Motsi Mabuse’s ex-husband wants her jailed after she accused him of controlling conduct on Strictly Come Dancing.
The South African-born professional dancer and reality show judge made her debut on the German dance competition Let’s Dance in 2011, before joining Strictly in 2019.
She was married to her dance partner, Timo Kulczak, since 2003, but they split in 2014 after 11 years of marriage.
Her ex-husband, though, is suing Motsi, 42, over allegations contained in her book.
Kulczak is suing Motsi for £70,000 after she claimed he restricted her access to funds and even decided what she ate while they were together.
The dispute is now headed to court after she refused to settle the writ.
Her ex-husband’s attorneys, on the other hand, have requested the court to imprison her for up to six months or penalise her £250,000 if she ever repeats the charges in her book.
The measure has been put in place as part of a ‘cease and desist’ clause in the writ.
‘Ms Mabuse is refusing to pay, and so the court now has to decide,’ his lawyer Samy Hammad told The Sun.
‘All we just want her to do is to retract the untruths published about him, and to compensate him accordingly.
‘My client’s reputation has repeatedly been trashed.’
He added: ‘You have to threaten a penalty saying if you do it again, this is what I want in terms of money, or in terms of the prison sentence.’
Finding My Own Rhythm: My Story, a memoir Kulczak, 45, provided Motsi an allowance from her dance teaching and TV earnings during their 11-year marriage, according to Motsi.
She also claimed he refused her requests to have a kid and restricted her nutrition, all of which he denies.
According to The Sun, Motsi must stop “implying that the plaintiff made the defendant suffer during their marriage.”
It also requires her to publicly declare that “the statements published in the book and cited press reports are untrue.”
The complaint was filed at Germany’s regional court of Offenburg.
According to a representative for Motsi, the complaint has “no legal basis.”
‘It is untrue our client faces imprisonment with regards to her ex-husband’s civil lawsuit, or that a fine, which would only be payable if our client culpably violates a court order, would be more than a nominal amount,’ they said.
Motsi married her new dancing partner Evgenij Vozynuk in 2017 after her divorce from Kulczak, with whom she relocated to Germany when she was 18 years old.
The couple has a daughter and runs a dancing studio near Frankfurt.
Motsi, the sister of twice Strictly winner Oti Mabuse, joined the BBC season in lieu of retired dancer Darcey Bussell.
Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight at 6.20pm on BBC One.
