Star Jones put on a brave face when she delivered the commencement speech at Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., on April 27, four days after announcing her split with her husband of three-and-a-half years, Al Reynolds. That same night, Al and six friends hit The Forge restaurant in Miami, where the couple shares a condo. “There was a lot of champagne, vodka and dancing,” an onlooker says. “He seemed like he was putting on a show.” Al may just be masking his pain. “He is so hurt and so sad,” his mom, Ada Reynolds, tells In Touch exclusively. “He did not want this divorce at all. He wanted to stay married. I think Star wanted the divorce, not Al.”

Since meeting at a record release party for Alicia Keys more than four years ago, the former View co-host seemed completely smitten with Al. But recently, their relationship became rocky when Al, 37, who gave up a career in banking to become her manager after Star, 46, was fired from The View two years ago, started to assert his independence again. After her new TruTV show was canceled in January, “His desire to focus on his own career caused them to grow apart,” a close friend of Star’s reveals.

Al wanted to branch out, Star’s friend explains. “Al acted as her manager during her time at TruTV. And when her show was canceled, he became restless,” says an insider. He started writing a book on finance and began teaching at Florida Memorial University in Miami. “They started having a commuter relationship and she began to feel abandoned,” the friend adds. Once Star found out how different they had become, “the romance just faded away and she recognized that it was best to end it.”

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