In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, Marianne Gingrich, presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s second wife, said her husband asked her for an “open marriage.” She says Gingrich asked for a divorce on May 10, 1999 right before he was set to give a speech commending religious and family values. After the couple attended counseling, Marianne learned the name of Gingrich’s illicit partner, Callista Bisek, who is now his wife.
In the Republican Debate on Thursday evening, Gingrich responded in anger when CNN moderator John King asked about his ex-wife. “The destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office, and I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that,” Gingrich said to King. Marianne stands by her statement, calling it “the truth.”
