Michael Strahan and Nicole Murphy Split, Call Off Engagement

One day before his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan announced he has broken off his five-year engagement to Nicole Murphy.

The pair started dating in 2007 and Strahan proposed two years later. It was a rocky start, with Strahan reportedly planting a tracking device in Murphy's car, but he proposed in 2009 and Murphy accepted.

Now, on the verge of the induction -- rather than answer questions about why she wasn't attending -- the couple decided to make the breakup public, blaming it, as many celebrity couples do, on logistics.

"They love each other very much, but with the distance and work schedule it has been hard to maintain the relationship," a spokesperson for Strahan told People magazine on Friday.

And if you think the Hall of Fame timing is bad, it gets worse. In the recent issue of Ebony magazine, Strahan said life with Murphy is perfect.

“It’s great," he said. "As a divorced man, you just want somebody around your kids who’s respectful and will treat them like her own. When you understand that, there’s never any issue. We laugh and are at graduations and birthday parties, you know…all that stuff.”

Murphy was conspicuously absent when Strahan last week told the media who would be attending his induction. He ticked off the names of family and friends and former teammates, but not Murphy.

“The decision to add Michael Strahan to the cast after Josh Elliot left just didn’t seem like a very good one from the beginning,” an insider said. “Michael has made it clear that Live With Kelly & Michael is his first priority.”

“His schedule dictates that he can only be on GMA for essentially the first hour,” the source added.

“Of course there are issues with Michael bonding with the cast. Particularly, Lara Spencer views Michael as a threat. She always does her excessive flirting with all of the men on the set, but Michael doesn’t seem to be warming up to her at all. The cast is deeply divided after Josh and Sam Champion left. The only glue holding it together is Robin Roberts.”

Strahan, who is a co-host of "LIVE! With Kelly and Michael," has taken on a limited role on "Good Morning America," along with his job as NFL analyst for "Fox NFL Sunday."

Strahan has been married twice before, and Murphy is the former spouse of comedian Eddie Murphy. They divorced in 2006 after 13 years of marriage. She has five children with Murphy.

Strahan told Ebony there is no jealousy or animosity between the comedian and him.

“If I see Eddie, it’s, ‘What’s up?’ There is no animosity or jealousy,” Strahan said. “At the end of the day, a woman is a woman and a man is a man. Our relationship is all that matters.

Strahan was married to Wanda Hutchins until 1996, and has a daughter and son with her. He later married Jean Muggli, who gave him twin daughters. They went through a nasty divorce shortly after the birth.

BREAKUP

CELEBRITY 

ROMANCE 

EDDIE MURPHY 

ENGAGEMENT 

MICHAEL STRAHAN 

NICOLE MURPHY 

SPLIT

Sources:
http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2014/08/on_eve_of_hall_of_fame_induction_michael_strahan_breaks_off_engagement_with_nicole_murphy.html

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2014/08/michael-strahan-nicole-murphy-breakup-call-off-engagement/