Federal Court: Divine's Estate Was Stolen

A federal court in Orlando has ruled that the estate of Divine was "illegally usurped" from the drag legend's rightful family heirs. Via the Hollywood Reporter:

The ruling is a black eye for Michael O'Quinn, who had befriended Divine's mother, Frances, and become her business manager and later was named as a beneficiary to the estate in an addendum to Frances' will. (The estate reverted to Mom after Divine's death at 42 in 1988 from an enlarged heart.) The court now has ruled that O'Quinn, who has worked as a costumer at Universal Studios' Florida theme park, willfully ignored Frances' will revision in 2008 that bestowed the estate to her nieces and nephews. Noah Brodie, a Warner Bros. studio lot VIP tour operator and O'Quinn's former business partner in Everything Divine, which was set up to leverage Divine's assets, discovered the shenanigans while in talks with a cosmetics firm in 2011 about a Divine-themed line.

RELATED: The award-winning 2013 documentary I Am Divine is now available for download and online rentals.

Divine Foundation: I'm So Beautiful

Two minutes of self-affirmation from John Waters, Mink Stole, and the I Am Divine Foundation. "Be your own filth god or goddess!"

(Tipped by JMG reader Fritz)

TRAILER: I Am Divine

Divine's Mother, Frances Milstead, 88

Frances Milstead, the mother of drag legend Divine, died two weeks ago in Fort Lauderdale at the age of 88. Although she was estranged from her son at the beginning of his drag fame, upon learning of his new career Frances became Divine's biggest fan - attending his movie premieres and penning the 2001 memoir My Son Divine. Up until her death, Frances had been a icon in South Florida's gay community. Her MySpace page, which chronicles her love for her son and her health battles, is still up.

Divine's Last Interview

In response to last week's post about Divine, superstar reporter Rex Wockner has posted his 1988 interview with her, the last one she did before her untimely death two weeks later. Go read it, it's fascinating stuff. Thanks, Rex!

HomoQuotable - John Waters

"[Divine] was (going to be) the first gay male character, a gay uncle, which could have been hugely successful at the time." - John Waters, revealing that at time of his death in 1988, Divine was about to begin appearing on Married With Children. Interesting news, but despite what the linked article says, wasn't Billy Crystal's character on Soap tv's first regular gay character? Little help out there? I was crushed when Divine died, especially coming at the time of her greatest success in Hairspray, which on some days I call my favorite movie of all time. "She can't hear you!" Still kills me. What was your favorite Divine role?