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Morgan Freeman, wife divorcing after 24 years

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman and his wife of 24 years, Myrna Colley-Lee, a costume designer for theater, have filed for divorce, Freeman’s business partner says.

The news comes after Freeman, 71, and a female passenger, Demaris Meyer, 48, of Memphis were in a car accident Aug. 3 near Freeman’s home in Tallahatchie County, Miss. The actor suffered a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder injuries.

Bill Luckett, who co-owns a restaurant and blues club in Clarksdale, Miss., with Freeman, says he and Freeman have been friends for some time with Meyer, an executive assistant at FedEx in Memphis.

Luckett says the divorce was in the works before the accident.

Freeman had surgery Aug. 4 on his left arm and hand, but his recovery is expected to take months. Luckett says Freeman will have to wear a neck brace for six to eight months, and his arm will take several months to heal.

“The doctors have said it will be six months to a year before he plays golf again,” Luckett says. “He hates that.”

Reports saying Freeman had a severed nerve in his arm were incorrect, Luckett says. “Nothing was severed. A nerve can be bruised or stretched. It was injured but not severed.”

Aug. 5, Freeman received visits from family members. He could be released in the next few days from the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis.