'Multimillionaire' bride says she's had enough

LOS ANGELES -- Competing for the chance to marry a stranger on television may have been unwise, but Darva Conger says she has taken enough flak for participating in "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire."

"Whatever criticism I deserve I have taken, and have been through more than enough for the poor choice that I made," Conger said Wednesday on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"On a large scale, on a continuum, was it that big a deal? I don't think so. ... No one was hurt, no one was killed. Worse things happen every day."

Conger, 34, filed for an annulment Tuesday in Nevada. She said her marriage to Rick Rockwell was a fraud and that he never mentioned having "a history of problems" with women.

Rockwell, 42, selected Conger from among 50 contestants on the Fox TV special. They were wed instantly in Las Vegas at the conclusion of the Feb. 15 show with more than 22 million viewers watching. Both signed an agreement before the show that they could annul the marriage.

Despite the smash ratings, Fox canceled a rebroadcast and swore off a sequel after it was disclosed that a former fiancee had taken out a restraining order against Rockwell in 1991 for allegedly hitting and threatening her. He has denied the allegations.

Conger told King that attention has cost her her job as an emergency room nurse, her dignity, her privacy and time with her ailing brother, who died in the days after the show aired.

"She's looking for a new job," said Kevin Allyn, a spokesman for Conger. "But she was absolutely shocked to find out she was fired. There were no grounds, so she is very agitated and exploring legal grounds."

Conger has said she only went on the show as a lark.

She said in court papers filed Tuesday that the marriage was never consummated and she and Rockwell barely saw each other on their Caribbean honeymoon cruise.

The papers also described the marriage as a "mutual mistake of fact and was entered into solely for an entertainment purpose."

"Neither the contestants nor the show's producers seriously contemplated creating a proper marriage," Conger said.

She and Rockwell both signed an agreement before the show that they could annul the marriage.

Fox declined to comment and attempts to reach Rockwell were unsuccessful. His home phone number was recently disconnected and he did not immediately respond to a request for comment left with his publicist.

The Arizona Republic reported on Tuesday that Rockwell, a former stand-up comedian, will tell jokes at the Improv in Tempe this Friday and Saturday.

"I had two alternatives: Crawl under a rock and just go away, or try to do something with it," he told the paper. "I don't know how long this will last."

Clark County, Nev., where Conger filed her annulment petition, has no residency requirements for such an action, although it takes four to six weeks on average for an annulment to be approved there.