Celebrity Mound

Nearly three and half years after they swapped “I dos” at their corporate-sponsored wedding, Star Jones and Al Reynolds are calling it quits. The National Enquirer reports the legal diva sent Al his walking papers a month ago.

“They hadn’t been seeing eye to eye for months and had already spent a great deal of time apart,” a friend of the couple told the Enquirer. “Finally, Star decided it was over. She told Al at the end of January that he had 30 days to get his act together or ‘get out.’”

The pair made one last public appearance at the Feb. 1 Baby Phat fashion show in New York City, but everything fell apart days later. That prompted Star to show Al the door ahead of schedule, the source said. “Al moved some of his things out of their Upper East Side apartment and returned to Miami, where he’d already been spending a lot of time recently.”

The Enquirer spoke to another insider who confirmed the breakup and revealed Star’s intention to make it permanent. “Star is planning to divorce Al.” As for reason behind the split, the source added, “I think Star felt Al had spent their marriage riding her success while she did all the heavy lifting. She resented it. Deep down, Star is a very old-fashioned woman who believes a man should support her emotionally, physically and financially. She now believes Al failed her.”

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STAR Jones is the first casualty of Court TV’s re-launch as truTV. Last night, the network canceled her daily talk show, with today’s episode the last, and said in a statement: “Star will continue as a contributing legal expert to our weekday trial coverage. We appreciate the work she has contributed over the last few months and look forward to the next phase of our relationship.” A truTV insider said, “They decided to go in a different direction. TruTV is not Court TV. It’s tabloidy. They wanted to dumb down her show. When she refused, they put no promotion behind it.” The good news is Jones, who’s rumored to have a three-year, $24 million contract, has a “pay-for-play deal,” an insider said. “She gets paid for the next couple of years to basically hang out with her husband, Al.” Jones is on “Today” once a week and is in talks with other networks. She said, “I’ve been treated wonderfully.”

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A RESPECTED Detroit preacher has sprung to the defense of Star Jones, who’s being maligned in Motown for supposedly ripping off a local charity and not showing at its 2006 “empowerment” event.

“Star is the victim here,” says the Rev. Horace Sheffield, who claims his own nonprofit, the Detroit Association of Black Organizations, was duped by the woman making accusations against Jones. Last week, Jones was portrayed on Detroit’s WXYZ-TV as a diva who reneged on a deal to make a Super Bowl weekend “empowerment” speech to a nonprofit that helps overweight girls. But as Page Six reported, public records show the charity’s director, Sharon DuMas-Pugh, has a history of financial troubles, including bankruptcy and failure to file tax returns.

“DuMas is the last person who should be claiming someone cheated her – because she’s been doing it to people for years,” Sheffield told The Post’s Jeane MacIntosh.

Sheffield says his group rented office space to DuMas’ charity, Full & Fabulous, only to see her skip out, leaving a bill of more than $10,000. “I wish I could tell you what I think of her and her charity, but I have to remind myself I’m a pastor,” Sheffield said. “But she’s just using these fragile, overweight girls as pawns to get something from Star Jones. It’s a joke.”

DuMas-Pugh claims her charity bought Jones first-class air tickets to come to Detroit for its empowerment event, but Jones did book signings and went to a fashion show instead. A copy of Full & Fabulous’ contract with the celeb shows the group agreed to pay Jones $25,000, plus first-class airfare and a five-star hotel for two in return for the appearance. But Jones didn’t get a $10,000 deposit due in August. She gave DuMas-Pugh until the night before the event to get the money and even flew to Detroit for the planned speech on her own dime. The money never materialized, and Jones didn’t show.

Sheffield, who also books celebrities such as Ashford & Simpson for Detroit charity events, says, “You know going in that you have to pay what you promised, and honor the contract, or folks are under no obligation to show up. Sharon knows that. She’s trying to create a scandal where there is none.”

DuMas-Pugh could not be reached.

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