The Gumbel Show

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/15/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

There was a palpable tension in New York's Westchester State Court on Thursday, where the terms of the divorce between Bryant and June Gumbel were being hammered out. Attorneys for "The Early Show" host are trying to convince the judge that Bryant should have equal access to the house in Westchester that he once shared with his wife of 26 years and their two children. Bryant now wants partial use of the place for himself and his new companion, Hilary Quinlan. June's attorney, Barry Slotnick, called the request "absurd," according to New York's Daily News. Slotnick wondered why Bryant, who has been called a "serial adulterer" by his estranged wife and reportedly welched on his monthly support payments to June, now finds it "important that he bring his paramour around." Countered Bryant's attorney, Stanley Arkin: It's his half of the house . . . it's a piece of his life as much as it is hers."