From the NY Post:
- Michael Strahan likes to keep really close track of his women.
When the gap-toothed ex-Giant suspected his longtime girlfriend of cheating, he put a tracking device in her car – and went ballistic when she found it, sources told The Post.
It’s the second time Strahan, who now lives in California, used the Big Brother tactic on gal pal Nicole Murphy, the ex-wife of comedian Eddie Murphy, a source said.
But Strahan has been playing amateur snoop for years.
During his nasty 2006 divorce trial, Strahan’s ex-wife, Jean, accused the hulking defensive lineman of using high-tech spyware to tap her phone at their New Jersey mansion. She also revealed at the trial that he’d installed a secret video system to record her sister undressing.
Nicole Murphy, a model, and Strahan have been an item since early 2007. They regularly turn up together at red carpet events, and her five kids with Eddie are said to be fond of the NFL commentator.
Murphy boasted in February 2008 that she and Strahan have a relationship based on “communication and shared interests.”
But she also had been sharing interests with Universal Records A&R exec Demetrius Spencer.
- Introduced by a mutual pal, Murphy had been “hiding” her affection for Spencer from Strahan “for almost a year,” the sources said.
Using the excuse of “business trips,” a source said, Spencer and Murphy would jet off to exotic getaways in the Caribbean and Mexico.
For several months, the couple had exchanged gushing e-mails, professing their love for each other. In the notes, some of which were obtained by The Post, Murphy told Spencer she planned to come clean to Strahan about their relationship.
Murphy also began to suspect Strahan was checking up on her. There were “too many instances where he knew where she was,” said a source.
Things came to a head Feb. 20, after Spencer and Murphy took her Range Rover to a luxury dealership in Thousand Oaks, Calif.. Mechanics quickly discovered the tracking apparatus.
“This is the second tracking device he’s had put in her car,” one source said.
“This one was found behind the front dashboard.” Murphy and Spencer went to have lunch while the tracer – which one source said provided up-to-the-minute location status – was removed.
Seconds later, Strahan barged into the garage, “yelling and screaming,” a source said.
Spotting Murphy’s car with the tracking device exposed, Strahan walked over, ripped it off the dashboard and stormed out of the shop.
Spencer and Murphy subsequently called it quits, but remain friends, said one source.
In her e-mails, Murphy wrote she was reluctant to split with Strahan because he’d grown close to her kids.
Murphy’s assistant declined comment. A rep for Strahan did not return calls.