Aired March 25, 2008 - 23:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, the Hogan family meltdown. A family in crisis. A bitter and nasty divorce. Now, tonight, a dramatic new development. A remarkable attack on Hulk Hogan and his wife because of their son Nick`s terrible car crash that nearly killed his friend. Tonight, how much more can the Hogan family take? SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with the tragedy that the Hogan family has become and why the worst may be yet to come.

But first, the Hogans slammed. I would guess that no body slam hulk Hogan ever received in the wrestling ring can come close to matching the pain he is feeling right about now. Tonight, there is a dramatic new attack on the Hulk and his wife because of the terrible car accident they son got into that nearly killed someone. This is just the latest body blow to the Hogans as they also struggle with a very troubling divorce.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER (voice-over): Once upon a time, the family of wrestling star Hulk Hogan was a cute, supportive clan who starred in one of VH1`s most popular reality shows, "Hogan Knows Best."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When will the house be done?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know and I don`t care.

HAMMER: But tonight SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you that the Hogan family`s life looks less like that reality show and more like a horror show. Not only are Hulk and his wife of 23 years Linda in the middle of a divorce that`s bloodier than anything Hulk ever faced in the ring the family now has to teal did a potentially multimillion dollar lawsuit from this devastating car accident that has their son Nick facing criminal charges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything just seemed to start to unravel. And the family just is being torn apart.

HAMMER: It all stems from this horrific car crash in Florida last August. Police say sonic was racing another car and lost control and hit a tree. Nick who was wearing a seat belt wasn`t seriously hurt. But his passenger, Iraq War veteran, John Graziano was not wearing a seat belt. He was critically injured.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is still hospitalized and this guy is never going to have the same life he used to have.

HAMMER: Attorneys for Graziano filed this lawsuit against Hulk Hogan, his estranged wife Linda and Nick.

KATIE DARYL, TMZ TV: Talks about the Hogan parents knew that Nick liked to race cars and encouraging him to race cars and both vehicles in this crash were owned by the Hogan family.

HAMMER: Hulk himself told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT about his son`s love of cars.

HULK HOGAN, PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER: My son has always messed with cars and motors and wanted to start driving.

HAMMER: But now, Hulk denying he bought his son booze the day of the crash. Nick suspect charged with DUI but he is charged with reckless driving involving serious bodily injury. Just two weeks after Nick`s arrest last November, Linda filed for divorce from Hulk Hogan saying their marriage was irretrievably broken. Their legal battle has not been pretty.

DARYL: There`s a lot of mud being slung around here. There`s about $10 million that the couple is fighting over.

HAMMER: And now this, family that once lived in the public eye is in danger of being torn apart in the public guy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER (on camera): I got to say it really blows our mind to think how far and fast the Hogan family has fallen. Joining us from Hollywood, Jane Velez-Mitchell, journalist and author of the book "Secrets Can Be Murder."

Joining us in New York tonight Howard Bragman, founder of 15 Minutes Public Relations and Howard, I want to start out with you. You have the brand new lawsuit if the car crash. You have the Hogans getting divorced. You have their children in the middle of the nasty night fight. Are you like me? Do you find it amazing how the Hogans turned into the tragic family?

HOWARD BRAGMAN, 15 MINUTES PUBLIC RELATIONS: You know, these things don`t happen overnight. All of a sudden it made the news overnight and when the crack in the dam went, the whole thing exploded but these are problems that have probably been going on a long time and we didn`t know about it and the way the celebrity world is today, there`s an avalanche now and you`ve got to feel bad for them because these are really, really sad things. Almost everybody in America has gone through a divorce. Either themselves or in their families and we`ve all had kids do things we`re probably not proud of them. So this is a painful time and my heart goes out to them.

HAMMER: Me too. I don`t know the other members of the family. I have met hulk a few times. Man, what a nice guy. Hate watching him go through this. The Hogans are not taking the lawsuit over their son`s car crash lying down and Hulk`s wife Linda released this statement from her divorce attorney. That`s who put the statement out, saying, quote, "Linda Bollea has great compassion for t he Graziano family. During this time of crisis she has provided emotional, physical and financial support to the family. She has visited with John Graziano on a regular basis. The future record will reveal she has no business being named in this lawsuit."

Jane Velez-Mitchell, help me out here. Do you find it all strange that it was Linda`s divorce attorney issued the statement regarding a lawsuit having nothing to do with the divorce? Is it really just -- I don`t know, symbolic of how Linda continues to distance herself from Hulk?

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, REPORTER: It is totally symbolic of the rift and the fact that she wants to distance herself. They`re at war over the millions that are stake in this divorce. They`re at war over the lawsuit and I think what Linda is trying to say my parenting is not Hulk Hogan`s parenting. I`m not involved in the car father/son stuff. The lawsuit makes allegation that is Hulk Hogan knew of his son`s propensity to speed and allowed and encouraged it and allowed him to drive a souped up car and allegation of allowing him to drink on the day of the crash. And what Linda`s saying is I`m not involved with any of that stuff. That`s father/son stuff. Leave me out of that.

HAMMER: Of course, image everything to a guy like Hulk. We know him as a processional wrestler. Star of the family`s reality show "Hogan Knows Best." Most recently he was hosting the popular show, "American Gladiators." Howard, what do you think, as a P.R. guy particularly, are people starting to think differently of Hulk? Could it hurt his career?

BRAGMAN: No. His career`s in fine shape. I mean, the guy`s not the governor of a state, for example. He`s not the host of MEET THE PRESS. We like Hulk Hogan because he`s a big, physical guy. And his career`s going to be fine and the world we live in celebrities can have transgressions. And get over them. And we have a whole show about that, don`t we, almost every day here and the celebrities seem to get almost bigger after they get over a tough time in their lives so I`ve known terry a long time and he`s going to come out just fine.

HAMMER: Nice to hear you say that. Obviously, he is such an icon. I think he will transcend this. Last week Hogan daughter Brooke talking about, she is writing on the MySpace page about the obvious emotional toll of her parents and nick is caught up in it. Jane, just another classic story of kids being devastated by divorce.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, absolutely. I think it is healthy to processing this by talking about it. Kind of the talking cure. Even if it is on a blog. And I have a lot of compassion for this family but I will say that I think that the kids are mostly the victim of the parent`s mentality. It takes a certain type of mentality to put your family on a reality TV show. Family is supposed to be sacred and when you commoditize it this is the kind of blow back you`re likely to get.

HAMMER: Yeah. These never seem to work out putting your family on TV. Jane Velez-Mitchell, Howard Bragman, I thank you both and want to let you know to watch video reports of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT any time on our Web site. New ones going up all the time at cnn.com/showbiztonight."