Ariana Reyes, Contributing Photographer

Billionaire entertainment mogul David Geffen, the namesake of the David Geffen School of Drama, came under scrutiny over the summer after a lawsuit revealed allegations of exploitation made by his estranged husband David Armstrong.

Geffen filed for divorce from Armstrong on May 16 after learning of his drug abuse and infidelity, heralding the end of their two-year marriage. Two months later, on July 22, Armstrong — who also goes by the name Donovan Michaels — filed the suit against Geffen, accusing him of violating an oral agreement of lifelong financial support.

The lawsuit says the couple met in October 2016 through a dating website — Seeking, previously called SeekingArrangement — that connects people looking for “mutually beneficial relationships.” The two married in 2023 without a prenuptial agreement, according to Armstrong’s complaint.

According to the lawsuit, Geffen paid Armstrong $10,000 for sex the first night they met. From that moment on, Armstrong alleged, Geffen transported him “across the globe as his paid sex worker.” The lawsuit describes the relationship between Geffen and Armstrong as “abusive,” claiming Geffen’s exploitation was not limited to “physical control.”

In a response to the lawsuit filed on Aug. 13, Geffen’s lawyers called Armstrong’s allegations a “ludicrous and contrived attempt to humiliate Geffen in the court of public opinion.” Geffen’s filing says the pair began dating in mid-2020 and that during the course of their relationship Geffen was “happy” to provide Armstrong with anything he requested.

At a celebration last week for the Drama School’s 100th anniversary, affiliates of the institution bearing Geffen’s name were indifferent to the allegations against him. During the outdoor event, speakers referred to Geffen’s contribution to the school under the leadership of Dean James Bundy DRA ’95.

Bundy, who is retiring at the end of June, told the News he was grateful for Geffen’s “generosity and vision.”

Geffen’s name was attached to what was previously called the Yale School of Drama in honor of his $150 million donation to the school in 2021. His contribution has been praised as the largest gift on record in the history of American theater and, since the 2021-22 academic year, has enabled all students to attend the graduate school tuition-free.

“The legacy of the School of Drama is larger than any one person,” Jazzmin Bonner DRA ’27, a second-year student at the Drama School, said.

Bonner said she was unaware of Armstrong’s lawsuit before speaking with the News. After hearing about the case, she continued to emphasize the role of community at the school.

“It’s actually about the people who are here today and all the things that we’re going to do,” Bonner said.

Geffen is best known for his success as a music and film producer. After co-founding Asylum Records in 1971, he went on to establish or co-found three more production companies: Geffen Records, DGC Records and DreamWorks Records.

Former Yale President Peter Salovey told the News in 2021 that Geffen had been connected to Yale since teaching a course in arts management in the 1978-79 academic year.

In an interview last week, Bundy did not detail the specifics of how the Drama School’s relationship with the David Geffen Foundation initially developed.

“Both the University and the David Geffen Foundation saw an opportunity, not only to serve early career artists in training by lowering the financial barriers to their access to the school, but also to set an example for other arts training institutions to follow,” Bundy said.

According to a page on the school’s website dedicated to Geffen, the producer has a history of donating to institutions across the country, including the UCLA School of Medicine, which was named after him in 2002.

Since Geffen’s contribution to the Drama School, other drama schools have followed Yale’s example. Bundy said it has been “gratifying” to see the emergence of more tuition-free MFA degrees, including programs at Juilliard, Brown and the University of Southern California.

Bundy declined to comment on Armstrong’s lawsuit against Geffen and whether it has had an effect on the school.

“The University has said all that it’s going to say about that matter,” Bundy said.

At the time of the interview, Yale had not commented publicly about the lawsuit against Geffen. University spokesperson Karen Peart contacted the News after this article’s initial publication, writing in a statement without naming Geffen that Yale would not comment on “personal matters.”

The statement continued: “We remain grateful for the landmark gift that made it possible to eliminate tuition for all degree and certificate drama students, removing financial barriers to access.”

Despite the publicity garnered by the lawsuit, some Drama School community members said they did not think it would have an impact on the school’s reputation.

Elizabeth Bolster, the lead wardrobe supervisor at the Yale Repertory Theatre, said Geffen’s impact on the school beyond his financial contribution is limited.

“He wasn’t a student here,” Bolster said. “It would be different if he was a student or had been a person in charge of the Drama School at some point in time, but he is just a donor who gave us money, which was very generous of him.”

Bolster, who has been at the school for 24 years, said she thought its name change in 2021 was “shocking,” although she appreciated the financial relief Geffen provided to students.

Catherine Sheehy DRA ’92 DRA ’99, the chair of the Drama School’s program in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, echoed that reaction to the donation and name change.

“I think that there’s a lot of nostalgia that people, including me, have for the way things were,” said Sheehy, who graduated from the school before it was renamed.

But Sheehy still acknowledged the impact of Geffen’s gift on the experience of future students.

“Student indebtedness was a serious problem,” Sheehy said, referring to the previous tuition. Now, she added, “people believe that they could actually reach for a dream to be here.”

Bundy said the effect of the school’s name change “pales in comparison” to the “huge shift of affordability” due to Geffen’s gift. 

When asked about the influence of Geffen’s name on the legacy of the school, Bundy said: “In time, the question will be moot, because there will be nobody associated with the school who knew it as anything other than the David Geffen School of Drama.”

Neither Geffen’s nor Armstrong’s lawyers immediately responded to the News’ requests for comment.

Geffen’s divorce hearing is scheduled for Nov. 14.

Update, Sept. 26: This story has been updated with a statement from a Yale spokesperson.