LE††UCE PREY
Ben Zobrist made dreams come true with a curse-breaking hit that helped win the 2016 Major League Baseball World Series for the Chicago Cubs. But in a recent lawsuit, he detailed what seems more like a nightmare, alleging his wife Julianna Zobrist had a sexual relationship with a former Tennessee pastor.
According to The Chicago Tribune, Zobrist is seeking $6 million in damages against the family’s former pastor Byron Yawn. The lawsuit alleges Yawn defrauded Zobrist’s charity foundation, in addition to the affair. The former minister worked for Zobrist’s charity and was compensated as their executive director.
Yawn, who was a pastor at Community Bible Church in Nashville, served as the Zobrist’s pre- and post-marital counselor. Zobrist claims his wife and Yawn started talking more in 2018, and began their sexual relationship in 2019. The baseball star also sought counseling from Yawn in 2007, 2016 and 2017, during bouts of anxiety and depression.
◾️Julianna Zobrist is a Christian pop singer.
◾️Ben Zobrist found out about the affair from Pastor Yawn’s wife Robin.
According to the complaint filed May 6 in Nashville Circuit Court, Yawn, while acting as the Zobrists’ marital counselor and executive director of Ben Zobrist’s charity, “usurped the ministerial-counselor role, violated and betrayed the confidence entrusted to him by the plaintiff, breached his fiduciary duty owed to the plaintiff and deceitfully used his access as counselor to engage in an inappropriate sexual relationship with the plaintiff’s wife.”
Yawn’s attorney, Christopher Bellamy told the Tribune Monday: “At the end of the day, a woman has the right to choose who she wants to be with. We’re in the middle of litigation, so I can’t really comment further at this point, but that’s what it boils down to.”
