*The wife of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. said she and her husband have gone to marital counseling and received spiritual therapy since he revealed his extra-marital affair to her nearly two years ago.
“He said it was over. I was mortified and in agony, but he knew if I found out any other way it would be over. That the only way to save our marriage was to come clean,” Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson said in an interview published in Sunday editions of the Chicago Sun-Times. “There were sleepless nights and I started losing hair and I told him I would only consider staying if we got into therapy.”
She said she immediately questioned herself and whether it was her fault, but she never wanted details. When word of the affair became public last week, she said it was like opening the wound again.
Jesse Jackson Jr. has been dogged by corruption allegations in connection with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich since December 2008, shortly after Blagojevich was arrested.
Last week, more allegations surfaced that Jackson told a businessman to offer Blagojevich $6 million in exchange for an appointment to Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat. The businessman also told the FBI he purchased plane tickets for a woman identified as a “social acquaintance” of Jackson.
Jackson, who has not been charged with a crime, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in connection with Blagojevich.
He didn’t, however, deny allegations of an affair with the “social acquaintance” and called it a “personal matter between me and my wife that was handled some time ago.”
In the interview, Sandi Jackson acknowledged empathy for her husband, who she said “has been quiet, withdrawn and concerned.”
“It’s been surreal. I feel bad for Jesse because he is living this thing all over again. He is remorseful over this fire storm he’s created around us,” she said.
She also said her husband never had an intention of running for Chicago mayor and is instead gearing up for re-election in his congressional district covering parts of Chicago’s South Side and south suburbs.
The congressman, who first won election in his district in 1995, previously said he’s been mulling a run for mayor since Mayor Richard Daley announced earlier this month that he wouldn’t seek a seventh term.
The Jacksons have been married since 1991 and have two children. Sandi Jackson said she could never anticipate how she would feel when her husband told her of the affair.
“You know, when the Clintons ran into marital trouble, I thought Hillary should leave Bill,” she said. “I couldn’t stand what Tiger Woods did and how his wife had to suffer publicly.
“But when the ‘beast’ lands at your door, it can be a very, very different experience. No one really knows what they are going to do until they are in that situation. When it happens to you it’s amazing how what you once thought was black and white becomes variations of a color called gray.”
Jackson, who has been alderman of her South Side ward since 2007, said for now she wants to stay focused on her job and children. She said there are people who have had far worse situations.
“Mine is a matter of the heart,” she said. “For many it’s a matter of survival. My heart will heal.”
As elegant, classy and graceful as she seems in this article, perhaps she should run for mayor. Bump her husband. I would vote for her. These idiot men. She’s beautiful, accomplished, classy, HIS WIFE, THE MOTHER OF HIS BABIES – and he still cheated? What a freakin’ idiot.
This is true, you never know what you would do in a given situation. I hope she makes the best decision for herself and her children.
JJJ must certainly know it’s over for him and he will bleed Black female voters for sure. He selected a wife close enough to white but could pass her off as Black and now she isn’t quite good enough either.
Melody, I think he’s going to bleed male, female, blk, yt, yellow …
I agree Melody. Sistas are tired of the treatment we have been receiving. It’s time to start making the brothas pay. It will take their suffering in order for them to change their ways!
Sandi Jackson acknowledged empathy for her husband, who she said “has been quiet, withdrawn and concerned.”
Of course he is fretting. More than likely, he’s finished. Them Chicago voters wouldn’t give a D about him trying to pay $6 million for Obama’s seat, or even doing a Kwame Kilpatrick, but a “blonde bombshell?!”
RedPlague
Reds, I knew instinctly why he was “quiet withdrawn and concerned”…you can see the wheels turning. Maybe he’ll leave his family and go on whole hog for his blonde bombshells.
Yeah, I remember when Don Lemon was interviewing him after the pay for play allegations, and he seemed quite concerned. I bet then he was even more worried about this coming out.
Blonde bombshell??!!!! Dang, where the heck have I been?? I haven’t been following this story closely so I had no idea the sidepiece was white. Oh well, typical…. I don’t know when these kneegrows will learn that if it weren’t for their money/fame/power/etc… these pale trollops they seem to adore wouldn’t look twice at them…
mortified? in agony? ……but was she surprised
Sandi appears to be a very intelligent womanand I wish her the best. The media and such needs to stop with the ” blonde bombshell” term it is so over used and is not he standard of beauty as far as I am concerned.
nightshift, I doubt if she was surprised at all. She became mortified and in agony after it became public knowledge…same for JJ’s wife.
Well, the apple sure as hell didn’t fall far from the tree. We saw him at a mall in San Diego years ago and he asked me and my best friend, “where da negroes hang out?” (we live in San Diego, CA) We both just stood there looking like, WTF? He knows she’s probably going to dump his azz like cement!
She looks like she’s old enough to be his mother AND Coretta Scott-King.
Dang!
She DOES look like Coretta!
I saw the photos of the woman Jesse cheated with. Um… she was no bombshell. Please.
Stop with the stereotyping.
Sandi has this woman beat hands down in all ways possible.
WHAT IS IT???? about these white women that these prominent men will risk their stature,reputation,endorsements and sometimes even their marriage form a romp in the hay? I don’t get it!
It seems like they don’t feel that they have arrived until they say they have tasted the “forbidden fruit”.
White women…….Black man’s kryptonite!!!!!! KABOOM!