After nearly three decades of marriage and a fruitful political partnership, former Mayor Bill de Blasio and wife Chirlane McCray announced their separation Wednesday.
De Blasio and McCray will not divorce and plan to continue living together in their Park Slope home. But now they intend to date other people: intimate news they decided to share in a deeply personal way, three-hour interview with the New York Timeswho published the story on Wednesday.
De Blasio shared the story on Twitter, adding, “Even in this time of change, this is a love story.”
What you need to know
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray have announced plans to separate
They shared the news in a three-hour interview with the New York Times, which broke the news Wednesday
The two say they will date other people but will not divorce and will continue to live together in Park Slope
De Blasio’s biracial marriage became central to his political identity during his 2013 mayoral bid
McCray later addressed reporters outside his home.
“Bill and I are still very much in love,” she said. “We made this decision together,” he said.
McCray and de Blasio first met while both worked for former Mayor David Dinkins. They married in 1994, although McCray had previously identified as a lesbian.
Ultimately, de Blasio’s biracial marriage and family became central to his political brand, with his son, Dante, starring in a 2013 campaign ad.
For de Blasio, voters were getting a package.
“We’re a partnership. We’ve always been a partnership,” he said in 2019.
He and McCray became known for sometimes distressing displays of affection. And de Blasio put his wife in charge of a closely guarded mental health initiative.
One source of friction, they now say: de Blasio’s failed 2019 presidential run, of which she was skeptical.
Mayors have gone public with relationship decisions before, with Rudy Giuliani announcing a separation from his then-wife, Donna Hanover, at a press conference in May 2000.
“Over a period of time, in many ways, we’ve grown to live separate, independent lives,” he told reporters.
He had given no warning to Hanover, which then held a competing news conference accusing Giuliani of prior infidelity.
De Blasio and McCray’s decision, on the other hand, seems free of acrimony, at least as they say.
“I hope we can be a model for how couples can communicate honestly about what their needs are and how to behave when they find it’s time to move in a different direction,” McCray said Wednesday. “I think that’s important.”
