Star Jones is talking about how she was treated during her departure from The View in 2006.

“Those girls were hateful,” Jones says of her former co-hosts.

In a new interview in the November issue of Essence magazine, Jones also opens up about “falling into a depression” after losing her self-titled Court TV show last year; her ongoing dispute with Barbara Walters (says Star: “Barbara set me up”); and her divorce from Al Reynolds, which was finalized in September.

Responding directly to Reynolds’s infamous YouTube videos, in which he stated he “still loves” Star, Jones responds bluntly: “I’m not in love with him.”

Jones, who laid low after the abrupt cancellation of her Court TV show, is currently in talks to make a non-scripted TV comeback. The reason she’s ready to start over? A sense of renewal she says she gained after spending an Under The Tuscan Sun-style summer at an Italian villa with girlfriends, including Natalie Cole.

Posing poolside in a white dress and fireside in a slinky black number for the interview, the surprisingly svelte Jones – who dropped 160 lbs. after a 2003 gastric bypass surgery – also talks about getting back to dating.

While she doesn’t directly address her new relationship with executive chef Herb Wilson, whom she was photographed smooching in the stands at last month’s U.S. Open, she tells the magazine, “I want to fall in love again. I’m ready to love 24/7. I want happiness.”

 

Star Jones has a new boyfriend who knows his way around a kitchen – Herb Wilson, the executive chef at Manhattan’s Soho and Tribeca Grand hotels.

“This was one of the first times they were out in public together,” a friend of Jones’ says, after the couple were spotted kissing in the stands at the U.S. Open last weekend. “It’s a new relationship, and he makes her very happy.”

Jones and her husband of 3 1/2 years, Al Reynolds, filed for divorce in March.

You know, I never really understood why Star was so villainized by the media. I’m glad she has found happiness.

I bet he cooks her up some healthy and romantic meals!

Star Jones responds to Barbara Walters’ memoir, Audition.

In the book, Walters claims Jones forced her to lie about her gastric bypass surgery on The View. Walters also reveals that she had an affair with then-married Senator Edward Brooke during the 1970s.

“It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book,” Jones responded. “It speaks to her true character.”

Meow! Barbara was on the Oprah show that aired yesterday. Barbara did talk at length about Star, but let’s face it, we all wanted to know. Barbara explained that Star had been the most well-liked co-host on The View, but after she got the gastric bypass surgery and never aknowledged it to the audience, the views felt disconnected from Star. Star thought the public would believe that she lost all of that weight by doing pilates (as if the public is that stupid). Then Star began dating Al Reynolds and wanted a very expensive wedding, but didn’t want to pay for it. Star wanted corporate sponsors for her wedding in exchange for free stuff. The executives let Star get away with it for a while, but eventually told her to knock it off. Star then thought she would be clever and just go on other shows and promote the products that way. So in the end, Star lied to the viewers and rebelled against her bosses. That is why she was fired, according to Barbara.

More information is coming out (even though Al hasn’t yet) about the marriage troubles between Star Jones and Al Reynolds.

Things apparently came to a head last year while the duo were vacationing in Saint Tropez. While there, Star began really hating her role as sugar momma.

Also, the pair’s been living separately the last year – Al’s been playing professor of social science at Florida Memorial University down in Miami.

According to one of Al’s South Beach friends, Al doesn’t miss Star much in Miami, “…(Al)he’s always on the beach or at the pool at the Delano. He hits Mansion, Privé, Mokai and the Florida Room at the Delano four nights a week… Al always has a posse of hot young dudes and scantily clad women with him. He brings strippers back from Gold Rush strip bar to the Delano and dirty dances all night long.”

If what this source says is true, good for Star for dumping his sorry ass. Every woman deserves a man who appreciates her.

 

Unfortunately, we suspected this was coming. Star Jones has filed for divorce from her husband of less than four years, Al Reynolds. The 46-year-old TV personality quietly filed divorce papers March 26 in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. The records are sealed.

But a representative for SHADOW PR, which represents Jones, confirmed that she is seeking to end the union.

In a statement Jones said: “Several years ago I made an error in judgment by inviting the media into the most intimate area of my life. A month ago I filed for divorce.

“The dissolution of a marriage is a difficult time in anyone’s life that requires privacy with one’s thoughts. I have committed myself to handling this situation with dignity and grace and look forward to emerging from this period as a stronger and wiser woman.”

We feel sorry for Star Jones.  Already this year, her television show on Court TV was cancelled, and now she is getting a divorce.  This has been a rough year for her!

According to the National Enquirer:

Star Jones has kicked husband Al Reynolds out of their New York home and decided she wants a divorce.

Frustrated over the cancellation of her latest TV show and Al’s failure to contribute financially to their 3 1/2-year marriage, the former star of The View gave 37-year-old Al the boot in late January, sources say.

“They hadn’t been seeing eye to eye for months and had already spent a great deal of time apart,” a close friend says.

“Finally, Star decided it was over. She told Al at the end of January that he had 30 days to get his act together or ‘get out.’”

The couple showed up at the Baby Phat fashion show in New York City on Feb. 1 — but within days, Star, 45, decided she’d had enough and told Al to get out, said the close friend.

“Al moved some of his things out of their Upper East Side apartment and returned to Miami, where he’d already been spending a lot of time recently,” the close friend revealed.

Another source close to the couple confirmed the split, divulging: “Star is planning to divorce Al. He moved his things out of their New York City home and into a place in Miami. He is trying to make a fresh start.”

Star — who’s admitted to losing 160 pounds after undergoing gastric bypass surgery — has also been devastated by the nonstop “gay Al” rumors that have haunted their marriage.

The close friend revealed: “Star pretended the rumors didn’t bother her, but deep down they really hurt her. She is devastated over the breakup — and now she has to deal with filing divorce papers.”

Here is a picture from their lavish, corporate-sponsored wedding.

Formally Court TV, the network now known as TruTV, has abruptly canceled the “Star Jones Show”.

TruTV (formerly Court TV) just announced internally that Friday, Feb. 1 will be the last episode of the “Star Jones show.”

The network says the abrupt cancellation of the show, which debuted Aug. 20, 2006, was due to “the rebranding and programming focus of the network.” The network says that a new show, “Arrest & Trial” will take its place at 3 p.m. EST, and Jones Reynolds will continue on as a contributing legal expert.

I doubt Star will be happy as just being a “contributing legal expert”.