Ed Hartwell on Keshia Knight Pulliam split: ‘She wanted a baby really fast’

ATLANTA, July 29 (UPI) — Ed Hartwell is telling his side of the story following his split from wife Keshia Knight Pulliam.

The 38-year-old former NFL player explained his decision in an interview with Page Six after filing for divorce from the 37-year-old actress a week after she announced she’s pregnant with their first child.

“She wanted a baby really fast, and what I was trying to explain to her was that — from my beliefs, from seeing other successful people — that when you first get married, especially since we didn’t have a long courtship, that we should actually focus on each other and not just have a baby,” Hartwell said.

“[We] had a sit-down [in February],” he revealed. “I said, ‘I think we probably messed up. I think we moved too fast. Our lives and wants are headed two different directions’ … What I learned about her is that if she wants something, she wants it now and she’s going to get it.”

Hartwell, who is requesting a paternity test, claimed he and Pulliam had stopped having sex prior to her pregnancy and suggested the actress would go to extreme lengths, including cheating, to have a child. He admitted, however, that he “can’t say she’s been unfaithful.”

“I can say she’s stayed out, she’s not came home, she’s went out-of-town,” he said. “I can say she wanted to get in vitro, I can say she wanted to do some things to make sure she got pregnant. I just want to make sure it is mine.”

Hartwell denied that he himself had cheated in response to Pulliam’s recent allegations. The actress had denied being unfaithful and accused Hartwell of infidelity on Wednesday’s episode of Entertainment Tonight.

“I have never cheated on him during my marriage. That’s not who I am,” she said. “[The paternity test is] not an issue. There’s no problem. I’ve never been unfaithful to my husband. This is his daughter.”

“I was ready to leave [when I found out he cheated],” the star claimed. “I had divorce papers ready. I presented them to him. He said, ‘Please, I want my family,’ all of the right things. Once I was pregnant, I did decide to give him that one last chance.”

Hartwell and Pulliam married in January after four months of dating. The actress is best known for playing Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show and has since appeared on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.