The tabloids are racing at a breakneck pace to name who former vice president Al Gore has been sleeping with. But it's not clear that any of them has a clue.
According to the Star magazine, Gore's surprise split from wife Tipper last week, after 40 years of marriage, came about because he was having an affair with Laurie David, his "An Inconvenient Truth" producer and Larry David's ex-wife.
The former vice president declined to comment on that report. But Laurie David told the Huffington Post on Tuesday that Star's report of the affair "is an absolute lie."
Meanwhile, The Globe published an exclusive story, "Al Gore Gay," in its edition dated June 21, 2010.
The National Enquirer was leading with "Tipper's Jealous Rages" and hinting that Gore had been having affairs.
But the Star report — on the heels of last year's break by the Enquirer of John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter — got immediate traction on the Internet.
While offering no evidence, Star said the Gore-David affair has been going on for the past two years.
A close Gore associate also denied that there was any affair: "It's absolute crap," the associate, who had recently spoken to the former vice president, told TheWrap.
In the Star teaser report touting the full article coming in its June 28 issue, the magazine cites an unnamed "insider" but doesn't detail any of its sources or offer any further evidence for its claims.
Laurie David divorced "Seinfeld" creator and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Larry David in 2007. At the time, there were reports that she was cheating with the caretaker of their Martha's Vineyard summer home.
Laurie David produced Gore's Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." She is well known as an environmental activist.
The National Enquirer broke the story that John Edwards had had an affair with Rielle Hunter during his run for the presidency in 2007. The mainstream media was slow to report that story.
More recently the Enquirer claimed to have evidence that President Barack Obama had an affair with a campaign worker; that was quickly dismissed.
More to read:
CNN Inconveniently Posts Al Gore's E-mail Address
What Would a Gore Divorce Mean for Current TV?
