Larry Birkhead and Howard K. Stern have struck out against claims that the two men were once lovers.

Anna Nicole Smith‘s former boyfriends have been gossip fodder for the past year, thanks to the model’s death and a subsequent paternity battle over her infant daughter, Dannielynn, but in her new book, titled “Blonde Ambition,” former MSNBC journalist Rita Cosby quoted singer/actress Jackie Hatten as saying she knows first-hand Birkhead and Stern were also romantically involved with each other, a claim both Birkhead and Stern strongly deny.

Birkhead told the New York Daily News:

“Jackie Hatten has never met me and she hasn’t even seen Anna since 2001. She isn’t a credible source. This book is coming from the losers club because they all have axes to grind.”

In a letter to Cosby, Stern’s lawyer, Lin Wood, has warned that Hatten isn’t a credible or reliable source and went on to tell NYDN:

“The coverage of the tragic deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and her son, Daniel, has been permeated by false, sensationalized accusations. Ms. Cosby’s book…has taken the coverage to a disgusting new low for which she will be held legally accountable.”

TMZ says a scheduled “Today” interview with Cosby was canceled after Wood threatened to sue the show over any false items it broadcast.

Honestly, I don’t know what to make of this. I mean, I can kinda see them being into each other, afterall, Anna lived a crazy life and was known to be into some kinky stuff. On the other hand, Rita Cosby has always struck me as a woman who would write just about anything – fact or fiction – for the right amount of money.

We’ll find out soon enough; the truth will shake out eventually – it always does.