Jerry O’Connell doesn’t dispute ex Giuliana Rancic’s gory account of their breakup.
More than a decade after Rancic released his memoir, Going Off Scripts, Kelly Ripa asked O’Connell over the intercom if he had really dumped the entertainment reporter.
In her 2015 revelation, Rancic claimed that her then-boyfriend told her: “No, I’m sorry, Homegirl. Things have changed, but be careful, okay?”
On Monday’s podcast episode, “Let’s Talk Off Camera,” O’Connell admitted that she “doesn’t remember the exact wording” during their 2004 breakup.
“I can’t deny that I said that,” the “Jerry Maguire” star, 52, said. “It doesn’t seem like something I would say, but then again, if I were writing a memoir, that would be a good quote.”
With that in mind, he “admired” Rancic, 51, for “using colorful dialogue and everything” in her book.
He revealed the story behind their “poor” breakup after calling himself a “terrible boyfriend” to journalists in 2003-2004.
O’Connell apologized before admitting, “[Another woman]was inside my condo. … Giuliana Rancic was trying to get into my condo. Thankfully, the buzzer, the gate, the security. I paid a pretty high home ownership fee for these things. Cameras and everything.”
The actor did not reveal who the mystery person was, with Ripa speculating that it could be Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell or O’Connell’s current wife Rebecca Romijn.
Mr O’Connell said that by this time their relationship was “[already]having problems” and declined to say whether they were exclusive.
“I said, ‘I didn’t know you were coming. You can’t come here without notice,'” he recalled. “Keep in mind that no one had the keys. So the relationship was never like that. There was no warning. We didn’t want anyone to come in because we didn’t want a confrontation.”
When Ripa, 55, pointed out to O’Connell elsewhere on the podcast that Rancic had accused her of cheating on him with Halliwell, 53, Ripa praised the “amazing” way she described her infidelity in her memoir.
Rancic, who described her as a “smart girl,” wrote: “(He) gave me the same emotion as a customer service representative who tells you your luggage has missed your flight.”
A representative for Rancic did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
O’Connell shared another story about his famous ex-girlfriend during the interview, making a rare comment about going on “literally one date” with Sarah Michelle Gellar.
“We were kids and Sarah Michelle dumped my ass,” he told listeners. “She was the smartest person. Sarah Michelle took one look at me and said, ‘You have to get away from this drunk. This is it.'”
He highlighted her current husband, Freddie Prinze Jr.’s jiu-jitsu training, and claimed he “doesn’t want any beef” with his “beautiful family.”
