Celebrity Mound

Former President Bill Clinton and actress Gina Gershon are slamming a new Vanity Fair article that implies they had an affair.

In a story titled “The Comeback Id,” National editor Todd Purdum — who is wed to former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers — writes that Clinton’s personality has changed since his 2004 heart bypass surgery and that there were reports of President Clinton “seeing a lot of women on the road.”

He writes that, according to “recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip … Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California.”

Gershon’s rep tells Usmagazine.com: “Todd Purdum’s insinuation is a lie, and it is irresponsible journalism. We are demanding a retraction.”

(A rep for Vanity Fair tells Us: “Todd Purdum’s article does not indicate that former president Bill Clinton had an improper relationship with Gina Gershon. The story merely examines the concerns of some of Clinton’s aides about reports of his behavior. We don’t believe that any correction is warranted.”)

President Clinton also denied the claims, calling Purdum “sleazy” and a “scumbag.” (“He’s one of the guys that propagated all those lies about Whitewater for Kenneth Starr,” Clinton said. “He’s just a dishonest guy — can’t help it.”)

He also told the Huffington Post that the article is an attempt to discredit his wife Hillary Clinton.

(A rep for Hillary’s campaign has since apologized, saying that President Clinton used “inappropriate” language.)

Purdum defended himself on CNN , saying he was “very careful to say there is no clear-cut evidence that President Clinton has done anything improper.”

“I reject the notion that I’m making an insinuation,” he added. “But I’m very comfortable quoting the people I quote because I know who they are, and I know that they are very senior people who have known President Clinton for a very long time and work for him at very high levels.”