Yesterday we reported on the story that Keshia Knight Pulliam, 38, who played the youngest daughter, Rudy, on The Cosby Show, had been blindsided by divorce papers from her husband of seven months, former NFL linebacker Ed Hartwell. What makes this story notable is the fact that Keshia just announced that she’s pregnant and that Ed issued a statement questioning the paternity of the baby, claiming that he told her that he didn’t want to have a child now, and stating that “The pregnancy came during a very dark spot in their relationship.” It sounded extremely vindictive and low, and like Ed was a controlling ass.
Now Keshia is telling her side of the story. In a new interview with ET, she said that this is definitely Ed’s daughter (she knows she’s expecting a girl) and that Ed was the one who cheated on her. She was ready to divorce him and had papers drawn up but he begged her to stay. Keshia was genuinely distraught and broke down crying while telling her story. You can watch the video on ET and here’s some of what she said.
“It’s hurtful. And I knew I couldn’t be silent, because this isn’t about money. This isn’t about fame. This isn’t about social media likes or follows. This is about my character — my integrity as a woman being attacked — and that’s not OK.”
Pulliam says she was given no warning and was blindsided when Hartwell, 38, told her he had filed for divorce. The Cosby Show star says she has never cheated on Hartwell, but alleges that he had been unfaithful during their marriage — and that she was actually the one who wanted to get a divorce before deciding to give him another chance.
“When early in my marriage I was faced with this, I was ready to leave. I had divorce papers ready. I presented them to him. He said ‘please, I want my family.’ He said all the right things. Once I was pregnant I decided to forgive him and give him that one last chance.”
“The part that hurt me the most when he filed for divorce was that he had asked me to give him another chance, and I was willing to do that and forgive him, for our family,” she claims.
Pulliam says that having children was always a plan for the both of them. The former linebacker is already a father to his 9-year-old son, Ed Jr., with his ex-wife, Real Housewives of Atlanta star Lisa Wu.
“We both wanted to get married, I was not pushing it,” she says of their New Year’s Eve wedding. ” … This is his baby. He wanted more children. He was excited once he found out that we were having a little girl. There was never a question about that. … No point after we got pregnant was there an issue of the fact that we’re having a baby.”
Pulliam now has “no desire” to still be married to Hartwell, but instead, wants to focus on their child.
“There’s a baby in the middle of this!” she stresses. “And regardless, if we don’t want to be married, that’s fine, because we agree on that. But this baby is what’s important, and I feel like that’s being lost.”
Well this puts this douchebag’s statements in an entirely new light. He cheated on his wife, filed for divorce right after she announced her pregnancy and didn’t have the decency to give her a heads up first. Keshia said that the day Ed filed for divorce he “left like any other day” and even said goodbye. Then he broke up with her by text, filed for divorce and told the press that she trapped him with a baby, essentially. Keshia said that she’s going to do this one interview and then be done with this story, and with Ed. She wants to focus on her daughter and said that “what I need to [do is] to release the hurt, to release this, and to be happy for me and my baby girl, because the stress isn’t good.” Keshia is well rid of him and I hope that she has friends and family around her at this time. She comes across as a resilient person, and she sounds like she’s going to be a very good mom.
Awwwwwww. He’s a loser.
People who air dirty laundry just really exhaust me and I struggle to see them as adults.
Agreed. I personally would have not said anything and would hope he would go away and would raise the baby myself and if people I don’t even know wanted to think I cheated, so be it. I know this hurts her, but he is showing himself to be such an a-hole. Sorry, but sometimes no dad is better than a shitty one and I can’t imagine him being a good dad when he is pulling this crap before the baby is even born. Ick.
ETA: Have personally been in a similar situation unfortunately and with a lot less money than Keshia has. Sometimes it’s just better to cut your losses than to have chaos in your baby’s life.
Be fair. She didnt put it out there, he did. She is a public figure and her career is built on being wholesome. Leaving his version on the record unchallenged soils her name for the rest of her career. If she doesnt provide a counter point, it is HIS version that will be thrown in in every “where are they now” Cosby kid edition. She would probably be added next to the list of family show kids who didnt live up to their tv image. It would go something like “remember when Judy Winslow did p0rn and when Rudy Cosby cheated on her husband right after the honeymoon”. Now you can dismissively claim that “smart people wouldnt believe it” but that ignores the power of an unchallenged narrative. If you tell a story loudly and frequently enough without challenge, “smart people” will not only buy it, they will start selling it.
I agree. He’s the loser in this; not her.
Yeah, if they were private individuals doing this it would be a bit childish, but these are public personalities. She has every reason to tell her side after he trashed her in public, her reputation as a public persona has been challenged. If she says nothing, plenty of people will take that as agreement with his version of events.
