Did Extramarital Text Messages Doom Eva and Tony?

Wonderwall, Thursday, November 18, 2010, 10:26am (PST)

By Kat Giantis

Does sending flirty text messages to someone other than your spouse count as cheating? In the wake of Eva Longoria's divorce filing, details are emerging about husband Tony Parker's alleged texting habits with a former teammate's wife.

Multiple outlets identify the woman as Erin Barry, the estranged missus of NBA-er Brent Barry, who played with Parker on the San Antonio Spurs from 2004 to 2008.

"They knew each other, sent each other messages," a source explains to People magazine. "It was flirtatious, but he never did anything with her."

RELATED: Read about the divorce in Spanish on Wonderwall Latino

Echoes an insider to the New York Post. "There's no physical relationship between Tony and Erin. There was texting that went on for a while and probably crossed the line. Eva found out by looking at his phone."

According to Celebuzz, Longoria and Parker have been close with the Barrys for several years, and Tony and Erin were simply "leaning on each other as their respective marriages went through troubles."

Uh-huh. Because emotionally connecting with someone other than your significant other always ends well. Moving on...

"Look, any wife is going to be upset with what Tony did," another spy pipes in to RadarOnline, "but he swears the relationship with Erin stopped there and they never had sex."

Hours after Longoria filed to end her three-year marriage to Parker on Wednesday, citing the usual irreconcilable differences, she confirmed her discovery of hundreds of suspicious texts in a heart-to-heart with her longtime pal, "Extra" host Mario Lopez.

The "Desperate Housewives" actress also accused her basketball-star hubby of keeping in Facebook contact with a woman she claims he two-timed her with just months after their elaborate 2007 wedding outside Paris.

"Eva wants everyone to know she's devastated by the rumors of Tony's infidelity," declared Lopez. "She loved her husband and is heartbroken about their split. But she's strong."

RELATED: Eva through the years

Meanwhile, Brent Barry's dad, NBA Hall of Fame player Rick Barry, has also weighed in on the reports, telling TMZ, "I feel horrible for my son. I'm in shock. I knew [Erin] was moving out of the house soon and SHE was the one that filed for divorce. This is the straw that broke the camel's back."

Continues Papa Barry, "[Brent] is going to be devastated. I can't even imagine him going through this ... the divorce was hard enough news."

Longoria, 35, and Parker 28, released matching statements on Wednesday, announcing, "It is with great sadness that after seven years together, [we] have decided to divorce. We love each other deeply and pray for each other's happiness."

As for which party decided to call it quits first, that's open to debate. A source tells TMZ that despite Eva's initial denial of the divorce reports, she had talked Tony out of filing in San Antonio so she could pull the legal trigger in Los Angeles.

Not so, insists a Longoria source, who contends, "Eva and Tony were still talking about working out the marriage up until the morning she filed."

What do you think of Tony's rumored texts to another woman? Tell us in the comments.

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