After nearly 30 years of marriage, former NYC mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray have decided to separate, but not divorce.
The couple announced their separation on Wednesday, July 4 in an interview and photoshoot with the New York Times. According to de Blasio, he and McCray will remain living together in their Park Slope home and not end their 29-year marriage.NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio In An Open Relationship With His Wife, But Will Separate
The pair, who married in 1994 and share two children, agreed to separate about two months ago while at home watching television when de Blasio asked his wife why she hadn’t been “lovey-dovey anymore.” The question prompted a deep discussion about their relationship and led to their seemingly amicable split.
“I can look back now and say, ‘Here were these inflection points where we should have been saying something to each other,’” De Blasio said.
“And I think one of the things I should have said more is: ‘Are you happy? What will make you happy? What’s missing in your life?’”
McCray believes she got to the point in her marriage where she could no longer “fake” how she was really feeling.
“You can’t fake it,” McCray said.
“You can feel when things are off,” de Blasio added, “and you don’t want to live that way.”
de Blasio, who served as mayor of NYC from 2014 to 2021 believes his political career took a toll on his marriage.
“Everything was this overwhelming schedule, this sort of series of tasks,” de Blasio said. “And that kind of took away a little bit of our soul.”
The couple will remain living together “for the time being,” McCray noted. As for de Blasio, he’s noting the “chance” he took in marrying a woman who publicly identified as a lesbian.
“For the guy who took the chance on a woman who was an out lesbian and wrote an article called ‘I Am a Lesbian,’” de Blasio said,
“there was a part of me that would at times say, ‘Hmmm, is this like a time bomb ticking? Is this something that you’re going to regret later on?’ So I always lived with that stuff.”
Now McCray is looking forward to her newfound freedom and living in her truth.
“I just want to have fun,” she said.
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