Hulk Hogan and his wife were shown having marital problems and attending therapy on their VH1 reality show, Hogan Knows Best. When wife Linda Marie Bollea filed a petition for divorce on Wednesday after 23 years of marriage it still came as a shock to Hulk Hogan, who seemed to be informed by a newspaper who called him for comment. TMZ reports that the couple has been separated for some time and that they were faking their relationship ala Kathy Griffin, for the sake of their reality show. There’s also news that Linda may be having mixed feelings about filing for divorce, and that she’s telling her husband she wants to work it out despite blindsiding him with the news that she wanted to split.

There may be a very good reason why Linda is having second thoughts. The lawyer for the family of the young man left in a coma from their son’s reckless car accident says that they may be divorcing in order to protect their assets from an inevitable civil suit:

The pending divorce between Terry and Linda Bollea could serve as a strategic move in a civil suit over the wreck that critically injured a young man riding with their son.

That’s the opinion of Kimberley Kohn, a Tampa attorney who represents Ed Graziano, the father of injured passenger John Graziano.

Mrs. Bollea, 48, filed a petition for a divorce last week against her husband of nearly 24 years, Terry Bollea, 54, who wrestled professionally as Hulk Hogan.

The divorce petition seeks a split of the couple’s assets, including a Belleair mansion and Clearwater Beach home with combined assessed values topping $7.9-million…

Kohn said Monday a divorce could be one step the Bolleas could take to try to protect assets. That’s because it could cut Terry Bollea’s assets in half, she said…

Nick Bollea faces a felony charge of reckless driving with serious bodily injury, and attorneys for John Graziano’s estranged parents have said they intend to file a lawsuit as a result of the crash.

But if the Supra and the Viper are not registered to both parents, it could be harder to go after Mrs. Bollea individually, Kohn said. The mother’s degree of control over who used the vehicles would have to be determined.

[SPTimes via Fark]

And Linda Bollea is filing for divorce right after the news came out that she was featured promoting illegal and dangerous street racing in a video called “Vehicular Lunatics,” made before her son’s accident. That video could be incredibly damaging to her in a civil case by the Grazianos.

Maybe Mrs. Bollea figured that if she divorced her husband but still stayed with him she could continue to live in the manner she was accustomed to since her entire family wouldn’t be bankrupted by the Graziano’s lawsuit. At least they still have Brooke’s singing career to fall back on. Let’s cross our fingers that her plan backfires and that both she and her husband are successfully sued for the accident, with careless Nick spending some significant time behind bars.

The entire idiot Hogan family is shown at the Consumer Electronics Show on 1/10/07, thanks to WENN.