Let’s just say someone did something terrible to you then accused you of doing it to them instead of what actually happened. Classic control tactic, btw. That alone would hurt and make you angry. Now imagine they told your friends, family and employer about the terrible thing “you” did. What would you do? Stay silent as everyone turns a critical eye on you? Not declare your innocence and not refute the actually guilty party’s malicious claims? No, you would say something because you would be outraged that people, who you value, would think you guilty of someone else’s crime. Nobody would have any reason to “see through the BS” because most people assume that others are more or less telling the truth. If it didn’t happen, why would they claim it did? Maybe those closest to you would bother to fact check but everyone else would shrug and go “wow, you suck”. You going to take that laying down? No. And neither is Keshia.
I agree wholeheartedly, Naya. I think she handled it well – she’s putting her version of events out there and will leave it there for people to decide who they believe. But at least she said “this is not true”.
I wanted to say this yesterday, but I hate speculating about other people’s lives, so I decided not to. But when I read the story yesterday and the fact that he told her not to disclose her pregnancy, I wondered if he was cheating and didn’t want someone SPECIFIC not to know that she’s pregnant. He could have been giving somebody the “oh, we’re not in love… we don’t even have sex anymore” card, but if his wife turns up pregnant, that throws a spanner in the works. Just a theory, and I could be totally wrong but that’s what I thought.
Being cheated on still seems to have more shame and stigma attached to it than being the cheater. I speak out about my husband cheating on me and leaving our family to be with the other person. I don’t do this to smear him but because it’s the truth, everyone is going to gossip about it anyway, and I’d rather own the narrative and show people that I’m not ashamed, that I didn’t do anything wrong. That’s my opinion. Otherwise, I don’t really talk about personal things or air dirty laundry. Just thing I want to help reduce stigma around–including my bipolar II diagnosis. I understand that some people will think it’s tacky though, and I accept that.
It’s because we foolishly think that cheating would not happen if the cheater’s partner was “good enough”. It’s like a modern trial by water. Being cheated on is synonymous with “failing” in some way. You weren’t attractive enough, exciting enough, interesting enough, or you did unpleasant things that “drove the other person away”. If you had been “enough” the other person would not have a reason to stray.
This of course completely ignores that people cheat for all kinds of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with their partner and everything to do with the cheater themselves. Their mentality, their desires, their flaws, their personal outlook, how they perceive their own personal circumstances, and so on. There is nobody in the world “good enough” to avoid being cheated on because you do not control the actions of your partner; they do.
Yes, how dare she defend herself. She should definitely pipe down and allow this dullard to continue slandering her to anyone who will listen.
So he can talk shit about her publicly and she’s just supposed to take it? F$ck that. If she had been the first to say something, I would agree with you that she’s being trashy. But he said something really nasty about her, implying she cheated and doesn’t know who the father is. That’s wrong and she has the right to correct the record. Tbh, I don’t get why you guys are so unsympathetic and rather judgemental.
I was thinking about the future, specifically that there is a baby coming. A baby whose father is a jackass. I specifically said what I personally would do, not what she should do. I personally would rather he not be part of mine or the baby’s life if this is the way he conducts himself and I wouldn’t trust him with my child. I would be considering that, that was all I meant and didn’t convey very well. So, yeah, I would be raring to defend myself, but would be considering the bigger picture. You want a paternity test? Yeah, whatever, you’re not the dad and have no monetary (hence custody) obligations, now go away. That was what I meant. I thought Naya made awesome points without attacking me, points that made me think about Keshia’s position as a public figure, which is way different than being a private person. And, as I said, have been through something very similar personally (daughter’s father is a well known figure who dumped me and left me with no way to contact him when he learned of the pregnancy and I ended up looking questionable in the eyes of my family, friends and co-workers when I had my baby on my own, but whatever. I could have made a big deal of it and demanded a paternity test, but screw him. He didn’t want us. I see how he is doing all the time as I can’t help but have it thrown in my face, but I think I got the prize, my daughter and he is missing out big time) , which I pointed out whilst saying what I personally would do. That’s it.
Anybody know how long she dated this d-bag before they got married?
Four months.
Well, then, as bad as I feel for her, marrying a guy you’ve only dated a few short months is a dumbass move, and she’s paying for it now.
Word on urban gossip blogs was that she carried on an affair with him while he was engaged to another woman and promised to fund his business ventures if they were to get married. I’m not sure how much is true, but IF it is, she knew what she was getting with him and I don’t really feel sorry for her, only her unborn daughter.
His ex wife Lisa Wu, mentioned he was engaged to another woman late last year.She was surprised he was dating Keisha because she thought he was still engaged.
Ugh well good luck to her. I wouldn’t want to be in that situation but at least she’s moving on and focusing on her child.
@ALIX no, marrying this particular guy with his history after 4 months is dumb. Met my husband in June, he proposed by August, and we were married in October. Many (many) years later, we are still happily together. I remember hearing about KKP’s marriage to this guy and cringing. Sad to hear it manifesting as everyone predicted.
@PatriotsPower27: that’s what I meant, really… too lazy in the morning to write it all out, though. Congrats to you and your hubby, best of luck to poor KKP…
@ALIX oh okay. Thanks. Have a good one! 😀
I’m cutting her much slack. I remember watching an A&E show called Ghost Stories and she was on, talking about a boyfriend/fiance with severe mental problems who ultimately killed himself. It took her a long time to move beyond that. So I really can’t fault her for taking a chance with someone who was more mentally stable than the previous guy. Plus, she won’t be afforded the latitude as some ‘actresses’ who got dumped in much gentler ways.
