How Bill de Blasio’s failed presidential bid doomed 30-year marriage
Bill de Blasio’s widely mocked presidential bid and his tumultuous tenure as New York City’s mayor “absolutely” contributed to his and Chirlane McCray’s decision to split, the city’s former first lady admitted.
“Oh, yes, absolutely!” McCray told The Post Wednesday when asked if the failed 2020 run and mayorship led to the marriage breakdown.
De Blasio and McCray announced Wednesday that they are splitting after 29 years of marriage.
In a joint interview announcing the split with the New York Times, McCray, 68, also called her ex’s head-scratching decision to run for the White House a “distraction.”
De Blasio’s delusional bid infamously stalled after just a few months.
McCray smiled and waved at the press from the couple’s Park Slope home Wednesday morning, just a few hours after the joint interview announced their separation following almost 30 years of marriage.
De Blasio, meanwhile, was spotted leaving the house with luggage in tow around 7:45 a.m.
When asked by a nearby reporter about the status of his relationship, he reportedly advised the gawker to “read the paper.”
“[A presidential bid is] not the kind of thing where you can break ranks … That’s part of the difficulty of being part of a package,” McCray told the Times about her decision to stay with de Blasio during his maligned White House effort.
De Blasio agreed with his wife’s assessment.
“Point for Chirlane,” he said, noting that the “overwhelming schedule” of his eight-year mayoral tenure also “kind of took away a little bit of our soul.”
The couple say they plan to remain married and will continue to share their Brooklyn abode while dating other people.
“I just want to have fun,” McCray, who published an essay in which she identified as a lesbian before marrying the then-future mayor, told the outlet.
De Blasio told the Times that the COVID-19 pandemic made him “emotionally very needy,” while McCray, who is a writer and activist, said the demands of supporting her husband clashed with her own ambition.
“How can you be a couple in the fullness of what you tend to think … when you’ve got this responsibility on your shoulders and you don’t want to add to that?” she lamented.
“There’s a certain weight … that goes with being with Mr. Mayor.”
The interview also underscored how the couple’s marriage was played up over the years in order to increase de Blasio’s appeal to a more diverse constituency.
The former mayor, however, admitted that he always harbored anxieties that the relationship was not meant to be.
“For the guy who took the chance on a woman who was an out lesbian and wrote an article called ‘I Am a Lesbian’ … 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?’” he said.
“So I always lived with that stuff.”
The pair, who share two adult children, both said they are excited to start dating.
McCray even jokingly asked the Times to publish her phone number, while de Blasio requested a thirst-trap photo.
“Can I put a picture from the gym in there?” he asked.
