Howard Stern says Bill Maher 'ought to shut his mouth'

Howard Stern says Bill Maher ‘ought to shut his mouth’ after HBO host criticized shock jock’s on-air praise of wife Beth Stern: ‘I think I’m no longer friends with him’

Maher, 67, scrutinized Stern’s boasts about his marriage on his podcast Monday
Stern, 69, shot back on his SiriusXM show Tuesday, saying he reached out to Maher to see ‘if he was brave enough to … actually get on the phone with me’
Stern and wife Beth, 51, set to celebrate 15th wedding anniversary next month

Bill Maher has apparently lost Howard Stern’s friendship.

The political commentator, 67, has come into the cross-hairs of the King of All Media, 69, after he said he was irritated by the radio icon’s ongoing stream of on-air praise for his second wife, Beth Stern, 51.

Stern, 69, on Tuesday ripped Maher for remarks he made about him on his Club Random podcast Monday, after Maher said that he felt Stern was inconsiderate to constantly praise Beth on the air, as it was an affront to the Private Parts star’s first wife Alison Berns, who he shares three children with.

Maher was chatting with Julian Lennon, 60, when he recalled a discussion he had with Stern on Real Time in October of 2019, saying Stern was ‘kind of razzing him’ about his longtime bachelorhood in the segment.

‘I must say, there’s this thing that men do … Howard Stern … he’s saying to me, “Bill, you’re successful, but don’t you want to settle down?”‘ Maher said. ‘And he goes on about how much he loves his wife, Beth, which he has been doing on the air for, like, 10 years.’

The latest: Howard Stern, 69, was critical of Bill Maher, 67, on his SiriusXM radio show Tuesday, after Maher said the shock jock’s on-air praise of his wife Beth Stern, 51, is ‘mean’ toward ex-wife Alison Berns. The radio icon and his spouse were pictured in 2017 in NYC

Maher was chatting with Julian Lennon, 60, on his Club Random podcast Monday when he brought up the King of All Media

Maher said he found the comments quizzical, as ‘We know Howard had this other wife before Beth,’ referring to Berns, who he wed in 1978 and separated from 1999, finalizing their divorce in 2001. (They are parents to three daughters: Emily Stern, Deborah Stern and Ashley Stern.)

Maher said of Stern: ‘So he’s trying to make me seem like I’m the slightly immoral one because I won’t settle down and all I could think of is, “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?’

Maher said it was ‘mean’ and ‘gross,’ adding that ‘stupid celebrities do it all the time,’ in boasting about their new marriages after having been divorced.

Maher mocked Stern in imitating the behavior, saying, ‘I was not alive before her, everything I was doing was like taking a s*** compared to being with this woman I’m with now – and the first chick is like “What?”‘

Maher said that he didn’t ‘want to start a fight with’ Stern after they ‘finally repaired’ their relationship, but it appeared he fell short of that goal after Stern responded to the remarks on his Sirius XM show Tuesday.

‘I think I’m no longer friends with him,’ Stern said of Maher, characterizing his remarks as ‘sexist,’ ‘convoluted’ and ‘nutty.’

Stern – who celebrates his 15-year anniversary to Beth next month – said Maher was ignorant to the dynamics of his personal life in his characterization of the situation.

Maher said Stern’s behavior was ‘mean’ and ‘gross,’ adding that ‘stupid celebrities do it all the time,’ in boasting about their new marriages after having been divorced

Stern was seen renewing his marital vows with Beth on Ellen in 2019, with The Bachelor’s Colton Underwood officiating the proceedings

Maher said that he felt Stern was inconsiderate to constantly praise Beth on the air, as it was an affront to his first wife Alison Berns; Stern and Berns were pictured in NYC in 1993

‘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,’ Stern said.

Stern said Maher ‘ought to shut his mouth’ on the topic, adding, evidently ‘he’s very worried about my relationship.’

Said Stern: ‘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 emailed Maher after hearing the remarks Monday, in an effort to confront him on the touchy topic.

‘He felt very comfortable taking a shot at me,’ Stern said. ‘So I did something I’ve never done before – I wrote in an email, I said, “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.’

Stern said he ‘just wanted to see how brave [Maher] was’ and ‘if he was brave enough to call me and actually get on the phone with me – and zero response.’

Stern said he didn’t care about what Maher’s opinion of him, adding, ‘He can think what he wants.’

Stern was critical of Maher’s use of marijuana on his podcast, implying he did it to get recognized as irreverent.

Stern said Maher ‘ought to shut his mouth’ on the topic, adding, evidently ‘he’s very worried about my relationship.’ Pictured in LA in 2019

‘Like really dude? I think you’re almost 70 years old, we get it, you smoke weed,’ he said. ‘I guess when you’re wasted you kind of get off on a tangent.’

In the 2019 segment on Real Time, Stern said to Maher, ‘The one big difference between us is I am in a committed, loving relationship with a woman.’

Maher said, ‘So what? Enjoy it,’ to which Stern said, ‘What is it? Do you ever have like a serious girlfriend? Because we don’t see you anywhere.’

Maher said he loved being single and intimated that married people ‘are not alive,’ to which Stern said, ‘I am so happily married.’

Maher earlier this week postponed the return of his HBO series Real Time amid the ongoing writers and actors strikes after initially deciding to forge on without writers.

Source: Read Full Article