Steve Granitz/WireImage.comGladiator star Djimon Hounsou is ready to battle it out for his marriage.
After initially staying mum, the Oscar nominee is now addressing rampant rumors that he and his wife of four years, Kimora Lee Simmons, have called it quits, taking aim at "vicious lies and stories" that he says portray him and his family in a bad light.
"It has come to my attention vicious lies and stories are being spread about myself and my family," the actor tells Global Grind.
Last week, the New York Daily News ran a story that quoted an unnamed source who said that the couple's marriage was on the rocks and that money was a purported factor in their rumored split. "Kimora lives as if she's the Queen of England," the source reportedly said.
The paper later published another report in which Sudanese-Egyptian author Kola Boof claimed to have had an affair with Hounsou. "I am the reason that they broke up" she reportedly wrote in an email, alleging that she "slept with Djimon Hounsou throughout his marriage to Kimora Lee Simmons."
Hounsou adamantly denies the accusations. "I do not know, nor have I ever met this person," the 48-year-old actor said. "To that extent any and all claims are totally fabricated, and for the press to be spreading these lies is irresponsible on their part. I am a man of integrity and would never betray my wife or my family."
Simmons, for her part, retweeted Hounsou's link to his denial statement to Global Grind, and last week cleared up talk of money problems, tweeting, "Wow, I put 1 of several properties I own (+DON'T live in) on the market & now apparently my whole life is fallin apart?! Smdh [shaking my damn head]. Rumors, Rumors."
The couple, who've been together since March 2007, tied the knot the following year and have a 3-year-old son together, Kenzo Lee Hounsou.