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Kellyanne Conway, the former top counselor to President Donald Trump, is divorcing lawyer George Conway, her husband of 22 years, according to a Friday report.
There had been a growing conflict between Kellyanne and George, the latter of whom has long been a vocal critic of Trump and tormented him throughout his presidency.
Kellyanne has previously pointed to her husband’s public statements opposing Trump, which occurred while she was working for the president, as a significant factor in the deterioration of their marriage.
“Beltway insiders tell us that they’ve both lawyered up and that the two sides are hashing out the details of the split,” according to Page Six.
In 2016, Kellyanne Conway initially acted as an advisor to candidate Trump during the elections before taking on the role of campaign manager. Meanwhile, her husband helped establish the Lincoln Project, which aimed to prevent Trump from winning the presidency.
In 2022, Vanity Fair noted, “One of the greatest mysteries of the 21st century is the marriage of Kellyanne Conway and her husband, George — specifically, if they hate each other as much as their public commentary would suggest, or if the whole thing is some kind of three-dimensional chess designed to further their own interests.”
The couple got married in 2001 and have four children together. However, their conflicting political views during the Trump presidency strained their relationship.
According to Kellyanne’s 2022 memoir, “Here’s the Deal,” she viewed George’s constant public criticism of the former president as a form of marital betrayal, dubbing it “cheating by tweeting.” She also revealed that Ivanka Trump had recommended they seek couples therapy.
In May of that year, ahead of the book’s release, she told the New York Post that the two of them had separated, but their kids were holding up:
The kids are great. Their father and I just go back and forth [between houses] … so somebody’s always there with them. We’re doing that so that they can be in the schools where they want to be. [The oldest children] wanted to finish their academic careers where they started. And I can’t be that mom who says to my kids, “Be your own person, chart your own path,” and then tell them where they need to live, and what they need to do. I tell their father, “It’s not like we’re driving kids to chemotherapy, we’re not to complain. We can do this.”
She also took aim at former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace in her book. In a published excerpt, Conway describes one interview with Wallace in which she says he attempted to bully her into speaking about her husband, George.
“This especially newsy weekend also included a surge in border crossings and Trump’s announcement that he was challenging Obamacare through the courts,” she begins.
“I addressed all of that in response to Wallace’s questions. I held forth with facts and figures about the southern border and the state of healthcare and insurance coverage. Wallace, a ratings-hungry anchor, had a full plate of breaking news in front of him,” Conway continued. “But he still found time to fit the other Conway into my segment.
“He introduced a new spin on the matter, echoing a theory from New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who had told me at the British ambassador’s residence one night that she had declined an assignment from Vanity Fair to write a piece about George and me,” the former Trump aide continued.
“As if he were covering the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 or the building of the border wall in 2019, Wallace asked me a question about my husband: ‘Do you think he’s cyberbullying here to try to get you to quit?’” she wrote. “Do you think he’s jealous of your high profile?’”
“I had sadly and privately concluded that yes and possible were the answers to those questions, even though I was not going to be real-time and real-life bullied into discussing all this on national television,” she continued. “Rather, I quickly shut down the line of inquiry. My children did not need their parents attacking each other publicly.”
“I was speaking as a mother, not just as a senior counselor or a spouse,” she added. “But Wallace, the hard-news guy, was unmoved. He persisted and went for the clickbait.
“I guess the question I have to ask, bottom line, final question: Has this hurt your marriage?” she wrote, quoting Wallace.
“Oh, Chris, what are you, Oprah now? I mean, what am I — on a couch and you are a psychiatrist?” she responded.