It is most definitely all over between Ed Hartwell and Keshia Knight Pulliam.
That much is not up for debate.
But why prompted the couple to split after just seven months of marriage (and one pregnancy)?
That’s a question to which both sides likely have a different answer.
Earlier this week, Hartwell didn’t merely file for divorce from The Cosby Show alum; he also demanded in legal documents that Pulliam take a paternity test.
The answer why would appear to be obvious:
Hartwell must suspect his wife of cheating on him, right?
Insiders later came out and said Pulliam was confident in her fidelity. She was angry to be asked to take the paternity test, but confident she would pass it.
A couple days after news of her impending split broke, Pulliam then gave an interview in which she claimed Hartwell had cheated on her.
In other words: the entire thing is a huge mess.
Now, Hartwell has spoken out for the first time and told his side of the story to The New York Post.
The former linebacker says his marriage was torn apart by jealousy, disagreements about when to start a family and suspicions about infidelity … on both sides.
Explained Hartwell to Page Six of one significant way in which the two disagred:
“She wanted a baby really fast, and what I was trying to explain to her was that – from my beliefs, from seeing other successful people – that when you first get married, especially since we didn’t have a long courtship, that we should actually focus on each other and not just have a baby.
“That’s something she really did want to do.”
The couple got married on January 1 after a mere four months of marriage.
Hartwell says they stopped having sex once Pulliam got pregnant and that she should not have been surprised by his divorce filing.
“I said, ‘I think we probably messed up. I think we moved too fast,’” he told the newspaper. ‘”Our lives and wants are headed two different directions.’”
Hartwell says he confessed to Pulliam that his ex-wife had “lost a baby” and that he realized he still cared deeply about her.
This admission made the former Cosby Show star so hurt and angry that she basically disappeared from his life.
Hartwell added that Pulliam fled to visit a spiritualist and “started going out with friends all the time and not telling me when she was coming home or sometimes not coming home at all.”
This is why he has questions about the paternity of her child.
“I can’t say she’s been unfaithful,” he says.
“I can say she’s stayed out, she’s not came home, she’s went out-of-town … for three days, I don’t know what’s going on. I can say that.
“I can’t say she was unfaithful. I can say she wanted to get in vitro, I can say she wanted to do some things to make sure she got pregnant. I just want to make sure it is mine.”
Hartwell denies having cheated on Pulliam, but makes it sound like the baby issue tore the couple apart.
“She wants what she wants, I want what I want: she wants a baby, I want to find love and happiness.
“But at the end of the day, I think if things don’t add up, I think it’s fair for me, if things don’t add up, to want a test.”