The mistress of a heavy drinking man who left her $6 million said she never knew how much her significant other of eight years drank, but she knew it was a lot.

"He would start after breakfast," said Anne Melican, who is fighting in a Cobb County courtroom for a share of the $38 million left by car-sales wizard Harvey Strother.

(ENLARGE)

Anne Melican in a deposition taken earlier.

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When Strother, 78, died in 2004 of congestive heart failure, he owned car dealerships in Marietta and Valdosta and properties in Florida and on Cape Cod.

At the time of his death, according to sworn statements in the case, he was drinking a 1 1/2 gallons of wine daily, after many years of slugging down 1.5 liters of hard liquor each day.

In the last four years of his life, Strother, who never divorced his wife in Marietta, changed his will three times, each amendment leaving more and more to the 60-year-old Melican, who lives on Marco Island, Fla., where Strother owned condos.

At issue is whether Strother was capable of understanding the three changes he made to his 1988 will and whether he did it without pressure.

A videotape played Wednesday in the Probate Court jury trial showed Strother signing the last amendment in a Florida lawyer's office a few weeks before he died.

He is seated at a table and is wearing a golf shirt. His left hand trembles as he removes his glasses and places them on a table.

The lawyer asks him about adding the amendment to his will that disinherits anyone who contests the changes.

"I have the feeling they're going to contest, and this makes it a little more difficult for them to do it," said Strother.