Was McDreamy's first marriage a nightmare?

Did Dr. McDreamy have a nightmarish first marriage?

Patrick Dempsey’s first wife accused the “Grey’s Anatomy” star of beating her, according to court papers obtained by the National Enquirer.

Rochelle “Rocky” Parker claimed that Dempsey once broke her finger in a car door and further charged that “while we were on the set of his [1987] movie ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ he beat me up because he wanted to see what it was like to beat a woman,” the tab is reporting.

Dempsey and Parker married in 1987, when he was 21 and she was 47. She filed for divorce in 1991, citing “irreconcilable differences,” reportedly after he told her that he had met another woman.

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Now, Parker is distancing herself from those accusations. After the Enquirer contacted Dempsey’s rep for comment, Parker released a statement saying that during the messy divorce she had been advised to make those accusations and others — which she now says are false.

Only days earlier, however, Parker reportedly discussed the alleged beating with the Enquirer, which quotes her as saying, “After [the alleged violence on the set of ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’] he never beat me up again” and also added that she had forgiven Dempsey because forgiveness is “the only thing that really heals us.”

Dempsey recently made headlines when he and “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star Isaiah Washington got into what has been described as an “on-set dustup.”

Britney relieved to be free of baby weight
Britney Spears has been indulging in a little retail therapy.

The “Oops, I Did It Again” crooner celebrated dropping down to a size 6 by dropping nearly $10,000 on hot clothes in one hour at Barneys in Beverly Hills, according to In Touch Weekly.

Spears specified sexy yet casual clothes — but no tracksuits, a staple of her post-pregnancy wardrobe, according to ITW, which reports that Spears loaded up on soft, clingy cashmere sweaters.

Notes from all over
Owen Wilson has been telling people that he’s single, according to US Weekly, which reports that the star was spotted flirting up a storm with actress Amber Hay at Hollywood hot spot Teddy.  . . . Prince William marred his exemplary record in a military academy after losing a machine gun. The 24-year-old heir to the throne will have to face “a severe dressing down from his superiors” after he misplaced a SA80 rifle, according to U.K. reports.  . . . Barbra Streisand isn’t going to let pro-Bush hecklers at her concerts stop her from bashing the president. “Bush is not a conservative,” the diva writes on her blog. “He’s just inept.”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com