Josh and Fergie Snuggle Up in Public As Cheating Scandal Makes Headlines

Wonderwall, Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 2:25pm (PST)

By Kat Giantis

Unless Josh Duhamel and Fergie are gluttons for punishment, they might want to avoid the newsstand this week, because their faces are all over the place.

The unseemly allegations that the actor stepped out on his Black Eyed Peas missus with a National Enquirer-blabbing, supposedly polygraph-passing Atlanta stripper top the latest covers of both People magazine ("Rocked by Scandal") and Us Weekly ("Cheating Shock: Fergie Betrayed").

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But in a seeming attempt to quiet the rumor mill, the pair made a public show of togetherness Tuesday night in Atlanta, where Duhamel is shooting the flick "Life As We Know It."

People reports they chowed down at Chops, which just happens to be located next to the St. Regis Hotel, the same place where exotic dancer Nicole Forrester claims she shared a "passionate" night with the "Transformers" star earlier this month.

Fergie, 34, and Josh, 36, who wed in January, dug into a dinner of lobster and steak. Also on the menu: a bottle of Chardonnay and a side order of lovey-dovey behavior.

"They were snuggling up a little bit," the eatery's manager tells the mag. "They were sitting next to each other in a booth side by side and talking closely."

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The staffer says Fergie declined an offer of a tucked-away table, preferring instead to "sit out where the action is."

Speaking of action, Duhamel has vehemently denied the Enquirer's two-timing charges, with his rep denouncing them as "absolutely ridiculous."

"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," the mouthpiece stated.

But Forrester, a 34-year-old mother of two who dances at the appropriately named Tattletale club, insisted to an Atlanta radio station this week that she's telling the truth.

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"I'm not lying about anything," she maintained. "I have nothing to hide, and he's just [as] guilty as I am."

Her lawyer contends to Us that the Enquirer sought out Nicole after "Josh bragged about what happened on the set of his movie and someone called the [tabloid] with the tip."

Still, despite rumors that Duhamel has been in "the doghouse" with Fergie, an insider says she has faith in his fidelity.

"Josh told her it didn't happen," the source relays to the mag, "and she believes him."

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