LOS ANGELES (Will Smith Fans Website) -
Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith have filed a petition for a restraining order against Mike Cooley in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday (July 9).
The Men in Black star claims that the 66-year-old Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Cooley, who worked as a caretaker of Smith's property until late 2001, has stalked and harassed him over the past month "apparently because he is angry that he and his wife were fired by plaintiffs and in an attempt to extort money from plaintiffs," according to the complaint. Cooley's wife served as the family's nanny.
"Defendant's conduct has become more and more extreme," reads the petition. "First, he threatened to sue and 'go to the press.' Then, he started lurking around plaintiffs' home and the park at which their young children play. Now, he is actually making contact with the children, calling them towards his truck, even though he as no reason to do so other than to scare plaintiffs. Defendant's questions about plaintiff's security arrangements also can have no purpose other than scare plaintiffs. Defendant's conduct is causing distress to plaintiffs."
After firing the Cooleys, Smith said Cooley had asked for "outrageous and unwarranted sums of money" and threatened to go to the National Enquirer tabloid with "embarrassing allegations (all of which are false)," according to the papers.
Smith relays one specific incident that allegedly happened on July 1: "He actually stopped his truck not far from where the children were playing. He began to call out of his truck to plaintiff's son (who is approximately 4 years old) to come to his truck. He called the child by name and said words to the effect of, 'Come say 'Hi' to Mike.' The child started to run towards defendant and his truck, but Steve Hastings, a security guard who joined the children at the park due to plaintiffs' fears about defendant, got between the child and defendant.
Smith has two children, Jaden, age 4, and Willow, age 2. He is asking the court to institute a personal conduct order -- which, in brief, means Cooley can't contact, harass, or threaten him or his family, and a stay-away order of 150 yards from Smith's home or work and from his children's school or child care facilities.
In other news, Will Smith performed for thousands of people yesterday at a free 10-minute performance in Stockholm, Sweden.
The actor/rapper was accompanied by DJ Biz Markie and performed Black Suits Comin,� the title track from his hit movie, �Men In Black II.� As well, Smith performed a medley of his previous hits. At one point during the performance the rapper had to ask the crowd to �settle down� after a number of people were pulled from the crowd as a mass of fans were pressed against a guardrail at the front of the stage. No injuries were reported.
Following the performance Smith joined a few hundred guests at a special screening of �Men In Black II.�
