KTLA Channel 5 reporter Lu Parker interviewed Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last fall.
Story Published:
Jun 1, 2009 at 10:49 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Jun 8, 2009 at 7:54 AM PDT
Media reports indicated Monday that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is dating another television reporter, evoking memories of his extramarital affair that led to the breakup of his marriage and tarnished his once-golden reputation.
Villaraigosa has been dating KTLA-TV Channel 5 reporter Lu Parker since March, station officials confirmed to the Los Angeles Times in a story posted on its Web site Monday night.
KNBC-TV Channel 4 was the first to report on the relationship, posting a story on its Web site about Villaraigosa and Parker being seen together at the Larchmont bookstore Chevalier's Sunday.
During a Sunday newscast, Parker read a story on the likelihood of Villaraigosa running for governor in 2010, according to The Times.
"Now that we're aware of the relationship, she will no longer be covering politics," KTLA news director Jason Ball told The Times, who added that he has "the utmost faith in Lu Parker's abilities."
Villaraigosa's spokesman Matt Szabo told The Times he would not comment on Villaraigosa's personal life.
Villaraigosa's extramarital affair with then-KVEA-TV Channel 52 reporter and anchor Mirthala Salinas nearly two years ago led to the breakup of his marriage.
Salinas had been reporting on his marital problems without disclosing her role, was eventually suspended by the station and resigned rather than accept a transfer to its Riverside bureau. Salinas said she later reached a legal settlement with KVEA, but did not disclose details.
Villaraigosa is separated from his wife, Corina, but their divorce is not final, according to The Times.
Parker won the 1994 Miss USA Pageant. She began her television career at a station in her native South Carolina, then worked at KENS-TV, the CBS affiliate in San Antonio, before joining KTLA in 2005.
She has also played a reporter in the television series "Commander in Chief," "Monk" and "Shark" and will appeared in the upcoming movie "Winged Creatures."
On her Twitter page, www.twitter.com/LuParker, Parker describes herself
as a journalist, former Miss USA, animal activist and "lover of all things
good and fun."
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