Terrence Howard’s ex-wife drops assault claim

Terrence Howard’s ex-wife is dropping a lawsuit accusing him of assault.

The ‘Empire’ actor’s second spouse, Michelle Ghent, sued the star in 2015 and claimed her former husband of strangling her during an argument and threatened to kill her while on vacation in Costa Rica, but according to court documents obtained by TMZ, she has now filed a request to dismiss the case.

And an insider told the website that Terrence – who had claimed there had been mutual combat between them – hadn’t had to pay any settlement to have the case dropped.

Instead, Michelle decided to walk away from the row after lawyers’ fees grew too high to continue.

However, Michelle wants the suit dismissed without prejudice, meaning she could refile it again in the future.

In 2015, the 47-year-old actor – who married Michelle in January 2010, but split from 11 months later, with their divorce finalised in May 2013 – had their settlement agreement thrown out on the grounds he signed it under duress.

Michelle had wanted the actor to pay more than his current $5,800-a-month agreement because of his recent success on ‘Empire’, but the judge agreed she had blackmailed him with threats of releasing naked photos and videos.

However, the judge also admonished Terrence over allegations of domestic abuse while delivering the ruling.

They said: "Terrence is a bully, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be bullied."

The ‘Iron Man’ actor – who has sons Qirin, 20 months, and Hero, four months, with wife Miranda Pak, and three other children from a past relationship – previously claimed in court that he signed his divorce settlement with Michelle under duress as she threatened to leak embarrassing footage of him, as well as audio of him engaging in phone sex with other women.

Michelle’s lawyer asked Terrence why he said he loved her in an October 2013 phone call when he claimed she tried to extort him just a year earlier.

He responded: "I loved her, and I was afraid of her also."