A Boston filmmaker who directed two episodes of Twin Peaks recently settled acrimonious divorce proceedings with her real estate magnate husband, who she found was hiding the extent of her net worth when he exceeded half a million dollars bought for decoy ducks.
Ernestine Rathborne, 72, and Philip Y. DeNormandie, 75, finalized their divorce Feb. 2 after 50 years of marriage, completing a process that began amicably in 2017 but turned hostile when Rathborn discovered her husband’s $532,964.50 dollars on decoy ducks to supplement his already extensive collection, but neglected to include them in his financial statements.
The discovery led Rathborne – who goes by the name of Tina – to suspect that DeNormandie was not being honest about the extent of her family’s finances and property, and the attribution began shortly thereafter. DeNormandie called Rathborne lazy, untouchable, and spoiled, and accused her of forcing him to marry her by getting her pregnant. In return, she said she was afraid of his temper and controlling nature.
Both denied the other’s allegations, but as proceedings continued, it turned out that DeNormandie’s estimate of her $90 million net worth was about $130 million off a reality that included 139 properties — instead of the 18, who Tina thought she owned — and a whopping $3 million decoy ducks.
Ultimately, the couple split their estate in half, with Rathborne walking away with his $7.5 million Cambridge home and 100 properties across Louisiana, while DeNormandie kept properties, including her private Maine Island, along with his decoy duck collection.
Ernestine Rathborne, 72, who calls herself Tina and has directed two Twin Peaks episodes
Philip Y. DeNormandie, 75, has built a large real estate empire and a collection of decoy ducks
The couple first met when they were both students at Harvard University in the 1970s and married in 1973, shortly after graduating.
“We loved doing the same things,” Rathborne told the Boston Globe. “We loved hiking and sailing. He’s a nature boy. I loved taking him for walks in the woods.”
After buying a house in Harvard Square, Rathborne later moved to New York and then Los Angeles to pursue a film career and their relationship suffered until they first divorced in 1987.
“We stood sobbing in front of the judge,” she told the Globe, recalling the judge asking if they were sure they wanted to end things, and DeNormandie replied, “It’s the geography, Your Honor. It’s geography.’
Rathborne directed two episodes of Twin Peaks in 1990 before the couple reconciled when she became pregnant.
After having two children, Rathborne raised her as a homemaker and says she has been “fulfilled” in her career.
“I found the work I was born to do and I longed for children,” she told the Globe. “I’ve had the privilege of being a mother. I wasn’t looking over my shoulder.’
During these years, DeNormandie built an expansive real estate profile with over 100 profiles in New England and the South, including Boston’s historic Blackstone Block, home to the Union Oyster House, and the luxury real estate enclave of Lewis Wharf on Boston Harbor.
When things got messy in the middle of her second divorce, DeNormandie remembered those years very differently than Rathborne.
“I made all the money. She was an incredibly capable person who didn’t do anything,” he said. “She had help all the time, seven days a week.”
He told the Globe that she has a personal cook, a secretary and a housekeeper and spends at least $80,000 a year on a dog walker to brush her pets’ teeth.
One of the many decoy ducks in Philip Y. DeNormandie’s extensive collection
One of Philip Y. DeNormandie’s decoy ducks that he began collecting when he was 10 years old
Rathborne said she started divorce proceedings in 2017 after years of growing apart, but after she began to suspect DeNormandie was withholding information about her assets, she said she was divorcing him because she was afraid of his aggression and controlling behavior . She recalled an incident where he refused to let her go to the bathroom during a four-hour drive.
In response to DeNormandie’s accusations that she was a spendthrift, Rathborne scoffed.
“I didn’t spend my time on Newbury Street,” she told the Globe. “I was deeply upset when I read this characterization of me.”
Her attorney, Robert O’Regan, also found his claims ridiculous.
“Here’s a man who would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on art and wildlife collectibles and in some cases doesn’t unwrap them from the shipping materials and he’s complaining that Tina lived an extravagant lifestyle?” he told the Globe.
As for these ducks, DeNormandie said he started collecting them when he was 10 years old while on a family vacation in Cape Cod.
“We would drive down the Cape in the summer, and I would ride my bike and go to antique shops,” he said. “The only thing I liked was duck bait since I was about 10. I’ve built a huge collection.”
The couple’s $7.5 million Cambridge home, which Rathborne won in the divorce settlement
The couple owned the luxury real estate enclave of Lewis Wharf on Boston Harbor
Sixty-five years later, those wooden ducks cost DeNormandie tens of millions after tipping Rathborne off that he was undervaluing their fortune.
After she discovered the half-million dollar duck purchase and the divorce went awry, the couple hired a special master, Anthony Doniger, to arbitrate the dispute. Both agreed to accept Dongier’s decision, but he said getting DeNormandie to provide financial documents was like “pulling teeth.”
When the full net worth was finally revealed — $221 million — DeNormandie said the ruling was “completely biased,” according to Globe, while his attorney insisted the property’s value was just appraised differently at first.
“I was hurt mainly because I had no idea,” she told the Globe, recalling being “amazed” to hear the full amount.
Both agreed to split their value down the middle at $110,379,691 apiece, with DeNormandie agreeing to pay $600,000 in Rathborne’s legal fees for extending the divorce by not disclosing his full finances.
And though Rathborne walked away with her Cambridge home, he was allowed to keep her $2.6 million home in Antigua.