They would stand behind quietly, not daring to peep a single word that would go against their lovers’ names. Despite sex scandals and affairs, they would be expected to stay strong, supportive and forgiving.
But not any more. the New York Times reported on Sunday that the stereotype of the “good political wife,” has been overturned in the past two years from Jenny Sanford in 2009 to Maria Shriver last month.
Jenny Sanford, then married to Gov. Mark Stanford, Republican of South Carolina, was one of the famous political wives to refuse to join her husband in public appearances after the sex scandal in 2009.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife, Maria Shriver, and Huma Abedin, wife of a New York Democrat, Anthony Weiner, also joined the “not so forgiving wives” group when they both were absent at two press conferences of their husbands. Weiner resigned from Congress on Thursday for scattering scandalous photos of himself online.
The NYT described Abedin’s generation as “strong, professional women less dependent on their husbands as the sole breadwinners and more likely to say: this is your mess, you clean it up.”
Although a close friend of Ms. Abedin said that Huma is more worried about her own family, life and baby, she doesn’t have plans of leaving Mr. Weiner just yet.