Giuliana Rancic finally gave fans the full story behind her decades-old breakup with Jerry O’Connell.
“Devastating, heartbreaking, humiliating, [and] traumatizing,” Rancic recalled her high-profile romance and eventual split with O’Connell in a podcast. She opened up about how the breakup impacted her and how she healed after the split.
Giuliana Rancic recalls her relationship with Jerry O’Connell
The former E! News host addressed her relationship with “cold as ice” ex, Jerry O’Connell, publicly on the Bill and Giuliana podcast on Wednesday. She intended to set the record straight on her relationship with O’Connell, which ran from 2003 to 2004. She accused her ex of “downplaying what [their] relationship was”.
Her response came days after Jerry made headlines for dishing about their breakup in his viral Let’s Talk Off Camera interview last week.
Rancic, 52, pushed back on O’Connell’s recent characterization of their romance during his interview. She accused him of downplaying just how serious things actually were between them.
“For a year and a half—except for the one breakup—we were together 24/7 every day, every night,” she claimed on the 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 entertainment reporter also recalled the two saying “I love you” constantly, describing the relationship as “perfect,” until O’Connell left to film a movie in London with Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. It was then that photos surfaced of the pair holding hands.
“It was, like, the most shocking moment of my life,” Rancic said. “I walked into a voiceover booth and fell to the ground, crying hysterically.” When she confronted O’Connell, she recalled he told her, “Yeah, sorry. I don’t know what to tell you. I screwed up.”
She also claimed that O’Connell later showed up at her apartment building begging for another chance. The two briefly reconciled, but things unraveled again after the Maxim Hot 100 Party in Las Vegas.
Rancic also clarified a detail from her own 2016 memoir. She revealed on the podcast that O’Connell actually ended things by stepping out onto his second-floor balcony, not through the building intercom as she’d previously written.
The reporter concluded the podcast by calling Jerry “cold as ice.” She also admitted she had no idea another woman had been in his home that day until his recent podcast admission.
She closed on a note of peace. “Everything happens for a reason,” she said. “We are both happily married now, both have great families, and we are both exactly where we’re meant to be.”
TELL US—DID GIULIANA RANCIC’S SIDE OF THE STORY CHANGE HOW YOU SEE THE BREAKUP?
