A Vanity Fair article claims he has been 'visiting' the actress

An insinuation that former President Bill Clinton and actress Gina Gershon had an affair is receiving fire from both parties.

The two are fighting back after a Vanity Fair article, written by national editor Todd Purdum, implied they had an affair.

Purdum, who is married to former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers, writes in his story "The Comeback Id" that President Clinton is "seeing a lot of women on the road" and that according to "recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip ... Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California."

President Clinton has vehemently denied the claims, even going so far as to call Purdum "sleazy" and a "scumbag," language which a rep for Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign has apologized for, deeming it "inappropriate."

According to TMZ.com, Gershon's lawyers at Lavely & Singer fired off a letter to the magazine demanding a published retraction as well as an apology, claiming that the actress has been defamed.

Purdum, however, claims that he has been careful to state that improper behavior on President Clinton's part hasn't been substantiated by evidence, rather that the gossip and reports point to these concerns.

"I reject the notion that I'm making an insinuation," said Purdum on CNN. "But I'm very comfortable quoting the people I quote because I know who they are, and I know that they are very senior people who have known President Clinton for a very long time and work for him at very high levels."

Gershon, 45, was last seen on the big screen in "P.S. I Love You."