The case of Mario Williams and the $785,000 engagement ring has come to an end.
Williams, the Bills defensive end who sued ex-fiancee Erin Marzouki when she refused to give back the pricey engagement ring he gave her, has announced in a joint statement that the two of them have settled their differences. Williams apologized for suing her, while she apologized that text messages from him were released to the media.
“Mr. Williams apologizes for initiating the lawsuit. Ms. Marzouki did not deserve the media backlash she received as a result of this lawsuit, because it in no way describes her good character,” said the statement, which was provided to the Buffalo News. “Mr. Williams believes that Ms. Marzouki is a great person, and he regrets how their engagement ended. Ms. Marzouki regrets that after the lawsuit was filed, certain text messages were released by her lawyer without her knowledge that were taken out of context by the media. Ms. Marzouki believes that the media reports do not reflect the good character of Mr. Williams.”
Other details of the settlement, such as whether she gets to keep the ring (or gets to keep some or all of the money from a sale of the ring) have not been divulged.
If any good can come of this messy case, perhaps other NFL players will see it as a warning. There are reasons that athletes who make tens of millions of dollars often go broke, and a propensity to spend absurd amounts of money on jewelry is one of those reasons.