Harrison Ford Leaves Wife

November 8, 2000 -- First he added that earring, then he got that spiky hairdo — and now it looks like Harrison Ford's midlife crisis is complete.

On Tuesday, a rep for the graying leading man confirmed his separation from his wife of 17 years, E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison.

Reports have the 58-year-old Star Wars icon getting cozy with a woman who clearly favors older men: 30-year-old Lara Flynn Boyle, who's been 63-year-old Jack Nicholson's on-and-off paramour for the last year or so.

"[The Fords' separation] had nothing to do with that. They separated before that," Ford's agent, Patricia McQueeney, said Tuesday, referring to a National Enquirer photo spread that shows Ford and Boyle chatting cozily at a New York club.

On the Fords' behalf, McQueeney released this statement: "We have been living apart for the past month. We sincerely hope that we can work out our differences."

According to unconfirmed tabloid reports, Ford has checked out of the Manhattan, N.Y., apartment he shares with Mathison and into a New York hotel.

The Enquirer also claims that Boyle and Ford have shared a romantic carriage ride in Central Park.

Ford and Boyle were photographed sharing a booth at a VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards post-party at New York's Lot 61 nightclub on Oct. 20.

In addition to the alleged Boyle romance, one report further tarnishes Ford's good-guy image by suggesting that his favorite home away from home is — a strip club. Say it ain't so!

Residents of Lincoln, Neb., tell columnist Jeannette Walls that the Indiana Jones star likes to fly in more ways than one. On his fueling stopovers in the small town, his is supposedly a familiar face at local skin dives.

"Harrison Ford has been here several times," Ken Semler, the manager of an establishment called The Night Before, told Walls. "He seemed to pretty much enjoy himself."

Ford and his first wife, Mary, divorced in 1979 after 15 years of marriage. Ford has two sons, Benjamin, 33, and Willard, 31, from his first marriage, and son Malcolm, 13, and daughter Georgia, 10, with Mathison.