There’s a cheating scandal behind the surprise split of “Live with Kelly & Michael” co-host Michael Strahan, The ENQUIRER has learned.
The popular gap-toothed TV star, who now has an extra gig on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” announced Aug. 1 that he and fiancée Nicole Murphy were ending their five-year engagement.
“They love each other very much, but with the distance and work schedule it has been hard to maintain the relationship,” his rep said.
BUT The ENQUIRER reported three months ago their relationship took a hit when the Internet lit up with rumors that Nicole had been two-timing him with one of Beyoncé’s male dancers.
While the 46-year-old VH1 star hotly denied the report that she betrayed Michael, 42, with the dancer, identified as 25-year-old French hip-hop star Larry Bourgeois, Michael was apparently pretty shaken up.
In our April 21 print edition, we quoted a source as saying: “The first thing Nicole did was tell Michael that the story was absolutely not true. But certainly Michael was stunned. With his career going gangbusters, this type of thing is really upsetting him.
“Michael loves Nicole, but he spends a great deal of time in New York working while she’s in Los Angeles. So it’s shocking to him when rumors pop up that she’s flirting up a storm in his absence.”
The cheating scandal exploded on April 4 when a celebrity website quoted an eyewitness who claimed to have seen Nicole cozying up to Bourgeois at a Hollywood event.
“If she (Nicole) is still with Michael (Strahan), she’s sure not acting like it. She clearly wanted to take Larry home yesterday,” the source was quoted as saying.
Nicole “hung around like a groupie” before she and Bourgeois left separately, said the eyewitness.
Nicole, who has five children with ex Eddie Murphy, and Michael – who has four kids with two ex-wives – sold two Los Angeles properties and shelled out $16 million for a 15,000-square-foot super-home large enough for their blended family.
