Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones facing lawsuit from woman claiming to be his daughter
A 25-year-old congressional aide from North Texas is suing Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, saying he is her biological father, according to court documents.
The lawsuit alleges that Alexandra Davis’ mother, Cynthia Davis, had a relationship with Jones in the mid-90s, leading to her birth, and Cynthia Davis reached a financial settlement with Jones to support her and her child as long as they didn’t publicly identify Jones as the father, the Dallas Morning News reported. In the suit, obtained by the Morning News, Alexandra Davis is asking for the court to find she isn’t legally bound by that agreement, if she can prove that he is actually her father.
The lawsuit was temporarily sealed Wednesday, according to court records, and the Star-Telegram was unable to obtain a copy. According to documents available on Dallas County’s online court records site, both Alexandra Davis and Jones agreed to seal the paternity lawsuit “to respect the privacy of the parties.”
The suit was filed March 3, according to court records. A hearing on whether the case will continue to be sealed is scheduled for 1 p.m. March 31 in 192nd District Court.
It is unclear why Alexandra Davis, who according to the lawsuit only disclosed Jones as her father for FBI security clearance to work in the Trump White House, has filed the suit now, according to the Dallas Morning News. The suit mentions health concerns for her mother and that she has feared losing financial support from Jones if she ever told anybody he was her father, the newspaper reported.
Alexandra Davis currently works as an aide for U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The Dallas Morning News reported Alexandra Davis has concealed her father’s identity her whole life except for that admission to the FBI to obtain security clearance, and that Jones will “shun” and “coerce her from ever disclosing his identity,” according to the suit.
Jones, who is 79, has owned the Dallas Cowboys since 1989, when he bought the franchise for $140 million. While the Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1996, Forbes lists the team as the most valuable in the world at $5.7 billion, up 43% in the last five years.
In 2012, Cynthia and Alexandra Davis were stars in the final season of “Big Rich Texas,” a Style Network reality show following five wealthy women and their daughters in the Metroplex, the Dallas Morning News reported. At that time, Cynthia Davis’ representatives said she was living off a trust fund.
Alexandra Davis is a graduate of Southern Methodist University who grew up in the Dallas area, according to the lawsuit, the Dallas Morning News reported. Jones has been in contact with Cynthia Davis but has never met Alexandra Davis, according to the suit.
According to court documents, Cynthia Davis was estranged from her husband when she met Jones while working as a ticket counter agent for American Airlines in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Dallas Morning News reported. Jones “pursued” a relationship with Cynthia Davis, the length of which is not clear, according to court documents.
The Dallas Morning News reported Alexandra Davis, who was born Dec. 16, 1996, was determined by a genetic test during divorce proceedings not to be the child of her mother’s then-husband, who was not ordered to pay child support in the finalized divorce. According to the court, Alexandra Davis did not have a legal father.
After receiving the paternity test, Cynthia Davis told Jones he was the father, the Dallas Morning News reported that the suit says. Jones, who has been married since 1963, told her he was unable to have children and his lawyers negotiated a financial settlement to “exchange money for silence,” according to the lawsuit.
At the time of the settlement in 1998, Jones denied he was the father, according to court documents.
Alexandra Davis alleges in the lawsuit that the settlement stipulated that financial support for Cynthia Davis and her daughter would end and Jones and his lawyer and friend Donald Jack would sue if either of them publicly revealed Jones as the father, according to the Dallas Morning News. Cynthia Davis was given about $27,000 to help with the divorce and another $30,000 “in good faith,” according to the suit.
Court documents said Jones agreed to pay a lump sum of $375,000 for confidentiality and set up two trusts funded by Jones for Alexandra Davis, the Dallas Morning News reported. Alexandra Davis would receive “certain monthly, annual and special funding” from the trusts until she turned 21, after which she would receive annual lump sums at 24, 26 and 28 years old, according to court documents. The trust was under Jack’s name, a measure the lawsuit claims was taken to hide Jones’ identity. Jones also barred Alexandra Davis, at the time 1 year old, from ever seeking to legally establish paternity, according to the lawsuit.
The Dallas Morning News did not report how Alexandra Davis came to believe Jones to be her father.
Alexandra Davis and her attorney Andrew Bergman; Cynthia Davis; and Jerry Jones’ attorneys, Levi McCathern and Carl Evans, could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 7:52 PM.