Is Terrence Howard a Wife Beater?

Lafayette Hill resident Terrence Howard (co-star of Lee Daniels’ The Butler, due out next week) has been accused of beating his ex-wife, Michelle Ghent, in Costa Rica, reports TMZ. According to the website, Howard and Ghent, who divorced in May, reconnected on a recent trip to the Central American country.

As divorced couples tend to do, they argued, and Howard allegedly assaulted her. As the story goes, Ghent then maced Howard and is now seeking a restraining order against him.

This is not the first time that Ghent has accused Howard of abuse. In 2011, TMZ reported that Ghent had filed court documents alleging that Howard started abusing her seven days after their 2010 wedding. Howard denied those allegations.

According to a 2009 report on The Smoking Gun, Howard was arrested in Pennsylvania in 2001 after he allegedly assaulted his first ex-wife, Lori McCommas. He was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats, harassment and stalking.

According to a police report from that incident, Howard broke down a door and then “grabbed the victim’s left arm and punched her twice with a closed fist in the left side of the face.” He eventually pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, according to the Smoking Gun story.

Howard has denied the new allegations, telling Entertainment Tonight in no uncertain terms, “I never laid my hands on that woman.”

“She’s not well and I hope that she can get well, but we’re divorced now and she should stay that way,” he added. “And I just wish the best for her, but as far as me harming somebody, anybody that knows me, I really can’t harm a fly.”