Mirage headliner Fator, wife will stay together professionally
Mirage headliner Terry Fator and his wife Taylor Makakoa are heading for divorce a year after he credited her with putting his life back together.
They announced the end of their four-year marriage Friday in a statement, saying a trial separation failed.
“Taylor saved my life,” Fator told a “Conversations with Norm” audience last March when they appeared together on stage at Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
“She saved me,” Fator told me. “I was psychologically destroyed.”
Fator revealed that he grew up in a cult headed by his tyrannical father.
“She was the key to me becoming the man I was meant to be. My mind was like a broken jigsaw puzzle.”
Before agreeing to do the show in March, Fator had an unusual request: Could his wife appear with him to clear up misconceptions about the beginning of the romance?
He told the audience, “I want people to know Taylor’s not a home wrecker. We were fully separated before I asked Taylor out.”
She added, emphatically, “I’m not a home wrecker.”
“We had everything in common,” she said. “Spirituality and everything. Our dads were similar in certain ways.”
Fator said he was “emotionally destroyed” at the time he met the Hawaiian-born model. “My mind was like an 8-year-old boy.”
Fator said he broke up with her 10 times before they got married.
“After I won ‘America’s Got Talent,’ I said to myself that I was not going to do what Hollywood would do. Within two years I was divorced, I had let go of my entire staff and was married to a young model,” he said.
Makakoa, 26, will remain in the show as Fator’s stage assistant and will continue her role as president of the company.
She had toured with him during 2008 as he prepared for his 10-year residency at The Mirage.
Fator, who turns 50 in June, told the media in 2010 that he took her out on her 21st birthday, July 6. He had called media members July 4 to announce his divorce from his first wife, Melinda, was final.
KLAS CHANGES HANDS
CBS affiliate KLAS-TV, Channel 8 is under new ownership for the first time in 37 years.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group’s purchase from Landmark Media Enterprises went through Friday.
Based in Irving, Texas, Nexstar had announced in November it was buying KLAS for $145 million.
On another front, news director Ron Comings addressed some recent speculation surrounding anchor Denise Valdez’s new contract and the status of Paula Francis.
“The rumor is not true,” said Comings via email. “We renewed Denise several months ago, and there were absolutely no discussions about assigning her other newscasts,” he said.
Comings added, “We are currently talking with Paula about a new contract, and it’s our intention to keep her at 8NewsNow.”
THE SCENE AND HEARD
The Mob Museum marked Valentine’s Day by announcing “Sleeping with the Mob” wedding packages. Former Mayor Oscar Goodman, a mob attorney for much of his career, and ex-mobster Frank Cullotta will perform the ceremony in the museum, a former federal courthouse where organized crime hearings were held. Up to 50 guests can be part of an overnight slumber party at the museum.
SIGHTINGS
Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper, at the Jerry Tarkanian fan memorial at Thomas & Mack Center on Wednesday. He tweeted: “Legends never die. Nobody will be better than Tark the ‘Shark’ Thank you for everything you have done for UNLV and the Las Vegas Arena. You are truly a Legend!” … Dallas Mavericks guard Rajon Rondo and Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders, at separate tables at La Cave (Wynn) on Friday night. … Todd Clever, captain of the U.S. Olympic rugby team, and Nate Ebner of the New England Patriots, partying at Chateau Nightclub & Rooftop (Paris) on Friday.
THE PUNCH LINE
“The pot surplus is so bad in Washington right now that the governor is saying they may have to deploy Willie Nelson to the area.” — Jimmy Kimmel
Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or email him at norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke
