*Tony and his third wife Lhotse, in 2009.

I was looking to see if we’d ever covered anything to do with Tony Hawk, and I don’t think we have. So our inaugural Tony Hawk-as-a-target-of-salacious-gossip story is here, and it is intense. As you probably know, Tony Hawk is a living legend in the skateboarding community, and he’s also built an incredibly wealthy empire out of skateboarding, and his own celebrity branding. I knew that Hawk had been married a few times, but I thought that his current wife, Lhotse (in these photos), was around for the long haul. I was wrong! According to Page Six, Tony and Lhotse, his THIRD wife, are currently divorcing, and Tony is likely hooking up with the wife of his best friend. SCANDAL. Seriously, that’s rough.

Wealthy skateboarding legend Tony Hawk dumped his third wife, Lhotse Merriam, for his best friend and business partner Matt Goodman’s wife, Cathy, sources told Page Six.

Sources said Merriam found out about her action-sport-star husband’s new relationship in December after she found a plane ticket for Cathy that Hawk had booked for her to join him in San Francisco — despite his being lifelong friends with Matt Goodman.

Hawk filed for divorce in San Diego from Merriam on Feb. 11. They have one child together, Kadence Clover, and Hawk has three sons from two previous marriages.

“We remain deeply committed and loving parents to our daughter, and out of respect for that responsibility we ask that people honor our family’s privacy during this important time of transition,” the couple said in a statement at the time.

Hawk married Merriam, his former publicist, in 2006, two years after divorcing his second wife, Erin, his former nanny.

Cathy was married to Goodman for nearly 20 years, and they have two kids. Sources said Goodman and Cathy have now separated.

Hawk — who’s credited with putting skateboarding on the map and who became a multimillionaire from his Tony Hawk Pro Skater video games — and Cathy were recently spotted in New York together, sources said.

Hawk and Goodman had been friends since childhood. Sources told us Goodman stood as a groomsman at every one of Hawk’s three weddings.

Goodman and Hawk also together founded action-sports movie company 900 Films. Goodman is now working with media company Bandito Brothers.

Merriam had no comment when we called for a response, and neither did Goodman. A rep for Hawk said, “We do not comment on the personal lives of our clients.”

[From Page Six]

This is why there are Guy Codes. Guy Codes dictate that that your jumpoff cannot be your best friend’s wife. That’s just all kinds of wrong. But I will say this – if the Goodmans had been married for 20 years, chances are pretty good that Tony Hawk just fell for some 40-something mother of two… which in my mind is more interesting than Tony falling for the standard-issue, young, blonde, vapid jumpoff. I’m not saying it’s a good situation or anything, I’m just saying that at least the jumpoff isn’t some 22 year old. Silver lining?

Also – married and divorced three times? Tony is 42 years old – it’s time to stop marrying them, you know? Marriage is obviously not his thing.

Photos courtesy of WENN.