Fergie, born Stacy Ann Ferguson, first met Josh Duhamel on the set of Las Vegas, in which Duhamel starred when the Black Eyed Peas guest-starred in 2004. The two really hit it off and by 2007, Fergie and Duhamel announced their engagement. Two years later, Duhamel and Fergie exchanged vows on January 10, 2009. About nine months later, the couple weathered their first storm together after Duhamel was accused of infidelity.
An exotic dancer named Nicole Forrester claimed she’d had a one night stand with the actor after he’d come to the establishment where she worked. Both Fergie and Duhamel adamantly denied the allegations of an affair, with Duhamel’s rep telling People, “This is not the first, nor will it be the last, time that a stripper was paid a large amount of money to sell a false story about a celebrity. This story is absolutely ridiculous.”
Fergie’s rep also denied the allegations, flatly stating, “These allegations are nonsense.” The couple pulled past the scandal seemingly stronger than ever, with Fergie later telling Oprah Winfrey during an appearance on OWN’s Oprah’s Next Chapter, “When you go through difficult times, it really makes you stronger as a unit, as a partnership,” adding, “It does for us anyways. Our love today is a deeper love.”
Fergie later told Winfrey, “Definitely we’re strong today because of anything difficult that’s happened with us. We deal with it. We communicate. Communicating is the most important thing.” A few years after the scandal blew over, in 2013, Duhamel and Fergie welcomed their son, Axl Duhamel.
Over the next few years, the two seemed to have the perfect little family, but in 2017, the two announced their divorce in a joint statement. The statement read, via E! Online, “With absolute love and respect we decided to separate as a couple earlier this year. To give our family the best opportunity to adjust, we wanted to keep this a private matter before sharing it with the public.
We are and will always be united in our support of each other and our family.” Sources at the time insisted that there was no drama behind the split. “They completely grew apart,” one source told eonline. “This was a long time coming and they’ve been trying to sort everything out this past year.”
Another source confirmed that the two weren’t at odds with each other, telling the outlet, “There wasn’t one big fight or final straw. They have a lot of love for each other and for each other’s families and there’s no bad blood.” At the heart of the matter was the couple’s son, and both parties seemed to be willing to focus their efforts in that direction.
A third source told the site, “Fergie still has the most respect for Josh and they will continue to have a healthy relationship while co-parenting.” Though the divorce took two years to finalize before finally reaching its conclusion in November 2019, both Fergie and Josh Duhamel seem to be yet another model divorced couple who’ve come together for the good of their son.