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Wife And Mother Battle Over Johnny Ramone Estate


katie_sane

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A BITTER battle over Johnny Ramone's estate has pit Stella Cummings, the 79-year-old mother of the legendary guitarist, against his wife, Linda Cummings.

Stella Cummings claims that Johnny, who died in September of prostate cancer, had promised her $2,500 a month, but she suspects Linda somehow convinced the punk rock pioneer to leave her out of his will.

"I think she got him to change the will when he was sick, but I don't have any proof,it's been one big nightmare for me. Two weeks before my son passed away, he said, 'Linda will send you a check every week.' I haven't received a penny from her. And she's used foul language to me. It's disgusting. She said, 'You'll never get a penny of this money.' It's not her money, it's my son's money. She can't give me something to survive on?"

Stella, who works as a cashier at a supermarket in Florida, is especially upset because Linda did not invite her to Johnny's cremation service.

"That's my son!" Stella wailed. "And I was close to my son. I was never told about it . . . Johnny was stupid to trust her to do what's right. She's like a vulture."

But when we reached Linda at her Los Angeles home, she offered no apologies. "Everyone always leaves everything to their wife," Linda said. "Her son made every decision, and everyone who knew Johnny Ramone knows that. No one ever told him anything. She wasn't left anything in the will. That was her son's choice, not mine.

"She has every bit of information from my estate lawyer to her estate lawyer," Linda continued. "If she can't accept his decision, that's her problem. It's very sad that she called a newspaper about this. Johnny was such a private person and I know he's looking down at her and saying, 'This is disgraceful.'

"It is really despicable and disgusting to do this to him. It's my money and Johnny's money. Johnny Ramone would be livid if he knew his mother was doing this. We are private people. She should get on with her own life and stop being a Ramones groupie."

This isn't the first time that Linda has been a source of contention between Johnny and someone close to him. Johnny became irrevocably estranged from fellow band member Joey Ramone when Linda, who was then Joey's girlfriend, left him for Johnny, whom she married in 1994.

Johnny and Joey went on playing together for years, but still weren't speaking to each other when Joey died of cancer in 2001.

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