Former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and his lesbian wife have announced their separation after almost 30 years of marriage in a deeply personal interview.
De Blasio, 62, and Chirlane McCray, 68, divulged a variety of causes for their split – from Covid to the pressure of her previously declared sexuality – and said they are still going to live together in Brooklyn while seeing other people.
In a notably gentle interview with the New York Times, where they were asked to disclose details of their non-divorce, de Blasio also spoke of his recent decision to start dyeing his hair.
The couple’s choice to split came two months ago, on what the Times described as ‘another stale Saturday night of binge-watching television at their Brooklyn home’, when the former mayor asked his wife: ‘Why aren’t you lovey-dovey anymore?’
De Blasio’s question sparked a reconsideration of their relationship, and the pair determined they would part ways that very same evening.
De Blasio, 62, and Chirlane McCray, 68, divulged a variety of causes for their split – from Covid to the pressure of her previously declared sexuality
The couple tied the knot in 1994, but have announced their split after 27 years of marriage
McCray wrote a 1979 essay titled ‘I Am A Lesbian’
However, they conceded the cracks in their marriage began showing years before – especially during the then-mayor’s disastrous 2020 run for the White House.
De Blasio’s dalliance with the long-shot run to be the Democratic presidential candidate made him deeply unpopular at home as he pursued what critics called a vanity project while ignoring his obligations in the Big Apple.
McCray said even she believed his bid was ‘a distraction’ from his real duties – in an echo of the loud complaints voiced by his constituents four years ago.
The former politician admitted this was ‘kind of true’, adding: ‘Point for Chirlane’.
McCray said she felt forced to support the campaign despite her reservations about it.
‘This is not the kind of thing where you can break ranks,’ she said. ‘That’s part of the difficulty of being part of a package.’
The couple added that now, four years on, they have decided not to divorce but will start dating other people – while still living in their Park Slope mansion in Brooklyn, New York.
They also cited the pressure of de Blasio’s mayoral responsibilities and Covid as some of the strains which broke their marriage.
‘I just want to have fun,’ McCray said in the interview, adding: ‘It’s not that we haven’t had fun.’
‘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.’
He also blamed the Covid crisis for their widening rift – adding that the pandemic arrived just after he started therapy.
‘It made me emotionally very needy,’ de Blasio admitted, adding: ‘We were not as connected.’
McCray said she felt forced to support De Blasio’s disastrous 2020 bid for the White House despite her reservations about it, during an interview about their split
The pair became one of the most high-profile bi-racial couples in American politics when they tied the knot in 1994
The Times said the couple constantly ‘cupped hands’ and ‘once high-fived in agreement’ during the interview.
De Blasio also discussed his anxieties about ‘being the guy who took the chance on a woman who was an out lesbian and wrote an article called ‘I Am A Lesbian’.
McCray identified as gay in 1979, and has never described her sexuality in any other way – and she later referred to de Blasio as her soulmate.
The former mayor said he would often ask himself: ‘Is this a time bomb ticking?’.
But both parties seem to look forward to new dating pastures, with de Blasio joking that his interviewer should include a photograph of him at the gym in their article to attract future dates.
He added that he ‘never anticipated ever doing anything with hair color’, but chose a strikingly dark close-crop cut – after previously sporting a slightly longer, gray mane.
De Blasio added that his auburn shade is a little darker than he wanted, but added: ‘I like feeling what I feel’.
The pair became one of the most high-profile bi-racial couples in American politics when they tied the knot in 1994.
One reader described the interview as an ‘early warning’ from the couple that they could soon appear on popular dating apps like Tinder.
‘Bill de Blasio and Chirlane McCray giving us an early warning that we might see them on Feeld or Tinder,’ they said. ‘You know what, I appreciate it.’
