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Sherri Shepherd's ex: I'm on welfare and she refuses to see our baby

One of Hollywood's most contentious splits is getting nastier by the day. Lamar Sally, who split from Sherri Shepherd earlier this year, sat down with The Daily Mail to spill on their marriage, split, finances and to show off the new son, Lamar Jr., the former couple welcomed via surrogate in August
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 24: Sherri Shepherd and Lamar 'Sal' Sally attend the "One for the Money" premiere at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square on January 24, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Donna Ward/Getty Images)

One of Hollywood's most contentious splits is getting nastier by the day. Lamar Sally, who split from Sherri Shepherd earlier this year, sat down with The Daily Mail to spill on their marriage, split, finances and to show off the new son, Lamar Jr., the former couple welcomed via surrogate in August. (Shepherd has not publicly responded to any of Sally's claims.)

WHY THEY DECIDED TO BECOME PARENTS

"I don't want to be an old mother," Sally says Shepherd told him. "Actually, that is one of the reasons we married after only a year, because she was ready to do this. I wanted to wait another year or two to get married but having a baby with me was so important to her I said OK, let's do it. … I waited 40 years to get married and have kids. I wanted to do things the right way. Never wanted to have children out of wedlock and only be a weekend or checkbook dad. But we were having trouble conceiving so she went through in vitro fertilization, like she did with (ex-husband) Jeffrey (Tarpley)."

WHY DID THEY SPLIT?

"To this day, I cannot pinpoint one thing that caused us to split up. Honestly, I do not know what happened. No one was cheating, we didn't fight much and we didn't have money problems."

BUT, HE DID HAVE SOME PET PEEVES

"Boy, could she buys some shoes! Sherri is a shopaholic for shoes. I would say her averageAmerican Express bill was $25,000 and although she did buy things for (her older son) Jeffrey it was mostly dresses and a ton of shoes for herself. Sherri was also a very messy person. She was a pack-rat. I always had to go behind her and pick up after her and that was so annoying to me. She shopped excessively but refused to balance a checkbook. Sherri made $3 million last year but she didn't know how much she has in the bank."

NO, REALLY, HE SAYS

"What was really shocking to me was that she didn't know her salary! When we decided to get married we started to discuss our finances, our bills and how we were going to run the household. So I asked her how much money does she make on The View and she said she didn't know! That blew me away. I asked her, "OK, but you had to sign your W-2 for taxes, what did they say?" and she said she didn't know, that she just signed them. Sherri has a business manager, who paid all of her bills for her so she had no idea how much was coming in or how much was going out. After we got married that all changed. I made sure the bills were paid on time and I kept Sherri up to speed on what was going on. I was upset about this so I made her sit down and watch the regular series American Greed on TV so she could see how easily people can get ripped off. I wanted her to be more responsible and aware of the household finances. I am very good with money, I have always put myself on a budget so it was irritating to me that she doesn't take care of business. When we got married I ran the house and put my own career on hold."

PLUS, SHE WANTED HIM TO BE A HOUSE-HUSBAND

"Sherri also didn't want me to work outside of our marriage because she kept saying I was going to get rich and leave her high and dry. That was a never-ending discussion at home and with her therapist the entire time we were married. … She wanted me to be happy being a house-husband, but when I told her I needed to work for my own sanity she got angry. There was a local cafe that she ordered from every night. Sherri ordered from them so much that they knew her credit card number. Sherri didn't understand why I didn't want to just stay at home and take care of the kids, Jeffrey and the new baby on the way. She even talked to our friends about it, asking what was wrong with me, why I wouldn't be happy just being at home while she worked. I also did all of the cooking because she doesn't cook at all. When we met Sherri she told me she hadn't cooked in 10 years. There was a local cafe that she ordered from every night. Sherri ordered from them so much that they knew her credit card number. That really annoyed me because she just blew through money like that."

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE BABY?

"Finding the surrogate was a long process. … So that's why I don't understand why Sherri can say I duped her into this or that she is not responsible for this child. It's mind boggling to me. … But while the surrogate was pregnant Sherri decided she wanted to get a divorce. I was absolutely floored by that but then she decided she didn't want the baby either. Sherri told me, "It's your sperm, not my egg so it's YOUR baby.' It was like she had ripped my heart out of my chest, this was not the Sherri I knew and not the woman I fell in love with and married."

NOW, LAMAR IS BROKE AND ON WELFARE

'I was once a 3rd grade teacher and a high school English teacher so I am getting certified and will hopefully, be back to teaching very soon. All I can do it to take care of my son the best way I know how but I feel sorry for Sherri. I don't hate her or have any bitterness but one day she is going to have to sit down and explain to LJ that she turned her back on him and I don't know how she is going to do that. … She recently offered $150,000 to make me go away but it was unacceptable. I want her to co-parent with me like we agreed. … Sherri made $3 million last year and offers $150,000 for a lifetime of care for a child? No way, we're going to court. … Obviously, Sherri knows I don't have a lot of money so she is planning on keeping me tied up in court until I give in because if I lose I would have to pay all of my own legal fees. I have tried to work this out with her but she is being unreasonable, I even said let's not make the attorneys rich, let's sit down and work this out together and privately but she has refused."

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