Champion sailor and accountancy chief executive Anthony Bell never wants to see his wife Kelly Landry again, his lawyer told a court during her application for an apprehended violence order.
Ms Landry, a former television presenter and model, sat in Sydney's Waverley Local Court on Thursday morning as her husband's solicitor Chris Murphy said his client would seek a divorce.
Mr Bell did not appear but a spokesman later said he had filed divorce papers with the Family Court during the morning.
Mr Murphy said the claims behind Ms Landry's AVO application were "fallacious" and made by someone "perhaps suffering a little bit of celebrity deprivation".
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But he told the court Mr Bell would accept the terms of a modified AVO, which prevented him from attending the couple's home, while continuing to support Ms Landry and their children.
"The defendant is not going back to the house," Mr Murphy said. "He doesn't want to see her again."
An original order sought by Ms Landry would have prevented Mr Bell from seeing her for 12 hours after he had been drinking or taking illicit substances but that provision was deleted on Thursday, Mr Bell's lawyers said.
Mr Murphy said his client had never used drugs.
"He doesn't have the drinking problem in this household," he said.
The pair, who married in 2011, were photographed warmly embracing after Mr Bell skippered his supermaxi Perpetual Loyal to claim line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on December 28.
Mr Murphy said Mr Bell and Ms Landry had a "peaceful" dinner that night but that Ms Landry had reported feeling "barely acknowledged" after the win.
Despite accepting the 12-month interim AVO order, Mr Murphy said his client wanted to avoid a "nasty court case" that could harm his children.
"My client's fear is that the necessity of cross-examination of the children's mother that this prosecution would entail would create a public record that would always be there," he said.
According to Mr Murphy, Ms Landry told her husband she had asked police to withdraw the AVO application. But the police prosecutor persisted with it on Thursday.
In an email to clients on Monday, Mr Bell said he abhorred violence and had never taken a drug.
"By now you may have seen a most distressing piece of news about my family involving some allegations my wife has made about me," he wrote. "There is an allegation that I pushed her in November ... I did not push her.
"There is an allegation I spoke loudly and embarrassed her in front of friends. It did not happen."
Mr Bell, the founder and chief executive of the accountancy firm Bell Partners, works for celebrity clients including former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke, Channel Nine personality Karl Stefanovic and TV host Larry Edmur.
The AVO matter has been set to return to court on February 17.