Reports that Yoko Ono, the widow of the former Beatle John Lennon, is pregnant with Ricky Gervais' love child have been dismissed by both stars, Mr Damian reports.

In a statement, Ono denied reports in The News of the World that she was pregnant by the UK comedian, or that they had a relationship.

'She confirms that she and Ricky are good friends and that she might appear in the next series of Extras, but anything else is simply untrue,' it said.

Denial isn't just a river in Egypt
A spokeswoman for Gervais, a former pizza delivery boy done good, told Mr Damian: 'It's bollocks. Of course it is. She's like 70 or something so let's face it, it's pretty unlikely.'

Ono however refused to confirm whether she had come out the other side of the menopause or not, sending newspapers into a further rumour frenzy.

The rumours have pushed Ono close to the Edge

The denials follow reports in The News of the World on Sunday which quoted a close friend of Ono as saying that she was 'pregnant with Ricky's funny fat baby'.

Flacid
But The Sun has since contradicted the story, reporting that actor and comedian was 'amazed' by the 'stupid' claim.

The story follows earlier reports this month that Alan Partridge star Steve Coogan and Courtney Love the widow of Kurt Cobain had enjoyed a passionate affair.

Stephen Merchant, Gervais' writing partner denied having an affair with the Irish crooner Chris De Burgh, even though no one had actually suggested they were shagging.

Posted by damian at August 26, 2005 09:09 AM