Was it a deal they couldn't resist?
Frankly, we don't know anything about the deal, just that it's done, and the $100 million breach-of-contract lawsuit brought against Marlon Brando by his former lover and maid is about to sleep with the fishes.
Attorneys for both Brando, the Godfather legend, and Maria Cristina Ruiz, the woman allegedly done wrong, told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday they want to dismiss the civil suit.
The respective legal eagles, Leon F. Bennett, representing Brando, and Donald Woldman, repping Ruiz, confirmed that the case had been "amicably resolved," but the details were not publicly disclosed. In the words of Bennett, "It's a private matter and it should be left private."
Brando skipped out on the hearing Wednesday. Ruiz declined to speak to reporters on her way out of the courthouse, cloaking her face with a scarf to avoid the paparazzi.
Earlier, the presiding judge forced all media to leave the courtroom during the lawyers' discussions, saying they were protected under state law as a "confidential filing."
Ruiz, then 43, filed the suit in April 2002, seeking more than $100 million in damages, plus "a reasonable sum per month" from the eccentric two-time Oscar winner.
In the suit, Ruiz claimed she and the larger-than-life Brando became romantically involved in February 1988, when she was his maid. Attorney Woldman described the relationship as "just like a marriage, except without the ring."
Per Ruiz, she and her de facto hubby even had the kids--a grand total of three, ages 13, 10 and eight, at the time of the filing. And per Ruiz, she had Brando's back, serving as his "companion, protector, work mate, homemaker" and "confidante."
According to Ruiz, she and Brando split in December 2001, with the film star subsequently reneging on a promise to support her and the kids financially.
"She just wants to get the division of property she's entitled to," Woldman said at the time.
Brando's personal life has long been on the messy side. He has officially wed, and divorced, three times. One of the broken unions, with wife number one, Anna Kashfi, resulted in a protracted custody battle. The subject of that tug-of-war, son Christian, achieved infamy in 1990 when he fatally shot his half-sister's lover at Brando's home. In 1995, the half-sister, Cheyenne, Brando's daughter by wife number three, Tarita Teriipia, committed suicide.
Not including the three children he allegedly fathered with Ruiz, Brando has five surviving offspring. That we know of.
The 79-year-old was last seen on the big screen in 2001's The Score. Oft acclaimed as the greatest actor of his generation, Brando was awarded his Oscars, Best Actor trophies both, for On the Waterfront and The Godfather.