AceShowbiz -

Bobby Flay refused to respond to a rumor saying that he ruined his marriage to his estranged wife Stephanie March by cheating with his assistant Elyse Tirrell. In a statement he released through his representative, he said that he would continue to restrain from responding to the rumor and refused to give either confirmation or denial in regard to the claim.

"We will continue to refrain from responding to the continued efforts by certain parties to spread rumors and innuendo," so the representative said. "This specific allegation was in a letter sent from one attorney in this case to the other. It was written and then leaked specifically to try to insert this story into the press, and that's unfortunate."

The rep claimed that the rumor was a trick meant to renegotiate prenuptial agreement between the couple. "Even more unfortunate is that all of this is being done in order to renegotiate a prenuptial agreement that was agreed to over a decade ago and never amended during the marriage," so the rep explained.

Flay's cheating rumor sparked shortly after the Food Network star filed for divorce from March early this month. Actress close to March, Maia Madison, claimed that the "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" actress told her about the affair around Thanksgiving. "She came to my house and was sobbing uncontrollably, 'I can't believe the last 10 years of my life have been a lie,' " Madison recalled.

However, Flay's partner Laurence Kretchmer backed Flay and said that the rumor was wrong. "I've been in the middle of this relationship for 14 years, and he did everything he could to save his marriage," so Kretchmer said of Flay.

He continued, "Elyse is a great and valued employee and it is awful to see her dragged into this thing. If she had an affair with Bobby it would have been reported to me. That has never even been suggested."