Yeah, it sounds like a reporter (or reporters) made up some stories and touted them as real to make a deadline. If a person is in this kind of marital trouble, I find it real hard to believe that their first thought is to reach out to a news website. They’re a lot more likely to reach out to a therapist, then a lawyer.
I grieve for the role of the editor, the fact checker. One day, maybe, they will return.