Tori Spelling is fighting back against a Star magazine cover claiming she is on the brink of divorce with her husband (and father of her four children), Dean McDermott.
“This time I had to comment because this time I’m answering not as a celebrity but as a mom,” Tori said in a post on her personal website, titled “An Open Letter to Star Magazine” on Thursday, explaining that he nearly 6-year-old son Liam was scared and momentarily heartbroken after seeing the offending cover in the checkout line at her local supermarket.
“He first spotted me on the cover, then Dad, and then a picture of himself and his 3 younger siblings. He was able to read two things out loud, the word DIVORCE (which he proudly sounded out) and the caption above his picture which read ‘Who will get the kids?’” she wrote. “He became terrified. I had to hurry him and his confused 4-year-old sister Stella out of the grocery store and into our car. By the time he was fastening himself into his car seat he was asking, ‘Why is someone getting us?? Where are you and Dad going?’ He was anxiously biting his lower lip and his big blue eyes were filled with tears. My heart sank.”
Adding, “How would I explain to my children that what these 3 writers who have never even met us but who claim to know the ins and outs of our relationship and have proudly put their names on this article are flat out writing lies?”
Tori, 39, is used to being in the often-harsh glare of the spotlight – it’s been over two decades since her TV fame began on “90210.”
However, she said having her children suffer is inexcusable.
“I’ve built up a pretty thick skin to the lies and trash talking at this point. But my children are another story. Keep them out of it!” she wrote, adding that she wondered if the Star writers had children of their own. “How would they feel if their child had to read something so hurtful and confusing as what mine had to read? How do they sleep at night knowing they’ve potentially emotionally scarred and if nothing else terrified innocent children.”
The mom of four also stood up for Dean, calling Star’s claims about the actor “horrific.”
“That man has done nothing but loved me and our children. He has stood by me during the good times and held my hand through the darkest moments of my life,” she wrote. “I’m so blessed to have him as my partner in life and love and he is the best father to our four children.”
As for Star, the magazine issued the following statement on Friday: “While Star certainly understands Ms. Spelling’s right to respond to our cover story, we don’t understand why she believes her husband Dean McDermott is off-limits to celebrity news magazines. He and Ms. Spelling’s ‘fairytale’ relationship began when they had an affair shortly after he and his then-wife, Mary Jo, had adopted their second child, and while Ms. Spelling was married to actor Charlie Shanian. What’s more, the couple have made a living by choosing to put their family’s private life on display on reality TV. We stand by our story.”
Tori and Dean tied the knot in a private ceremony in Fiji in May 2006.
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