Giuliana Rancic exposes ‘cold’ ex Jerry O’Connell in podcast about ‘traumatizing’ romance
Giuliana Rancic spilled on her “traumatizing” romance with her “cold” ex Jerry O’Connell during her latest podcast episode.
The entertainment reporter set the record straight on the relationship, which lasted from 2003 to 2004, on Wednesday, days after O’Connell made headlines for dishing about their breakup to Kelly Ripa.
Rancic, 51, accused her ex of “downplaying what [their] relationship was” in his viral “Let’s Talk Off Camera” interview last week.
“For a year and a half — except for the one breakup — we were together 24/7 every day, every night,” she claimed on the “Bill and Giuliana” podcast. “You could listen to his interview and think maybe this was an easy relationship, he was dating a bunch of girls, but no. It was a real relationship.”
The journalist noted that she and O’Connell, 52, said “I love you” to each other “all day long.”
She recalled everything being “perfect” and “totally fine” between them when the actor went to London to shoot a movie with Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell — only for photos to surface of the co-stars holding hands.
“It was, like the most shocking moment of my life,” Rancic remembered of seeing the PDA pics. “I walked into a voiceover booth and fell to the ground, crying hysterically. It was awful. So upsetting and so devastating.”
When the “Giuliana & Bill” alum called her then-boyfriend, who she thought was “obsessed with” and “crazy” about her, he said, “Yeah, sorry. I don’t know what to tell you. I screwed up.”
Rancic told listeners, “I was left to pick up the pieces of what was literally a perfect relationship for a year.”
After a seemingly “hot and heavy” romance with Halliwell, 53, O’Connell called Rancic’s pal “crying” about wanting her back — and then appeared at the lobby of Rancic’s apartment building.
The “Jerry Maguire” star allegedly followed Rancic into an elevator despite her telling him to leave, then said, “I am so sorry. I made the biggest mistake of my life. I don’t know what I was thinking. Please take me back. You’re the love of my life.”
While the couple reconciled, things took a rocky turn after attending the Maxim Hot 100 Party in Las Vegas a few months later.
After returning home from the star-studded bash, O’Connell said he had to go back to Sin City for work — and Rancic couldn’t “get in touch with him” when he came home.
The former “Talk” co-host finally replied that he was “fine” when Rancic said she was “worried” and “going to call the police” to check on him.
Rancic, who wrote in her 2016 “Going Off Script” memoir that they split up over his condominium intercom that day, clarified on Wednesday that he stepped out onto his second-floor balcony to dump her.
Dubbing O’Connell “dismissive” and “cold as ice,” Rancic claimed, “Until he told his story [to Ripa], I didn’t even for a second think there was someone in his apartment. I did not know that.”
She called the split “devastating, heartbreaking, humiliating [and] traumatizing.”
Rancic, who promised a part two of the tell-all episode, said O’Connell had been invited to appear on the podcast.
She claimed it was “coming from a nice place, a place of love” and that she only wanted to “unfuzz” her ex’s memory.
Rancic added, “Everything happens for a reason. We are both happily married now, both have great families and we are both exactly where we’re meant to be.”
O’Connell’s rep did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
The former reality star, notably, tied the knot with Bill Rancic in September 2007, with whom she shares one son, while O’Connell welcomed twin daughters with Rebecca Romijn after their July 2007 wedding.
