By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The drama in the governor's race deepened Friday when Andrew Cuomo told reporters that his rival’s infidelity smear hurt his three kids.
"My children read the newspapers," Cuomo told the New York Post. "Was it hurtful to my kids, who you know are in school? Of course it was.
"It's not easy for them to go through this and experience this. It doesn't have to be this way."
Attorney General Cuomo said that the accusations his rival in the governor's race, Carl Paladino, made Wednesday about potential extramarital affairs Cuomo had while married to ex-wife Kerry Kennedy were bunk, according to the New York Daily News.
Tea Party favorite Paladino told Politico.com that he had evidence of Democratic candidate Cuomo’s affairs and that proof of the affairs would come out eventually.
"Has anybody asked Andrew Cuomo about his paramours?" he said.
Paladino later tried to distance himself from the claims in an interview with his hometown Buffalo paper, then backtracked to Fox News Friday.
The accusations came after Paladino admitted to having an affair of his own earlier in the campaign and acknowledged he had a 10-year old daughter with a woman other than his wife.
Cuomo said that he had to discuss his rival’s accusations with his own children Friday.
"I explained to them the truth, but still …at the end of the day, he said they’re baseless accusations," Cuomo told the News.
Cuomo has three daughers, 14-year-old twins and a 12-year-old.
