

 

[TisBit]

Just to keep something going that should have never been reported, the Today show had the husband on:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38572863/ns/today-today_people/

Still surprising that people feel he is trying to get over on the system because the marriage wasn't proper to begin with. He left his first wife years ago and confirmed that he wasn't legally married.

 

[eliza61]

Let's split the difference and just call the guy a Pigamist.

Which is a lot nicer than some of the 5/6 letter words I was calling him.

 

[ConcKahuna]

He's not a professional golfer, by chance?

BobK/Orlando