Chirlane McCray, Bill de Blasio are ‘still very much in love,’ hope to become a ‘model’ for other couples
Chirlane McCray says she and former Mayor Bill de Blasio are “still very much in love” — and hope to serve as “a model” for other couples — despite announcing their plans to separate after almost 30 years of marriage.
“This is a big change for us, but Bill and I are still very much in love,” McCray, 68, told reporters outside the couple’s Park Slope home Wednesday morning. “We came to this decision together and I think it’s the right decision for us.”
McCray looked cheerful as she added that “it’s been months” since the couple, who announced their separation in a New York Times interview, decided to start living more individual lives.
She also admitted that the pair is still figuring out their new normal.
“It’s one thing to make a decision, it’s another thing to think … figuring out how it plays out and we will be talking about that over the next months,” she explained to reporters.
McCray and de Blasio — who married in 1994 and share two adult children — told the Times they plan to stay married and continue sharing their Brooklyn home while dating other people.
“I hope that we can be a model for how couples can communicate honestly about what their needs are and to conduct themselves when they find it’s time to move in another direction. I think that’s important,” McCray, who came out as a lesbian before marrying de Blasio, gushed.
“That’s what we’re doing right now. But there’s a very deep bond between us. We’ve been together for nearly 32 years … Serving shoulder to shoulder in City Hall and even before that. We’ve raised a beautiful family,” she continued.
“And we just want to be able to continue our lives as public people — which, it seems, like we never stop being public people no matter what. But do it in a way that shows that all that we had, all that we built, doesn’t just go away.”
Although de Blasio and McCray presented a united front throughout his choppy political career, both admitted that the demands of Gracie Mansion as well as the former mayor’s quixotic presidential bid took a toll on their relationship.
“I thought it was a distraction,” McCray told the Times of de Blasio’s failed 2019 White House campaign.
“Point for Chirlane,” de Blasio, 62, agreed.
Speaking outside the family home on Wednesday, McCray told reporters that their children, Chiara, 28, and Dante, 26, were “a little sad, but very positive” about the separation.
“They know we love them. We spend time together and will continue to spend time with them. Family is family comes first,” she insisted.
McCray also laughed off The Post’s question about a sighting of de Blasio leaving the couple’s Park Slope abode with suitcases and hopping into a cab before 8 a.m. Wednesday.
“He was just going on a trip. He’ll be back,” she confirmed.
The former first lady of New York City stated that she is “excited [and] nervous” about the prospect of dating again.
“It’s new territory for me but I’m looking forward to it,” she enthused.
“Again it’s a positive move and the best thing for both of us.”
