Days after the murder of George Floyd in May — for which ex-police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all charges last week — his then-wife, Kellie May Xiong Chauvin, filed for divorce from her husband.
The former wife of Derek Chauvin legally separated from him on May 28th, just three days after George Floyd died at the hands of the former police officer who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and caused his tragic death.
Kellie May Xiong Chauvin had been crowned Mrs. Minnesota in 2019 at the age of 43.
In 2018, she appeared in the local newspaper where she spoke about how bullies at school used to call her “ugly” after she and her family moved to the US from Thailand, where they had fled as refugees from Laos in 1977.
She confessed: “They say ‘land of the free,’ but I still didn’t feel like we were free. We didn’t know English. My parents didn’t want us to leave the house because they didn’t trust the world. You land into this brand-new world, and you don’t know what to expect, and so we were always kept inside.”
She continued: “I just knew that for myself, I was better than what people made me out to be. I know it took me a long time to realize that, but it’s never too late.”
She had met Chauvin at Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was working in radiology.
He had brought in a suspect one day and subsequently asked Kellie May out for a date.
She had some loving words for her spouse back then: “Under all that uniform, he’s just a softie. He’s such a gentleman. He still opens the door for me, still puts my coat on for me. After my divorce, I had a list of must-haves if I were ever to be in a relationship, and he fits all of them.”
The pair later tied the knot — May’s second marriage after an arranged one when she was just 17, which lasted a decade and resulted in two children.
However, on May 30th, she officially filed for divorce in Minnesota, citing an “irretrievable breakdown of her marriage” to Chauvin as the reason for their divorce.
In the days following the shocking murder of George Floyd, Kellie May’s lawyer said she was “devastated” by the news and sent her “utmost sympathy” to all those grieving — in particular the family and loved ones of George Floyd.
The divorce was granted on February 2nd, and a settlement the previous month awarded Kellie May Xiong the majority of profits from the sale of the couple’s two homes in addition to $704,000 in cash, reports said.
Derek Chauvin — who is now facing up to 40 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd — was granted $420,000.
