Vanilla Ice Released From Jail After Arrest on Battery Charge
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Ice Ice Baby" rapper Vanilla Ice was released from jail Friday following his arrest on a charge of simple battery for allegedly pushing his wife.
He was freed Friday after appearing in court.
The 40-year-old rapper was arrested and booked into Florida's Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday night after his wife called the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, saying he had kicked and hit her, the arrest report said. She later told deputies he had only pushed her.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The report said Vanilla Ice, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, denied pushing her.
Deputies arrived at Van Winkle's Wellington home around 7:15 p.m. to find him on his motorcycle, two blocks from their home, the Palm Beach Post reported. He said he left on his motorcycle so he and his wife could cool down.
Laura Van Winkle appeared uninjured but said she wants a divorce, according to a deputy's report, the Post said. She said her husband had not hit or kicked her, but had pushed her.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"He started yelling at me for going out to buy a bedroom set. In front of my daughter," she told a deputy, the arrest report says, according to the Post.
Her husband, in turn, told deputies that he and his wife had been arguing since the previous day, the Post reported.
Van Winkle said his wife is bipolar and takes medication but still has irrational and argumentative episodes and had thrown a picture frame from a rear balcony to the ground, where it shattered near him and their 8- and 10-year-old children, the Post reported. The couple has been married since 1997.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It's not the first time Vanilla Ice has been arrested in South Florida. In 2004, he was booked into the Broward County Jail on a domestic battery charge, records show, according to the Post. He also spent a night in jail in 2001 after being arrested following a domestic dispute, according to the Associated Press.
Vanilla Ice has had a career resurgence as a reality TV star. In 2002, he took part in "Celebrity Boxing" and later appeared in the second season of VH1's "The Surreal Life." More recently, he appeared on NBC's "Hit Me Baby One More Time."
His 1990 hit "Ice Ice Baby" — which sold 15 million copies — was the first rap single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. In 1991, he was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Click here to read more in the Palm Beach Post
The Associated Press contributed to this report.