Sports Radio Service


		Babo girlfriend and steroids publicity keys to separation By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin June 9, 2009

	SAN FRANCISCO--Liz Watson soon to be ex-wife to ex-Giant outfielder Barry Bonds only disclosed irreconcilable differences for the reasons of filing a legal separation Los Angeles County Superior Court documents show. What those documents don't spell out is the reasons other than irreconcilable differences being that Bonds trisk with former girlfriend Kimberly Bell during the marriage finally melted it down over time. The publicity about the Bell-Bonds relationship which lasted between 1994-2003 and the cash payments to Bell by Bonds for a home he was paying her to buy in Arizona out of baseball card show money only made it worse for Watson and put strain and pressure on the marriage. Bonds paid Bell cash installments up to $9000 monies which were considered to be under investigation by the IRS which went as unclaimed earnings from Bonds baseball card shows and Bell paid for the mortgage on the home in Arizona with that cash. After Bonds stopped paying on the mortgage the relationship between Bell and Bonds soured and Bell was later forced to foreclose on the home and move back to San Mateo County where the two originally met in Bonds playing days with the Giants. Bonds and Watson married in 1998 at the San Francisco Ritz Carlton Hotel in front of 240 guests. The other embarrassment to Watson was when the Playboy pictorial came out on Bell as "Barry Bonds ex-girlfriend exposes all including steroids". This was the breaking point of the marriage for Watson besides in addition to what some bloggers and sports talk radio stations have said Bonds temper on Watson at times added to the fuel. Humiliated Watson wanted out of the marriage and her social life became an embarrassment after the issue ran with details explained by Bell of Bell's intimacy with Bonds in a Playboy interview. The one issue that stuck in Watson's craw was the Bell statement that "steroids was decreasing Bonds sex drive" and that Bonds was becoming more angry with his steroid use and that Bonds had admitted to Bell that he was using steroids. Bonds negative publicity about his steroid use while supposedly unknowingly using it and the gray areas that were being spun on national TV and around the sports world further added to the strain for Watson. With the money Bonds gave to Bell for the Arizona mortgage payments, the relationship he had with Bell, and the steroids trial and publicity it all came crashing down on Watson's relationship with baseball's home run king. The forced retirement and Bonds bitterness of having been forced out also strained matters in 2007 and when no other team wanted to sign Bonds Watson knew that the lifestyle they had and the marriage that she wanted and expected was seizing quickly. The arguments continued and Watson told Bonds she would file for legal separation and Bonds now will be facing his second divorce. His first marriage to Sun Bonds lasted between 1988-1994 they had two children Nikolai and Shikari. The Barry Bonds BALCO/steroids trial is expected to resume in San Francisco Federal Court in July no date has been set yet by the hearing court judge U.S.District Court Judge Susan Illston. Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin are covering the Barry Bonds steroid trial for Sportstalk radio