Las Vegas Weekly

July 4, 2009 · 5:27 PM

Terry Fator’s 18-year marriage is headed for divorce

By Robin Leach

Terry Fator at the CMT Video Awards in Nashville.

Photo: Jason Merritt/CMT

Entertainer Terry Fator, who won the first $1 million America’s Got Talent prize on Season 2 and landed a $100 million, five-year headline contract at The Mirage, has admitted that his 18-year marriage is headed for divorce. Terry’s wife Melinda and he had kept the decision quiet for six months.

“It’s a sad day,” he told me this afternoon after Melinda and he decided to confirm the breakup to a few close friends. “We’ve been separated for a good time now, and we have remained friends, even though we don’t see eye to eye on everything.

“We both want different things out of life. It’s a very personal matter, and we want to keep it a private matter between us. We have promised to be kind with one another. We have told the lawyers not to turn it into something nasty and difficult. We have already agreed how it’s to be worked out. It’s all going to be very fair, and I’m not going to see any harm come to her.”

I was with the couple when they celebrated his 43rd birthday early last month with a dinner party at Stack near his theater in The Mirage -- click HERE for that story. At that time, they were already separated but kept the January decision private. When divorce papers were filed in their Texas hometown in February, the couple kept it under wraps.

Photo: TVT

Terry Fator celebrates his 43rd birthday at Stack Restaurant & Bar inside The Mirage.

They have no children, and no third party has been linked to Terry or Melinda. They wed in Denver in early 1991.

“I’m going to continue to make people laugh,” Terry, who performs tonight, told me. “A lot of people have been affected by breakdown of a marriage. Now it’s my fate, too, and it’s times like this that you need a laugh to cheer you up. If I make people happy this weekend, then I will be happy. I try to make people forget problems, if only for a while, and doing that for the audience will help me through this, too.

“We believe this is best for both of us. It’s not about the career. It’s not about Las Vegas and the run at The Mirage. It is more about personal differences.”

I checked with one of their closest friends who told me: “It’s a very personal matter. They just want to be as private as possible about it. He wants to continue doing what he does best, and that is entertaining people with the best show he can produce every night.”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

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