Criss Angel Defends Reputation, Cameron Diaz In Divorce Split

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (July 10, 2007) – “Mindfreak” Criss Angel, the Las Vegas magician whose bitter divorce battle made major headlines last week when his soon-to-be ex-wife alleged Cameron Diaz was involved in the couple’s split, has finally addressed the issue publicly.

“It is with great sadness and disappointment that I feel the need to dignify and refute the inaccuracies, blatant lies and misrepresentations that my estranged wife and her attorney made last week in a New York courtroom and continue to make in the press,” Angel’s statement began.

“The fact that they have tried to use Cameron Diaz to accomplish their ends is a sign of their desperation,” his statement continued, noting Angel met the actress a year after his wife filed for divorce. “Cameron is a good friend and an amazing person and to defame her and myself and paint her as the reason for my marriage’s demise is factually inaccurate, ridiculous and just plain wrong.”

Last week, Dominic Barbara, the lawyer for Angel’s wife JoAnn Sarantakos said he planned to subpoena Diaz. “We’re naming Cameron Diaz as his lover,” Barbara said in a Nassau County Courtroom. “We will subpoena her as soon as she comes back to New York.”

Diaz’s reps quickly refuted the claim.

“Cameron and Criss went on only four dates over a month ago and have no current relationship,” the statement from Diaz’s publicist Brad Cafarelli read. “These are meaningless, attention-seeking attempts to unfairly and unnecessarily exploit Cameron’s celebrity by trying to involve her in matters she has nothing to do with.”

The 39-year-old punky illusionist dedicated his last stunt — a seeming escape from a box encased in concrete and suspended 40 feet above the ground near Manhattan’s Time Square on June 5 — to “Shrek the Third” star Cameron Diaz.