A few months back ABC’s ’20/20′ ran a segment on the notorious boyfriend of Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson, Brooks Ayers. In the segment, Brooks was exposed by his ex-girlfriend and mother of their son for being a deadbeat dad! Now, ’20/20′ is retracting the claims made on their show in a new public statement. Shortly after the segment aired, Brooks took legal action against ABC for what they had aired about him being a deadbeat dad. It looks like Brooks has finally caught a break because ’20/20′ released the following retraction about Brooks: This is a follow-up to a 20/20 report broadcast June 29, 2012 concerning Brooks Ayers of “Real Housewives of Orange County.” The report said, among other things, that Ayers had left his former girlfriend Nicolette Catanzarite with unpaid medical bills relating to the birth of their son Joey in December 2008, that Ayers had not visited or communicated with Joey since he was 5 or 6 months old, and that Catanzarite had been unable to locate Ayers until he was first referred to on “Real Housewives” in 2011. We want to clarify that Ayers’ insurance paid for most of Joey’s medical expenses arising from the birth, although not Catanzarite’s; that Ayers provided rent money and certain other expenses to Catanzarite for a time after Joey was born; and that Ayers saw Joey a number of times after their break-up in May 2009, the last being July or August 2010 when Joey was 19 or 20 months old. We also wanted to clarify that Ayers and Catanzarite have communicated periodically since that time, and that when Catanzarite was in California in January 2012, she met with Ayers and his girlfriend. In a statement to ABC, Ayers says that he “hopes to resolve his disputes with Nicolette soon.”So basically, all that Nicolette said on ’20/20′ has been found legally incorrect because it forced the show to release this retraction! Do you still think Brooks is a deadbeat dad?
The ’20/20′ segment claimed that Brooks Ayers had left his former girlfriend with unpaid medical bills related to the birth of their son, had not visited or communicated with his son since he was a few months old, and had been difficult to locate until he appeared on “Real Housewives” in 2011.
The retraction statement clarified that Ayers’ insurance had actually paid for most of the medical expenses arising from the birth of his son, although not for his former girlfriend’s expenses. It also stated that Ayers provided rent money and certain other expenses to his former girlfriend for a period of time after their son was born. Additionally, it mentioned that Ayers had seen his son multiple times after their break-up, with the last visit occurring when his son was 19 or 20 months old. The statement also mentioned that Ayers and his former girlfriend had communicated periodically since then, and that they had even met in person in January 2012.
In a statement to ABC, Brooks Ayers expressed his hope to resolve his disputes with his former girlfriend soon.
