Quinton Aaron says he learned during recovery from a spinal stroke in January that his wife was still married to another man, a finding he says left her unable to make medical decisions for him and led doctors to remove her from around him.
The actor, 41, said he was in a coma for four days and needed help breathing for a month after the stroke. He said his family told him that Margarita DeLeon was still legally married and could not act on his behalf, and he said an attorney later found records showing she was still married to the man she wed in 1992.
Aaron said he and DeLeon had married two years ago at a wedding chapel in Los Angeles after she told him throughout their relationship that she had been divorced for more than a decade. He said she even told the person arranging the ceremony that she had the divorce papers and could email a decree. “The entire time we were together, she told me she had been divorced for 10 plus years,” Aaron said. “She even told the person where we were getting married, ‘Oh yes, I have all the documents. I can email over to you the divorce decree.’”
DeLeon disputed his account and said she was unaware her divorce had not been finalized. In a separate account, her husband said they both believed their divorce filing had gone through years ago, and he filed for divorce in February. Aaron said the revelation was one of the hardest parts of an already frightening medical crisis. “That’s my biggest mistake, you know?” he said.
The dispute lands as Aaron, known for his role in the 2009 film The Blind Side, is now in physical therapy at an Atlanta hospital and working to regain his ability to walk. The medical stakes made the marital issue more than a private breakup: Aaron said the legal status of his wife affected who could speak for him while he was gravely ill, and he said that is what ultimately pushed doctors to keep DeLeon away. “And that’s what eventually led to the doctors removing her from around me,” he said. The unanswered question now is not whether the marriage was troubled, but how a couple who both say they believed a divorce had already been handled ended up legally married at the center of a hospital crisis.