Writer denies gay fling with Giant Strahan
Thursday, June 22, 2006
BY WILLIAM KLEINKNECHT
Star-Ledger Staff
Television health commentator Ian Smith yesterday denied allegations that he had a gay relationship with New York Giant Michael Strahan after the football player's wife threw him out of their Montclair home last year.
Appearing on the morning radio show "Opie and Anthony," Smith called the statement "laughable" and said he was a happily married man. He said it was ironic because he had counseled Strahan to take the high road and not bash his wife during their divorce proceeding.
"Here I am being the good Cub Scout and I'm dragged into this nonsense and my wife is dragged into this nonsense," he said.
Smith, a good friend of Strahan's, is a medical correspondent for ABC's nationally syndicated show, "The View," and is a columnist for Men's Health magazine.
After the Strahans' separation, the football player lived with Smith for a year.
Strahan's wife, Jean, who is in a bitter divorce battle with her husband, has accused Smith of introducing Michael Strahan to women.
Outside of Superior Court in Newark on Tuesday, she made a potentially more embarrassing claim -- that her husband and Smith had a sexual relationship while they were roommates.
"You could say that an alternative lifestyle sprouted," she said.
Smith said his wife is a lawyer and that "this will be handled appropriately," although he stopped short of threatening legal action. In the meantime, he said, he was treating it with a sense of humor.
"It's so obvious," he said. "It's laughable. You have to laugh at this."
