Marriages and children
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich
Gingrich has been married three times. In 1962, he married Jackie Battley, his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26.[131][132] Gingrich and Battley have two daughters from their marriage: Kathy Gingrich Lubbers is president of Gingrich Communications,[133] and Jackie Gingrich Cushman is an author, conservative columnist, and political commentator[134] whose books include 5 Principles for a Successful Life, co-authored with Newt Gingrich.[135]
In the spring of 1980, Gingrich left Battley after beginning an affair with Marianne Ginther.[136][137] In 1984, Battley told The Washington Post that the divorce was a "complete surprise" to her. According to Battley, in September 1980, Gingrich and their children visited her while she was in the hospital, recovering from surgery, and Gingrich wanted to discuss the terms of their divorce.[138] Gingrich has disputed that account.[139] In 2011 their daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, said that it was her mother who requested the divorce, that it happened prior to the hospital stay, and that Gingrich's visit was for the purpose of bringing the couple's children to see their mother, not to discuss the divorce.[140] Although Gingrich's presidential campaign staff continued to insist in 2011 that his wife requested the divorce, court documents obtained by CNN from Carroll County, Georgia, indicated that Jackie had asked a judge to block the process stating that although "she has adequate and ample grounds for divorce... she does not desire one at this time [and] does not admit that this marriage is irretrievably broken.[141]
According to L. H. Carter, Gingrich's campaign treasurer, Gingrich said of Battley: "She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. And besides, she has cancer."[142][143] Gingrich has denied saying it. His supporters dismiss Carter as a disgruntled former aide who was miffed at not being asked to accompany Gingrich to Washington.[144]
In 1981, six months after the divorce from Battley was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther.[145][146][147][148] In the mid-1990s, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, who is 23 years his junior. They continued their affair during the Lewinsky scandal, when Gingrich became a leader of the investigation of President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with Clinton's alleged affairs.[149] According to Ginther, his second wife, she declined to accept Gingrich's suggestion of an open marriage.[150]
In 2000, Gingrich married Bisek shortly after his divorce from second wife Ginther was finalized. He and Callista currently live in McLean, Virginia.[151]
Reports: Gingrich's Ex-Wife Says He Wanted An 'Open Marriage'
Enlarge MARK WILSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his then-wife, Marianne, leave their home on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 1997. At the time, Gingrich was in the midst of an investigation over congressional ethics violations.
In an excerpt released by ABC Thursday morning, Marianne tells Brian Ross that her ex lacks the moral character to be president. In what ABC says is her first television interview since the 1999 divorce, Marianne did not seem to hold back. As Brian Ross reports:
"In her most provocative comments, the ex-Mrs. Gingrich said Newt sought an 'open marriage' arrangement so he could have a mistress and a wife.The Washington Post reported similar details about an open marriage in its own interview with Marianne. She also told the newspaper about a family values speech Gingrich gave shortly after asking her for a divorce:
She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a Congressional aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to Gingrich.
'And I just stared at him and he said, 'Callista doesn't care what I do," Marianne Gingrich told ABC News. 'He wanted an open marriage and I refused.'
Marianne described her 'shock' at Gingrich's behavior, including how she says she learned he conducted his affair with Callista 'in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington.'
"'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 said."These sorts of disclosure seem unlikely to play well with socially conservative voters in South Carolina.
The second ex-Mrs. Gingrich has spoken out before. In August of 2010, she gave a long interview to Esquire.
"Back in the 1990s, she told a reporter she could end her husband's career with a single interview. She held her tongue all through the affair and the divorce and even through the annulment Gingrich requested from the Catholic Church two years later, trying to erase their shared past," Esquire reported then.In that interview Marianne also seemed eager to point out the discrepancies between Gingrich's public and private lives:
"He could have been president. But when you try and change your history too much, and try and recolor it because you don't like the way it was or you want it to be different to prove something new ... you lose touch with who you really are. You lose your way," she told Esquire. "He believes that what he says in public and how he lives don't have to be connected," she says. "If you believe that, then yeah, you can run for president."Over at Slate's XX factor, Jessica Grose questions whether the 11th-hour disclosures could actually generate sympathy for Gingrich:
"Marianne's interview may even have a positive effect on South Carolina voters. They may see her as a bitter woman who's just attempting revenge-by-network news, and this may galvanize their wavering support for Newt. They may not even believe whatever Marianne has to say."That could be. In any case, the ABC excerpts surfaced in plenty of time to make their way into Thursday night's GOP debate at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.
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