Who Is Trey Parker? New Details About The 'South Park' Co-Creator Who Filed For Divorce
South Park co-creator Trey Parker has filed for divorce from his wife of five years.
South Park co-creator Trey Parker has filed for divorce from his wife of five years, Boogie Tillmon, in Los Angeles. The couple has one daughter together, Betty, who is 5 years old. Parker, 49, filed the documents Tuesday. According to the documents, Parker lists the date of separation as Feb. 28 citing irreconcilable differences as the cause of the split.
The animator, director, and composer is asking for joint legal and physical custody of Betty. He is also seeking to terminate any spousal support due to the former couple’s pre-nuptial agreement, according to the documents obtained by The Blast.
Parker and Tillmon were regularly seen together on social media, sharing photos together along with their daughter. So who is Trey Parker? Here’s what we know about him and his divorce.
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1. He was born in Denver.
Parker was born Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III on Oct. 19, 1969, in Denver, Colorado and grew up in the Conifer, Colorado area. His mom, Sharon Parker, is an insurance broker, and his father, Randy Parker, is a geologist. The character Stan Marsh is largely based on him.
His parents share the first names and occupations of the "South Park" characters Randy and Sharon Marsh. He has an older sister named Shelly, also the character name of Stan Marsh's older sister.
Randy, Sharon, Shelley are the names of "South Park" kid Stan Marsh's functionally dysfunctional family, and the names of Trey Parker's real family. His real older sister, Shelly, really did beat him up. (“And now it's payback time.”) His real dad is a real geologist. His real mum was actually "more like Cartman's mom, but without the prostitution."
2. Parker was married twice.
This is Parker’s second marriage, as he previously was married to Japanese socialite Emma Sugiyama in 2006 in a ceremony officiated by Norman Lear. Parker ended his four-year marriage to Sugiyama in 2010. The reason for their split? An article on Vice suggests Parker “broke down over the mid-life crisis he was having with ‘American stripper’ Boogie Tillmon.”
3. He met Matt Stone at college.
Parker was interested in film and music as a child. He attended Berklee College of Music before transferring to the University of Colorado, where he majored in music. That’s also where he first met Matt Stone.
The two collaborated on various short films, and starred in a feature-length musical, titled "Cannibal! The Musical" (1993). But he never graduated from the university; they offered him an honorary degree, which he said he would only accept "if it was for astrophysics."
4. He co-created "South Park."
Parker is known for co-creating the animated sitcom "South Park" in 1997 along with his creative partner Matt Stone. "South Park" premiered in August 1997 and immediately became one of the most popular shows on cable television, averaging consistently between 3.5 and 5.5 million viewers. The show was so popular that by the end of 1998 — just a year after they started — Comedy Central had sold over $150 million worth of merchandise for the show.
"South Park," the animated series which follows the misadventures of four irreverent grade-schoolers in the quiet, dysfunctional town of South Park, Colorado, launched its 20th season on Comedy Central this September.
The show has also won several Emmys for its ingenuity and hilarious comedy, as well as dealing with real-life issues such as politics, stereotyping and racism. Parker is also the writer behind most of the songs in "South Park." "South Park" has continued to become an enterprise worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
5. He still writes every episode.
According to Vice, Parker still writes and directs every episode of "South Park" himself. They’ve also had to convince Comedy Central to allow them to do what they want with the show.
6. He’s fought to keep the show their own.
"South Park" frequently covers topics of a taboo subject matter and has generated controversy and debate throughout the world over the course of its 22 seasons. Stone and Parker reply to the controversies of their show by regarding themselves as "equal opportunity offenders.” They reject the notion of political correctness, and have said that "no particular topic or group of people will be exempt from mockery and satire, out of fairness to any person or group of people who have been ridiculed before."
“Fight is all we've done since the first season, since doing the episode 'Stan Has a Gay Dog',” Stone said in 2006. “It was a struggle to get them to understand the humour.”
7. He’s won plenty of awards.
Parker has been the recipient of various awards over the course of his career, including five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on "South Park," as well as four Tony Awards and a Grammy Award for "The Book of Mormon."
8. He co-created an award-winning musical.
Stone and Parker collaborated on the award-winning Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.” The musical satire opened in March 2011 with the book, lyrics and music produced by Parker, Robert Lopez and Stone. In its first year on Broadway, the musical received nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Director for Parker; the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Musical; five Drama Desk Awards; four Outer Critics Circle Awards; the Drama League Award for Best Musical, as well as the GRAMMY Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
9. He's wealthy.
To date, "Book of Mormon" has grossed over $500 million worldwide from ticket sales, merchandise and more, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Not to mention "South Park."
By 2008, "South Park" was already pulling in $34 million a season in advertising. In 2004, syndication rights went for $100 million. Consider that the duo were smart enough to negotiate themselves 50 percent of everything digital when Comedy Central signed them up, and then multiply those pre-streaming era revenues by what they're now creaming off from their ongoing domination of iTunes, Netflix, etc.
Add to that the fact that "Book Of Mormon" — which they own outright — is, via its four franchises, turning over $19 million a month according to Forbes Magazine. And merchandising? Brother, we haven't even started to talk about merchandising.
10. Parker is a Republican — or not?
Radio host Larry Elder said the comedy duo announced their political persuasion while he was presenting them with a "freedom" award from Norman Lear's left-wing campaign group, the People for the American Way Foundation.
Elder had tweeted, “Parker & Matt Stone of @SouthPark asked me to introduce them when they received a ‘freedom’ award from Norman Lear's organization. After they graciously accepted, they said, ‘We're republicans.’ Nervous laughter. They repeated, ‘No, seriously, we're republicans.’ #Priceless.”
Maria Lianos-Carbone is author of "Oh Baby! A Mom's Self-Care Survival Guide for the First Year" and publisher of amotherworld.com.
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