Mr. Sellers has been making a living the last few years capitalizing on what little fame he earned on the TV show Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and on the basis of his ability to captivate an audience with warmth and sincerity. There are some interesting dichotomies between what Mr. Sellers teaches and how he lives his life.
Here are a few examples:
Teaching: Native American parenting skills, treating children with respect. Reality: Because of abuse issues in his last marriage, Mr. Sellers is only allowed supervised visitation with his 3 youngest children, based on a decision handed down in La Plata County District Court, Durango, Colorado. Additionally, his oldest son by a previous marriage for many years was only allowed to see Mr. Sellers in public places and was not allowed to ride in a vehicle with him.
Teaching: White people are by nature evil and have skewed values. Reality: Four of the last five of Mr. Sellers’ romantic relationships have been with white women. He began dating my wife - his last spouse - while still married to and living with his previous (and very much pregnant) wife - without either knowing of the other.
Teaching: Display respect, don't lie, cheat, stab people in the back. Reality: Mr. Sellers is currently over $88,000 behind in child support to his youngest 3 children and has never voluntarily paid a dime in support. He is somewhere near that far behind with his oldest son as well. Mr. Sellers claims to be disabled and can't work, yet has income from gigs like the one reported in Joplin, plus sells artwork, CDs and the like - all without reporting the income, paying any support or filing tax returns.
He owes the IRS somewhere near $100,000 because he engaged in some creative adjustment of his income while on the Dr. Quinn TV show; so he is motivated to hide as much of his income as he can.
He willingly and without any notice whatsoever allowed the medical insurance on his children to lapse, which is a particularly dangerous thing for two of his children who are on medications.
Teaching: Native Americans need to learn of and embrace their spirituality. Reality: Mr. Sellers has never spoken of any spiritual issues with his children, has not taught them about the pipe, and has not included them in any ceremonies in any fashion. He was specifically given the responsibility of being the children's spiritual teacher and caregiver in the divorce, yet continually neglects this duty. As a result, none of his children has any real connection with any Native American community or for that matter any sense of the rich culture from which each has come.
For original article, Larry Sellers speaks to 'inner Indian,' click here. --the editor
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