Howard Stern Feuding With Bill Maher, Says They Are ‘No Longer Friends’
It appears that Howard Stern and Bill Maher are no longer on speaking terms after the latter criticized the iconic radio personality for gushing about his wife on air.
The controversy stems from an episode of Maher’s Club Random podcast, where he slammed Stern for outwardly expressing his love and admiration for his wife of almost 15 years, Beth Stern. Maher said that Stern’s comments were unfair to his first wife, Alison Berns.
“How does this gushing about the second wife — how does that make the first wife feel? Could we just not gush about the person while the other person can still hear it?” the Real Time with Bill Maher host said (per People).
Stern addressed the comments on Tuesday’s (September 19) episode of The Howard Stern Show, saying that Maher “ought to shut his mouth.”
“What a sexist thing to say. Like, what a convoluted, nutty thing to say,” Stern said in response to the comedian’s comments. “It’s assuming that he knows something about my first marriage. That, of course, the man must be leaving the woman, and the woman must be devastated and be sitting around pining away for her famous man.”
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Stern and Berns were married for 22 years before separating in 2000; their divorce was finalized in 2001. He met model and animal rights activist Beth Ostrosky at a dinner party in 2000, and the pair began dating shortly after before tying the knot in 2008. They remarried in October 2019 in a surprise wedding on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“[Maher] ought to shut his mouth,” Stern continued. “I mean, I don’t think I come on the air every day and say, ‘I love my wife.’ But I thought it was a pretty positive message, to — especially with my audience — to say to guys: ‘Instead of like ragging on our wives, how about talking about that we appreciate them and love them?'”
Stern said he confronted Maher in an email, asking him, “Why don’t you give me a phone call? Why don’t you tell me what you think about my life and my marriage since you’re, you know.’ But of course, he never wrote me back.”
“I just wanted to see how brave he was,” he added. “If he was brave enough to call me and actually get on the phone with me and zero response. I don’t care, though. He can think what he wants. I think I’m no longer friends with him.”
