Chelsea Handler Clarifies Threesome with Masseuse Was Not Why Her Relationship with Ted Harbert Ended

Chelsea Handler is setting the record straight about why her relationship with ex Ted Herbert ended more than a decade ago.

In Thursday’s episode The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonthe 48-year-old comedian clarified the details behind their split, four months after she said their breakup followed a threesome with a masseuse.

“I like to tell my personal history as if it were my only personal history,” she shared. “And I always forget that other people are involved in my stories.”

After detailing their ménage à trois in June, she reportedly received a text from former NBC chairman Herbert — whom she called “a very dear friend of mine” — in which she recalled saying, “That wasn’t cool. Please and, don’t do it again. Some things are better left private.”

Chelsea Handler’s threesome with a masseuse led to the end of the romance with Ted Herbert: ‘She turned me on very much’

She added that after receiving the “stern” response, she Googled herself to remember what she had said and found headlines about the interview.

“So I really want to make it clear, I want to be public that this is not why our relationship ended,” she explained. “We had a lot of threesome sex and even though it’s private, it already exists. So I’ll double down on that and just say that we didn’t break up because I left him for a masseuse. That didn’t happen.”

“I’ve had so many people come up to me, say, ‘Wow, that gave Ted Herbert a lot of street cred, who knew he had triplets,'” she joked. “So I’m just saying he was.”

She concluded: “But I love Ted Herbert. I love you, if you’re watching. I hope not.”

Chelsea Handler visits SiriusXM Studios on June 7, 2023.

Jason Mendez/Getty Images

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Back in June, Handler spoke to Andy Cohen on his SiruisXM radio show about a threesome with the couple’s masseuse — and how it was the beginning of the end for her relationship with Herbert.

When asked if she had ever dated a woman, The Chelsea lately star revealed: “I slept with a woman, but I didn’t date a woman.” When Cohen pressed for more details, Handler admitted it was during a threesome.

“That woman really turned me on,” she said. “I ended up hooking her up a few times without the guy I was dating. That’s when I knew it was time to break up with that guy.”

Cohen laughed and Handler continued.

“I don’t think I ever discovered it, but I mean, I hope she’s listening now,” she said with a laugh. “His name is Ted Herbert. He’s in Portugal, though. He might not have access to this…he and his wife are building a house in Portugal.”

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Handler and Herbert broke up in 2010 after four years of dating. He was the president of E! Entertainment when Handler’s late-night show launched in 2006.

Handler previously said the reason they broke up was because he couldn’t separate work from the rest of their lives.

“I’d come home from work and Ted would say, ‘Do you want to watch your show?’ and I would say, ‘No, I just came from my play. That’s the last thing I want to do,'” she said in an interview with Marie Claire 2012. “That was the reason it didn’t work, ultimately. I think.”

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Source: HIS Education