Former CNN anchorwoman Paula Zahn told friends her sexless marriage to Richard Cohen drove her into the arms of another man. Zahn said the fire went out of her 20-year marriage long before Cohen learned of her affair last August when he found his wife’s “lurid” sex diary. “She and Richard weren’t having sex for some time,” a friend said.

Friends of Cohen tell a different story: that Zahn betrayed him by sleeping with his close buddy, Paul Fribourg. “I trusted Paul and I trusted Paula,” Cohen told a friend. “I had no inkling there was a long-term romance.”

This he-said/she-said marriage implosion happens across the world on a daily basis, but such intimate details become news when it involves a naughty diary and a celebrity such as Zahn. Cohen’s friend called the diary “shocking” and “lurid.” Zahn’s friend said the handwritten diary was more about love than lust. “You know how it is when you’re first in love,” a friend said. “She was euphoric. She was like a 16-year-old schoolgirl.”

Zahn initially became famous from another “sex scandal.” In January 2002, CNN aired an advertisement for its American Morning news show hosted by Zahn. The commercial called Zahn “sexy” and used a zipper-opening sound effect. The network quickly pulled the ad after it received significant criticism for an “undignified and sexist portrayal of a serious journalist.”

Story at NY Daily News

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