On the set of “Good Morning America,” hosts Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan are trying to project a sense of calm as they broadcast the latest news to millions of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, things are growing more stressful for Strahan behind the scenes of the ABC show, as he deals with an increasingly bitter custody battle over Sophia and Isabella, his teen twin daughters with ex-wife Jean Muggli.

The star is fighting for primary custody of the girls after accusing Muggli, from whom he split in 2006, of physically and verbally abusing them.

In court documents obtained by The Post, Strahan, 48, alleges that Muggli has “subjected the children to verbal and physical abuse” for years.

He also says she should be held in civil or criminal contempt of a court-mandated parenting order, claiming that Muggli has neglected to take the girls to court-ordered therapy sessions and that she has caused them to miss volleyball matches and equestrian events.

Strahan also claimed in court documents that Muggli refused to let the girls have their passports ahead of a European vacation with their father.

Muggli, in turn, claimed in court this month that Strahan is having her watched “around the clock” by private investigators, which his lawyer denied.

Reps for both Strahan and Muggli declined to comment.

A TV production source called out Strahan’s history of questionable “behavior toward women” in the past, including his famously fraught relationship with former co-host Kelly Ripa.
Strahan’s twin daughters Sophia and Isabella are accomplished equestriennes in North Carolina. He wants them to move to Manhattan.WireImage
But an insider who knows him told The Post: “I’ve seen Michael with his kids. He’s a great, great dad: He just wants what’s best for his girls.”

Strahan and Muggli met while he was a star NFL defensive end for the New York Giants and she worked at a spa in the city. Muggli has recalled how he turned into a repeat customer after meeting her: “I figured either he was the cleanest man on the planet or he wanted to ask me out.”

They married in 1999, three years after Strahan’s divorce from his first wife, Wanda Hutchins, the mother of his children Michael Jr. and Tanita. The older kids were brought up in Germany, where Strahan played for the Mannheim Redskins.

Sophia and Isabella were born in 2004; Strahan filed for divorce from Muggli a year later. Days before, Muggli had filed a domestic-violence complaint against him, following an argument about cash.

“I would never physically or psychologically harm any of my loved ones, especially my wife. That’s simply not the man I am,” Strahan told The Post at the time.

The complaint was dismissed after Muggli said in court that her husband had not touched her during the incident.

Hutchins, meanwhile, told The Post at the time that Muggli had said of Michael Jr. and Tanita: “I wish they were dead.”

In the divorce settlement, Muggli was awarded $15.3 million as well as $18,000 a month in child support. Following Strahan’s retirement from the NFL in 2008, his child-support payments were reduced to $13,000 a month, TMZ reported at the time.

“I would never physically or psychologically harm any of my loved ones, especially my wife. That’s simply not the man I am.”

 – Strahan

Muggli, who grew up in North Dakota, took the girls to live on a farm in Wilmington, North Carolina, after the divorce. She told the magazine Carolinas Equestrian that “I was trying to create a childhood like I had, outdoors, but with more of the things I would have liked.”

The publication described Muggli’s Sycamore Bend Plantation as “paradise” for the twins — featuring a beach volleyball court, a tennis court and a horse-riding ring, as well as a half-basketball court with pink out-of-bounds lines.

The heart of the property is its renovated five-stall barn. Both girls have taken home blue ribbons from some of the most prestigious horse shows on the East Coast.

In 2016, Strahan told People magazine: “The twins live a crazy life. One time they flew out to DC and interviewed the first lady for ‘GMA.’ Then the next day their mom was sending me a video of them riding horses and splashing around in a muddy cornfield.”

But that kind of lifestyle is expensive.

Last June, Muggli brought a case against Strahan, claiming he owes annual cost-of-living adjustments to their child-support agreement.

Now she claims that, as a result, Strahan is striking back.

In a hearing at Manhattan Supreme Court this month, Muggli’s lawyer, Shannon Rogers Simpson, claimed: “He had around-the-clock private investigators at her home.

“He battered her financially with lawsuits. That’s how determined he is to not pay child support he agreed to 10 years ago.”

Strahan has argued that the 15-year-old twins should move full-time to Manhattan to live with him for after both won places at the prestigious Sacred Heart Academy for the fall. The school’s alumni include Lady Gaga and Gloria Vanderbilt.

In an odd twist, he has claimed in a North Carolina court that Muggli went behind his back in 2018 to get the girls interviews at New York City schools — and that he was worried about disrupting their lives, which led to Muggli “falsely” telling a judge in 2018 that Strahan did “not want the children closer to him.”

Now, Strahan says, he wants his daughters to live with him and they want that as well. But, court documents state, “[Muggli] refuses to agree to the very change in the children’s education which she proposed one year ago.”

In 2018, Strahan has alleged in court papers, Muggli refused to release the girls’ passports so they could travel to Europe with their father unless he paid. $43,178.50 for horse maintenance.

Michael Strahan accuses ex-wife of abusing daughters, seeks custody

He launched legal action and a judge ordered Muggli to send the passports on to Strahan, who took the twins to Portugal and Croatia.

Despite the messy goings-on in his personal life, a TV-production source said “Strahan won’t let this affect his work, though, he’s the ultimate professional.”

Perhaps he learned his lesson after 2016, when he reportedly left his daytime show with Ripa for “GMA” without telling her.

The TV-production source told The Post that Strahan has a “pattern,” alleging: “He is consistently condescending toward women. Michael didn’t feel he had to talk to Kelly, which was totally condescending.”

As for his romantic life, sources say Strahan is still dating Kayla Quick, a 31-year-old former strip-club waitress he’s been with since 2015. Quick reportedly has a criminal past that includes arrests for disorderly conduct and grand theft.

So will she become Isabella’s and Sophia’s stepmother?

Strahan has said: “I love marriage, I like companionship . . . would I ever get married again? Never say never.”