Jerry O’Connell explains why he and Giuliana Rancic broke up over his building’s intercom: ‘I was a pretty terrible boyfriend’

Raechal ShewfeltMon, July 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM UTC

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Jerry O’Connell and Giuliana RancicCredit: Tommaso Boddi/WireImage; Amy Sussman/GettyKey Points -

Jerry O’Connell apologized for being a ‘pretty terrible boyfriend’ to Giuliana Rancic.

The two dated in 2003 and 2004.

He confirmed that the two broke up over the intercom of his building, as Rancic wrote in her 2015 memoir, Going Off Script.

Jerry O’Connell is sorry for being “a terrible boyfriend” to Giuliana Rancic when they coupled up briefly in 2003 and 2004.

“I gotta say, we had a lot of fun together,” he told Kelly Ripa on Sunday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, which was recorded in front of an audience at SiriusXM’s NYC Fishbowl. “But we did break up on… We broke up poorly.”

He continued, “Let me take this moment to apologize to Giuliana Rancic — I’m not kidding — for being a terrible boyfriend. I was the worst. I wasn’t the worst… I was just not a great boyfriend.”

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Ripa, who’s co-hosted with O’Connell before, when he appeared on her TV talk show, asked the Stand by Me actor if Rancic had “ran by him” the mention of their breakup in her 2016 memoir Going Off Script.

O’Connell said she had not, but reiterated that he had been “a pretty terrible boyfriend” and confirmed that they ended their relationship over the intercom of his building.

“So Giuiana Rancic claims that I broke up with her through an intercom in my building,” he said. “I broke up with her through an intercom because Giuliana Rancic came to my condominium and hit my intercom. I was not expecting Giuliana Rancic to come to said condominium. Someone was inside of my condominium, and Giuliana Rancic wanted entry into my condominium. Thank goodness, buzzer, gate, security. I paid a pretty hefty homeowner’s fee for these things.”

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Jerry O’Connell and Giuliana Rancic in 2004Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

As O’Connell remembered, “I said, ‘I did not know you were coming. You can’t come up here. You can’t come here unannounced.’ Notice no one had a key, so the relationship was not like that, but that was why: I didn’t like someone coming to my condominium without an invite or even a text or even a phone call, like, ‘Hey, at the farmers market, thought I’d stop by. Got some fresh-cut flowers.’ There was no warning. And I didn’t want someone coming in, because I didn’t want any confrontation.”

In her book, the former red carpet host wrote that what O’Connell said during their intercom interaction was ridiculous.

As Ripa read it to O’Connell — to plenty of laughs — “Nope. Sorry, homegirl. Things change. But you take care, okay?”

She pressed him on whether he’d said it.

“I don’t recall exact wording, so I can’t deny that I said that,” O’Connell said. “It doesn’t sound like something I’d say, but, again, if I was writing a memoir, it made for a good quote. So, you know what, I’m gonna applaud Giuliana for using colorful dialogue and everything.”

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to reps for Rancic.

It seems to have worked out for both. O’Connell married model and actress Rebecca Romijn in 2007, the same year that Rancic married businessman Bill Rancic, the original winner of reality show The Apprentice.

on Entertainment Weekly

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