Don’t mess with a woman scorned.
GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich lacks the moral character to serve as commander-in-chief because he wanted an “open marriage” so he could have a wife and mistress, his second ex-wife Marianne said in a bombshell interview.
She told ABC News that Gingrich’s positions regarding the sanctity of marriage are bogus and don’t fit with what she experienced during their 18 years together.
In her first TV interview since their 1999 divorce to be broadcast tonight on Nightline, Marianne Gingrich said the former House speaker sought an “open marriage” so he could have a mistress and a wife.
She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a close aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is currently married to Gingrich.
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“And I just stared at him and he said, ‘Callista doesn’t care what I do,'” Marianne Gingrich said. “He wanted an open marriage and I refused.”
There was no immediate comment from Gingrich on his ex-wife’s allegations, though he has said he won’t attack her. He also has said that he has “no relationship” with Marianne.
Marianne, a Republican herself, described her “shock” at Gingrich’s behavior — including how she says she learned he conducted his steamy affair with Callista “in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington.
“He always called me at night and always ended with ‘I love you.’ Well, she was listening,” she said.
This all took place at the same time Gingrich condemned President Bill Clinton for his lack of morality while in the White House.
She said Newt moved for the divorce months after she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress. He knew,” she said.
In a Washington Post interview, Marianne said she first heard that Gingrich wanted a divorce was as she was waiting in her mother’s house on May 11, 1999, her mother’s 84th birthday.
Over the phone, as she was having dinner with her mother, Newt Gingrich said, “I want a divorce.”
She replied: “Is there anybody else?” she recalled. “He was quiet. Within two seconds, when he didn’t immediately answer, I knew.”
The next day, she said Gingrich gave a speech about morality to a woman’s group.
“How could he ask me for a divorce on Monday and within 48 hours give a speech on family values and talk about how people treat people?” she told the newspaper.
Gingrich divorced his first wife, Jackie, as she was being treated for cancer.
With AP