Jenny Sanford Speaks
Discusses governor's affair and the other woman.

Mic Smith / AP Photo
South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford broke her (relative) silence in an interview with Vogue after the very public affair of her husband, which had pundits praising her grace under fire as a wronged political wife. Sanford, a former investment banker and millionaire heiress to the Skil Power Tools fortune, talked about the shock she felt when she discovered her husband was cheating last January. “It never occurred to me that he would do something like that," she said. "The person I married was centered on a core of morals. The person who did this is not centered on those morals.” She intimated her husband was having trouble with aging, while for her, it's easier. "I know my legacy is my children," she said. The couple became a professional team when she signed on as Sanford's campaign manager, which proved difficult for their marriage. “Everybody would like an escape sometimes,” Sanford says. “I’d like somebody 5,000 miles away I could email. It’s not exclusive to men, but I know that isn’t realistic.” The first lady, however, isn’t bitter and feels sorry for the woman her husband had an affair with—she Googled her and found her "pretty," according to a friend. For now, Sanford, a Catholic, is leaving revenge up to “the Lord” and as far as her marriage to the governor goes, “the ball is in his court.”
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