Anna Anka faces split with Hollywood husband after latest row

Singer-songwriter Paul Anka has filed for divorce from his Swedish wife Anna following a violent spat at the couple’s Hollywood home last week.

• Anna Anka conjures bygone era of Bad Girls and Mad Men (13 Oct 09)
• Party distances itself from Hollywood wife (18 Sep 09)
• Hollywood wife lays in to Swedish men (17 Sep 09)

The recently crowned queen of Swedish reality television called police last Thursday after she and her husband became embroiled in an argument over Anna’s decision to fire one of the couple’s housekeepers, the Aftonbladet newspaper reports.

The following day, the 68-year-old Paul Anka filed for divorce from his 38-year-old Swedish wife, whom he married in 2008.

“They’ve been fighting like cats and dogs recently,” a source with insight into the relationships told the newspaper.

Anna recently catapulted herself into Sweden’s celebrity spotlight through her starring role in the TV3 reality television programme Svenska Hollywoodfruar (“Swedish Hollywood Wives”).

She then ignited a heated public debate in Sweden by publishing an article on the opinion website Newsmill in which she criticized Swedish dads for “their nappy-changing and equality”.

She went on to suggest that a man’s infidelity is ultimately his wife’s fault.

“Sexually it is the woman's responsibility to ensure that the man is satisfied, if she does not then she only has herself to blame if he is unfaithful,” she wrote.

Anna Anka’s ratings success prompted TV3 to offer her a Christmas-themed special consisting of six episodes, the last of which is set to go head to head with public broadcaster SVT’s annual Christmas Eve broadcast of Donald Duck and other Disney cartoons – one of the most-watched television programmes in Sweden.

According to the celebrity news site TMZ.com, police arrived at the Anka residence after receiving two calls of a domestic dispute last Thursday.

Anna said she felt threatened by her husband, claiming Paul had pointed a gun at her. However, a subsequent review of the mansion’s surveillance tape showed no evidence that such an episode took place.

Anna Anka has moved out of the couple's home, however, and is currently living in the Four Seasons hotel, where crews from TV3 continue filming her Christmas special.

According to TV3, the taping is continuing as planned, but Paul Anka will not be featured in any of the episodes.

“The idea never was to have Paul participate. This is about Anna Anka’s Christmas,” TV3 spokesperson Max Lagerbäck told the Expressen newspaper.