Why am I thinking that Ed has a side piece who may also be pregnant? Ed goes on the record saying he wants a paternity test. He figures that this would infuriate Keshia to the point where she wants nothing to do with Ed and raises the baby on her own. He would get out of paying child support(he would sign his rights away) and then he could ride off into the sunset with someone else. Sounds far fetched, but this guy seems very shady
Sad but I was thinking the same thing.
plus, if the side piece became the side piece with the old ‘no baby, she and I never sleep together’ and he’s still WITH the side piece and wife gets pregnant he’s drawing out facing the music with said side piece.
I should have read more comments before I made my own, but I thought the same thing.
I think it’s just great minds and all 🙂
Good luck to her. On a superficial note DAMN she looks 20 years old.
Good black don’t crack!
Poor Keshia.
Poor ruby huxtable. I feel bad for her, it’s a time where she should be focusing on her baby and enjoying her pregnancy and impending birth.
Poor Keshia . He does sound controlling. Cheating and begging for forgiveness, Judi turn around and leave? Sounds like He wanted to be the one who ended the relationship, and on his terms.
Which meant being a huge ass and publicly dragging the mother of his child…
Definitely better off without him and his mind games.
Ed was the rebound after Tigga. I wonder if they end up back together?
I have empathy for her but I think she needs to take some responsibility for her poor choices.I am not just talking about marrying a man she had only been dating a few months.Also she got pregnant AFTER he confessed to cheating.Why not use birth control or insist he use condoms when you KNOW he has been unfaithful, to prevent a pregnancy? Why risk getting pregnant and bringing a child into a dysfunctional marriage? Go to counseling for a year or so and deal with your issues before starting a family.Since she had divorce papers drawn up months before indicates she was not in denial.From his comments it seems like it was not a mutual decision to start a family at this time.
I agree. Sounds like a bandaid baby which is never a good idea. Also, and I have to pre-empt this by stating I wouldn’t stay with a cheater period, but for the sake of argument let’s say you have a man who cheated, a professional athlete who has star f*uckers chasing after him, why would a woman willing to stay and hoping he doesn’t cheat again, turn around and get pregnant right away when you know you’re competing with hotties throwing themselves at him? It’s sad that some men do not find pregnancy attractive, but with some men, especially cheaters, that’s just the way it is, so why take that risk now? I just can’t see the rationale other than the bandaid theory….a baby will make him stay and be a family man….which hardly ever happens.
Not to mention the risk of potential diseases being passed down to the baby.
All contraceptive measures except abstinence and sterility have a certain failure rate. So we don’t really know that she had unprotected sex with him after he admitted cheating. A friend got pregnant even though she and her husband were using three different contraceptive methods simultaneously. The odds are not really that poor for a failure. People need to be aware of this, that any time his little swimmers come near your egg a pregnancy is possible. Condoms, the pill, etc. reduce the odds but not down to zero. And there are individual variations in response to the pill, so your personal odds for pregnancy might be much higher than general statistics would indicate.
Well he didn’t even tell Lisa Wu he was getting married. They share a child, so how can you not tell the mother?
@Colette- I was thinking along the same lines with the addition- it occurs to me that maybe he intentionally tried to get her pregnant knowing she would never leave on her own if she were pregnant- even if he cheated. Then he gets to control the narrative- leave her and insinuate she was the one that cheated. Dude CLEARLY has some control issues.
Sounds like Ed got mad about her announcing her pregnancy. This is probably because he had told the other woman that he was no longer with KKP. So, he had to file for divorce and cry paternity test in order to keep up with his lies.
Yup
I remember him on RHOA and he seemed sketch then. I hope she’s ok. I couldn’t imagine being pregnant and having to deal with this.
The exact same thing happened to a friend of mine. The woman catches her husband having an affair, kicks him out of the house, he begs and begs, she forgives him. A month later he files for divorce and tells her “You don’t make me happy.” Completely blindsided her. Sometimes I think they just want to do the dumping.
But in this case she had only dated him for a few months, like wtf. That is the dumbest thing a person can do.
“sometimes they just want to do the dumping.”
Yes to this. And some people are never happy because they keep thinking the grass is greener on the other side. They get to the other side and think the grass was actually greener on the OTHER side and it continues. My take on people like this (men and women alike) is that they only want what they can’t have. They beg and beg for what they think they can’t have and as soon as they get it, they regret it and want someone else/something else they think they can’t have. Must be the chase I guess.
CDAN has a blind that Ed Hartwell proposed to someone else and got her pregnant while he was married to and impregnated Keshia. Might explain why he’s acting like such an Mfer…because he’s screwed.
Wow was I fooled about him. I thought Lisa Wu was the bad guy when she divorced him.
There’s a few bad life decisions floating around in this story.
So, just because she says he cheated and she didn’t, you automatically believe her?