Former Clippers Owner Donald Sterling and Wife File for Divorce

Estranged pair seek to officially end their marriage after a highly publicized fight over the NBA team, which Steve Ballmer bought for $2 billion

Well, this may not be a total shocker.

E! News confirms that 81-year-old former Clippers owner Donald Sterling and wife Shelly Sterling have filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split.

Sterling filed the court documents on Tuesday in Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, just 16 days before the couple's 60th anniversary.

His attorney, Bobby Samini, tells E! News that Sterling has also filed a "petition in the Probate Court demanding that Shelly Sterling provide an accounting of the Clipper's sale proceeds. Currently, one half of the sale price ($1 billion) is being held in an escrow account and have not been disbursed to my client."

Almost a year ago, Donald and Shelly opposed each other in probate court for control of the Clippers.

During an interview with Barbara Walters last year, Shelly vowed to fight to keep her 50 percent ownership stake in the team. "To be honest with you, I'm wondering if a wife of one of the owners, and there's 30 owners, did something like that, said those racial slurs, would they oust the husband?" she asked. "Or would they leave the husband in?"

"I don't know why I should be punished for what his actions were," she added.

Shelly was of course referring to the scandal that occurred after TMZ obtained a recording of her husband making racist remarks to his associate and rumored girlfriend V. Stiviano.

That recording triggered a series of events that resulted in the team being sold to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion against Sterling's wishes. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also banned Sterling for life from the league.

Meanwhile, Shelly told Walters at the time that she planned to divorce Donald "eventually."

"For the last 20 years, I've been seeing attorneys for a divorce," she revealed. "In fact, I have here—I just filed—I was going to file the petition. I signed the petition for a divorce. And it came to almost being filed. And then, my financial adviser and my attorney said to me, 'Not now.'"

Throughout their 60-year marriage, Shelly said her husband was "not really around a lot." She added that the billionaire real estate mogul was "emotionally abusive and verbally abusive" during their union.

"I don't love him," she told Walters. "I pity him and I feel sorry for him."

—Reporting by Baker Machado