When former President Clinton found himself in a storm of controversy surrounding his indiscretion with Monica Lewinsky, he did not stand in that storm alone. His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton stood amidst that storm with him. In a recent and very rare public discussion, Senator Clinton discussed her husband’s infidelity and why she chose to stay in her marriage.
Surviving Infidelity
In a forum that involved the three leading Democratic presidential candidates discussed values and faith, Senator Clinton stated:
I am very grateful that I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought. I’m not sure I would have gotten through it without my faith.
The world has been debating the Clinton marriage for a decade or more. The couple rarely discusses their private life or the intimate details, but the world is happy to do it for them. Their relationship was under a microscope for more than 8 years in the Governor’s house, 8 years in the White House and if she is successful in her bid for the presidential nomination for the Democratic Party – it will likely return to being firmly under the microscope.
Senator Clinton does not discuss her religious beliefs easily and has been quoted as saying
I take my faith very seriously and very personally. And I come from a tradition that is perhaps a little too suspicious of people who wear their faith on their sleeves.
Commitment to Marriage
We’ve talked about commitment, we’ve talked about divorce being a final option and we’ve seen plenty of celebrity marriages shattered under the pressure of the paparazzi and infidelity. I remember the inflammatory editorials, the judgmental columns and the railing on television. I remember the lashing that both Clintons took and I always admired Senator Clinton for not walking away from her husband.
She certainly had a lot reasons handed to her in the headlines of every newspaper. But she and her husband remained together. We can speculate all we like, but the reasons they stayed together are their reasons. They did not separate and divorce. If her faith gave her the ability to forgive her husband and to stay with him – then I do admire her for that.
I don’t know that my marriage could have withstood that kind of pressure.
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