Mr Gingrich eventually asked Marianne for a divorce soon after she was
diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. “He was advised by the doctor when I
was sitting there that I was not to be under stress,” she said in the
interview. “He knew,”
As a young Georgia congressman, Mr Gingrich divorced his first wife Jackie –
his former secondary school geometry teacher – while she was being treated
for cancer. He began his relationship with Marianne before the divorce was
finalised.
Questioned about his complicated personal life on the campaign for the Republican
presidential nomination, Mr Gingrich has frankly admitted past failings but
claimed that he received “God’s forgiveness”.
However, in March he appeared to blame his infidelity on his stressful career
choice. “There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by
how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked too hard and
things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” he said.
Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, called on supporters to excuse Mr
Gingrich’s past behaviour as he endorsed the former House Speaker after
quitting the campaign.
“Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?” asked Mr Perry. “The
fact is, there is forgiveness for those who seek God and I believe in the
power of redemption, for it is a central tenet of my own Christian faith.”
Ms Gingrich, a self-declared “conservative Republican”, said in her
interview that she was disgusted to discover her husband used “my
bedroom in our apartment in Washington” for his six-year affair.
“He always called me at night,” she said. “And always ended
with ‘I love you.’ Well, she was listening.” She added: “At the
time, I believed him to be ethical”.
Mr Gingrich was one of Mr Clinton’s most vocal critics after it emerged in
1998 that the president had sexual interactions with Monica Lewinsky, a
young intern, inside the White House.
The then-Speaker accused Mr Clinton of showing a lack of “moral leadership”.
He has since claimed that he was talking about Mr Clinton’s alleged lies to
Congress over the affair.
The former Mrs Gingrich claimed yesterday that she could end her ex-husband’s
political career if she chose to disclose more information.
She alleged that he began planning his run for the White House at the time of
their divorce, and had told her that the then-Miss Bisek, a glamorous blonde
woman 23 years his junior, “was going to help him become President”.
It has previously been alleged by a former campaign aide that Mr Gingrich said
that his first wife, Jackie, was not “young or pretty enough” to be
the wife of the US leader.
Court documents released last month contradicted Mr Gingrich’s account of his
first divorce, which he has long insisted was a mutual decision. He claimed
Jackie had asked him to make an official filing.
In fact, the court filings, showed, she did “not admit that this marriage is
irretrievably broken” and asked the judge to reject Mr Gingrich’s request.
Jackie claimed in 1985 that the then-congressman had tried to thrash out the
terms of the divorce during a hospital visit as she recovered from cancer
surgery, which Mr Gingrich denies. “To say I gave up a lot for the marriage
is the understatement of the year,” she said at the time.
The 68-year-old declined to comment on Thursday, other than to say “I
will not say anything negative about Marianne”. However he responded
through his two daughters from his first marriage, Kathy Lubbers and Jackie
Cushman.
They said in a letter to ABC News: “The failure of a marriage is a
terrible and emotional experience for everyone involved”. They added
that their father “regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to
people he loves”.
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