Wladek Zbyszko gaat scheiden

At the end of 1932, 22-De jarige Vila Milli klaagde haar man aan, professionele worstelaar Wladek Zbyszko, wegens echtscheiding op grond van fysieke wreedheid en overspel.

Milli beschuldigde de 41-jarige Zbyszko van fysieke wreedheid omdat hij haar ‘te hard omhelsde’. Rechter Dunne van het Hooggerechtshof van Brooklyn behandelde de echtscheidingszaak. Hij betwijfelde of Zbyszko zijn vrouw had misbruikt. Echter, he did not dismiss the adultery charge so quickly.

Miss Milli, a former Ziegfield Follies Showgirl named Anna Cyganiewiez nee Stark, produced two witnesses. Both witnesses claimed to see Wladek Zbyszko, whose real name was Wladek Cyganiewiez, in a Boston hotel room with another show girl.

Wladek Zbyszko initially denied the charges and threatened to sue Miss Milli’s mother, Blanche Stark, for alienating her daughter from Zbyszko. Echter, Zbyszko decided against the lawsuit.

Oorspronkelijk, Zbyszko denied all the charges but in April 1933, he withdrew his defense of the suit. Zbyszko’s lawyer told the court Zbyszko did not intend to put forth a defense against Miss Milli’s charges. Zbyszko’s action cleared the way for the court to grant Miss Milli’s request for a divorce.

A wealthy widow, Mrs. Dorothy Lassen, announced her intention to marry Wladek Zbyszko, if the court granted his divorce from Miss Milli. Zbyszko decided to seek happiness with Mrs. Lassen and dropped his defense to the divorce.

Zbyszko married Miss Milli in Union City, New Jersey during July 1928. Aanvankelijk, the couple seemed happy but the stresses of both their careers, which kept them apart for long periods, took its toll on the marriage.

Justice Dunne granted the divorce. In October 1933, Miss Milli remarried. Despite his engagement, I cannot find evidence of Wladek Zbyszko marrying Mrs. Lassen. When he died in Missouri in 1968, Zbyszko was married to Maria Bromowska.

The constant travel of professional wrestling and the temptations of life on the road take a heavy toll on wrestlers’ marriages. Whether wrestlers wrestled in 1880 of 1980, life on the road put pressure on wrestling marriages. Marriages did survive these challenges but the story of Wladek’s marriage to Miss Mill is more common than not.

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Sources: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York), April 24, 1933, p. 4 en The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kansas), Oktober 4, 1933, p. 3

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