Nicole Murphy has denied that she ever hooked up with actress LisaRaye McCoy’s ex-husband Michael Misick. According to TMZ , Nicole reached out through a source to set the record straight.
“It’s not true,” the insider said. “She’s [LisaRaye’s] been saying that for years. There’s no truth to that.”
As TMZ reports, LisaRaye made those allegations after photos of Nicole kissing Antoine Fuqua in Italy surfaced online. Antoine, the director of films like Training Day and The Equalizer, is currently married to actress Lela Rochon. Nicole and Antoine both attended the Ischia Global Festival where Antoine took home an award for director of the year.
At first, Nicole said that the kiss on the lips was just an innocent greeting between family friends. But she later issued an apology to Lela.
“It was not my intention to be in this situation,” she said in a statement also published by TMZ . “I do not condone women kissing or interacting in any way inappropriately with a married man. I too was once married and I would never intentionally undermine another woman, despite what has been written.”
In her interview with TMZ , LisaRaye slammed Nicole for “messing around” with Antoine while she was friendly with his wife.
“How does a family kiss turn into a ‘I’m sorry’ apology? Like…what do you mean?” The Player’s Club actress said. “That’s history. You don’t do that amongst friends.”
Antoine married Lela in 1999. They have two teenage children together — a daughter named Asia, 16, and a son named Brando, 15. As People Magazine reports, he has a third child, a son, from another relationship.
As The Cheat Sheet reports, Nicole was married to comedian Eddie Murphy from 1993 to 2006. They have five children, of which the oldest is 29-year-old Bria Murphy.
On Twitter, commentary about the Nicole/Antoine scandal has been mixed. Some people have slammed Nicole for kissing a man she knew was married. Others are pointing out the misogynistic double standard of Antoine not getting any of the scrutiny in this situation, even though he’s the one that’s married.
Nicole Murphy ain’t the one married to Lela Rochon, Antoine Fuqua is.
Why is she saying anything about anything?
— Chass, MS (@PEARLfectChassi) July 24, 2019
Men have also come out to defend the director for kissing Nicole and tried to justify it because Lela is heavier than she used to be. But women on Twitter have rallied to her defense, accusing the men who made those kinds of statements of body shaming the 55-year-old actress.
She’s damn near 60 years old and had 3 kids… I know y’all moms don’t look like Nicole Murphy ??
— Rice Spice (@dominiloka) July 23, 2019
As BET.com notes, Lela has deleted all of her social media accounts since the scandal came out.
