Giuliana Rancic says Jerry O'Connell's memory is fuzzy
Giuliana Rancic has clapped back after Jerry O'Connell publicly revisited their 2004 intercom breakup, saying his memory looks “a little fuzzy.” In a July 23 Instagram video, the E! alum teased a 40-minute podcast deep dive and invited him on. Interest in jerry oaposconnell spiked as the old split went viral again.
Key Takeaways
- Rancic, 51, posted an Instagram video on July 23 reacting to O’Connell’s podcast comments about their split more than 22 years later.
- She said his memory is “just a little fuzzy” and teased a 40-minute podcast deep dive, inviting him to join.
- O’Connell, 52, told Kelly Ripa he ended things over an intercom after Rancic arrived unannounced while another woman was inside his condominium.
- In her 2015 memoir Going Off Script, Rancic quoted him saying, “Nope, sorry, homegirl. Things change, but you take care, OK?”
- He admitted he was a “terrible boyfriend” and later described awkward gym run-ins with her at Equinox.
What did Giuliana Rancic say about Jerry O’Connell’s comments?
According to Us Weekly, Rancic addressed the buzz while on vacation, noting her email was “blowing up.”
“Have you guys heard? Apparently my ex-boyfriend has been talking about our breakup publicly after 22 years,” she said in the Instagram video. “Hmm. Imagine that.”
She hinted that O’Connell’s “memory is just a little fuzzy” on the details. Rather than offer a short statement, she said she will do “a deep dive” in “a 40-minute podcast,” adding, “Jerry, you are so invited. We’d love to have you.”
Fans following celebrity breaking news quickly connected her clip to his fresh interview comments.
What did Jerry O’Connell reveal about their intercom breakup?
The former couple dated from 2003 to 2004. On Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, Ripa read the Going Off Script passage about the intercom dump.
O’Connell said he couldn’t “deny that [he] said that” and admitted he was a “terrible boyfriend.” He recalled another woman inside his condominium when Rancic wanted entry, saying thank goodness for the buzzer, gate, and security.
“I said, ‘I did not know you were coming. You can’t come here unannounced,’” he told Ripa. He noted no one had a key, there was no warning, and he did not want confrontation. He also said the relationship “was [already] in trouble” and recalled speculation that he was a “cheater.”
Page Six reported he does not “recall [his] exact wording,” adding it does not sound like something he would say, but that it “made for a good quote” in a memoir.
How did the gym run-ins with Giuliana Rancic play out?
Years later, O’Connell said he has run into Rancic—who is married to Bill Rancic—and described “funny” and “awkward” gym encounters. He said he would walk right up “nose to nose” at Equinox and pretend to flirt in an over-the-top voice, saying he missed her.
“It would annoy her so much,” he said, recalling she would tell him to get away. He claimed the more it annoyed her, the more he leaned in, asking things like whether she had the same number.
O’Connell later dated Geri Halliwell and is now married to Rebecca Romijn. Rancic’s promised podcast deep dive will be the next chapter in a breakup story that refused to stay off the intercom.