Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, announced Wednesday that they are separating after nearly 30 years of marriage.
In an unusual move, they dived into the causes of their split in an almost three-hour interview with The New York Times.
The decision to go their separate ways apparently came after the ex-mayor asked his wife around two months ago: “Why aren’t you lovey-dovey anymore?” The question, according to the Times, was posed after the couple had spent “another stale Saturday night of binge-watching television at their Brooklyn home.” De Blasio’s query sparked what the paper identified as “a full accounting of their relationship.”
The resolution they came to was that they would not divorce, but would start dating other people. Both say they will continue to share their Park Slope townhouse where they raised their two children.
de Blasio’s tenure as mayor, his failed 2020 presidential bid, and the COVID pandemic were all cited as strains on their marriage.
“I just want to have fun,” McCray said in the interview, adding: “It’s not that we haven’t had fun.” 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 in 1979 called ‘I Am a Lesbian,’” sometimes asking himself “is this like a time bomb ticking?”
He also said he is “not a believer” in online dating.
After Mr. de Blasio became mayor, he was consistently criticized for elevating his wife to positions of high influence within his administration. This reached its peak when a mental health initiative she helped lead was questioned over its spending and performance.
Bill de Blasio and McCray married in 1994 underneath a tree in Prospect Park.
