Friends of Zahn’s say sexless marriage led to her having affair

Neither Paula Zahn nor her estranged husband has filed for divorce.

By GEORGE RUSH
and CORKY SIEMASZKO

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

NEW YORK — Anchorwoman Paula Zahn told pals her sexless marriage to Richard Cohen drove her into the arms of another man.

A friend of the former CNN anchor said the fire went out of the 20-year marriage long before Cohen learned of the affair last August when he found his wife’s “lurid” sex diaries.

“She and Richard weren’t having sex for some time,” the friend said.

Friends of the cuckolded Cohen tell a different story — that Zahn betrayed him when she “strayed” with his pal Paul Fribourg.

“I trusted Paul and I trusted Paula,” Cohen told a friend. “I had no inkling there was a long-term romance.”

The ugly new charges and countercharges came as the celebrity marriage continued to implode — and after the New York Daily News revealed how Cohen found a diary illustrated with photos in which Zahn laid bare her alleged affair with the married ContiGroup CEO.

“Richard felt like he’d been stabbed in the heart twice when he found out his wife had been cheating with one of his best friends,” one of Cohen’s friends said Monday. “They played golf and tennis together. Their families skied together in Aspen.”

Cohen’s ally called the diary “shocking” and “lurid.” Zahn’s side said the handwritten diary was more about love than lust.

“You know how it is when you’re first in love,” a friend said. “She was euphoric. She was like a 16-year-old schoolgirl.”

No divorce filing

Neither Cohen, 59, a multimillionaire developer, nor Zahn, 51, has formally filed for divorce. Zahn has moved out of the Fifth Avenue co-op she and Cohen shared with their three children.

Last week, Zahn filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court alleging Cohen mismanaged the $25 million she invested with him. She also charged he was trying to gain “some sort of tactical advantage” amid the breakup by withholding information on the money he managed.

“Our suit is very simple,” said Stanley Arkin, who is working with lawyer William Zabel on Zahn’s legal team. “We ask them to give us the facts. As to everything else, it is whiney baloney.”

Cohen has denied his wife’s accusations. A friend of Cohen’s said Zahn is trying to even the score and “undermine their prenup” with claims that he withheld sex.

It’s “the dumbest thing he’d ever heard,” the friend said. “He certainly wasn’t withholding sex. She was the one getting sex on the outside. It was not an issue.”