Lisa Hayward was a news anchor for WPBF in West Palm Beach, and for over 10 years, my favorite of the local news anchors. She disappeared suddenly, and I thought she moved on to another station. I knew toward the end that she was married to Derek Hayward, another local reporter for WSVN out of Fort Lauderdale.
Somehow I missed what happened to them when it occurred, but did a search and came across this:
Ex-Channel 25 Star Lisa Hayward in Divorce DramaSeptember 27, 2011
by Jose Lambiet
Former WPBF-Channel 25 hottie Lisa Hayward is soon going to be single again! Well, sorta.
Lisa Hayward (Coutesy lisahayward.net)
Lisa, 40, who worked the prime-time shift at the West Palm Beach station for 10 years, is at the receiving end of a divorce complaint filed by veteran investigative reporter Derek Hayward.
He’s the guy with the Fox-ian British tabloid accent at WSVN-Channel 7 in Miami, and Lisa’s husband of 18 years.
The Haywards, the parents of two children, hit a rough patch last summer when the now-unemployed Lisa was picked up near her Broward County home on a DUI charge.
Three days later, Derek, 60, was arrested for allegedly roughing her up. Lisa, 40, who was also an anchor on WSFL’s now-defunct The Morning Show, pleaded no contest to the DIU rap while no charges were filed against Derek on the domestic violence incident.
Derek is asking a Broward court to be the kids' primary guardian. And Lisa needs dough. She reports no income and $3,807 in monthly expenses and has yet to pay her attorney. I’m told she is, however, in love again — with a former Channel 7 colleague of Derek!
Derek (courtesy WSVN)
In 2008, Derek came close to reporting his wife missing after a public appearance in West Palm Beach. She eventually turned up and told him she turned off her cell phone so she could interview Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil in his room at The Breakers in Palm Beach. The rocker was in town to celebrate the opening on his bar on West Palm Beach’s Clematis district, Dr. Feelgoods.
Neither Derek nor Lisa returned calls about the divorce.
I found that after reading this update on Derek Hayward's life:
TV newsman Derek Hayward leaves Ch. 7by Jose Lambiet
TV news veteran Derek Hayward, a star at WSVN-Channel 7 since 1991, resigned his job suddenly Tuesday.
It’s the end of an era at the Fox affiliate. But the divorced father of two, 62, says it was time for a life change.
“I’m at that point when I need a change in my life,” Hayward told me. “The timing is right.”
Known for his English accent and flamboyant Fleet Street-style delivery, Hayward says he’ll miss the fast-paced biz and his buds at the station.
Hayward was hired soon after WSVN lost its affiliation with NBC, at a time when it was changing to a more sensational news format. He eventually became the newsroom’s highest paid reporter.
“I leave with absolutely nothing but the highest regard for WSVN,” he said. “They’ve treated me wonderfully in the course of the past two decades.”
He declined to comment further but added that WSVN management knew for weeks he was pondering his future.
While sources in TV land told me Hayward reached out to other local stations after difficult contract negotiations at Channel 7, he’s telling friends it’s unlikely he’ll remain on the tube.
Hayward, who lives in Margate, told newsroom sources he’s working on a novel about the local television market. He also wants to spend more time working for his pet charity.
Hayward’s a volunteer trainer at Tomorrow’s Rainbow, a Coconut Creek nonprofit that uses interaction with horses to help children cope with the loss of a parent.
WSVN’s publicist had no comment about losing one of the station’s most recognizable faces.
In 2010, Derek and his anchorwoman ex-wife, Lisa Hayward, landed in the slammer within three days of each other. Lisa was arrested on DUI charges; Derek, for allegedly roughing her up while talking about the DUI.
This is the wildest stuff since another channel 7 news personality, weatherman Bill Kamal, was busted and went to prison for arranging sex with children over the internet.
