Jenny Sanford Deals With It and Gets Out of It: Jenny Sanford Divorces Mark Sanford

The First Lady of South Carolina, Jenny Sanford, is divorcing Governor Mark Sanford. After months apart to try to deal with the Governor's infidelity and his childish and very selfish remarks to the press, calling the 'other woman' his "soul mate," Mrs. Sanford is moving on with the couple's four sons. See a video below.

Jenny Sanford

Jenny Sanford Divorces Mark Sanford 
Related and Background: Jenny Sanford Moves Out and Moves On

Jenny Sanford Moves Out: Jenny Sanford Moves On

South Carolina's First Lady, Jenny Sanford, is moving from the Governor's Mansion in Columbia to their Sullivan Island home off Charleston with her four sons. Husband, Governor Mark Sanford, that lying, cheating emotional mess who says he has a "soul mate," who happens not to be his wife, could not convince Mrs. Sanford that she should help him prop-up his political ambitions and make nice in front of the cameras. See video below

Jenny Sanford

I respect Mrs. Sanford for trying to bring her husband back into the fold, especially for the four boys, but I am not surprised that she cannot see this man as the head of the family household right now.

Sanford says she will remain engaged in her activities as First Lady. In other words, she will not let down the people of South Carolina, as did her lying, cheating, emotional-mess-of-a-husband.

Gov. Sanford has refused to resign as governor after the scandal, pledging he could both run the state and work on his family issues. Some state leaders had called for Sanford to step down so he could attend to his family full time.

Sanford has been a passionate fundraiser with cancer her chief effort. Her mother is battling melanoma.

Jenny Sanford, Cancer Bike Ride (Photo)

For a refresher of Governor Sanford's scandal, he fell in love with an Argentinian woman, Maria Belen Chapur (or Shapur), a 43 year old divorcee with two sons. And Sanford had four sons back home. His emails to Maria were erotic and shameful for a public official who must have known that he could and probably would be outed at any time.

Wrote Sanford: "You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light."

Jenny Sanford, 46, is a native of Winnetka, Illinois, an upscale suburb of Chicago. Jenny Sullivan Sanford grew up in a large family. She was the second child of a Irish Catholic family of five children. Her grandfather, Joseph W. Sullivan co-founded and manufactured the Skilsaw - the first portable electric saw. Her parents reside in Loblolly Bay, Florida.

She received a bachelor's degree in finance and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University in 1984. From 1984 to 1990 she worked for the investment firm, Lazard Freres & Co. in New York, rising to Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions. Jenny and the future South Carolinian Governor, Mark Sanford met during the years at Lazard and married in 1989. Mark Sanford enter the political arena after the birth of their second son. In 1994, Sanford ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, winning the seat. Jenny managed that campaign, as well as his successful gubernatorial run in 2002. Friends say that Mrs. Sanford has been Mark Sanford's chief political strategist.

He would have never won either of his governor's races without her -- no way," said Will Folks, Sanford's spokesman from 2001 to 2005. "She ran the show. He pointed the direction he wanted to go, and she was the bulldozer that cleared the path and got him there."

Mrs. Sanford well-knew what it meant to Mark Sanford's political ambitions to not show-up, stand by his side and do the usual political wife's duty of publicly forgiving his abhorrent behavior

His career is not a concern of mine," Jenny Sanford told reporters camped at the end of her driveway as she left with her boys for a boat ride the other day. "He's going to have to worry about that. I'm worried about my family and the character of my children."

At that time, Jenny Sanford said:

I believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity, dignity and importance of the institution of marriage. I believe that has been consistently reflected in my actions. When I found out about my husband's infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage. We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. Psalm 127 states that sons are a gift from the Lord and children a reward from Him.

I will continue to pour my energy into raising our sons to be honorable young men. I remain willing to forgive Mark completely for his indiscretions and to welcome him back, in time, if he continues to work toward reconciliation with a true spirit of humility and repentance.

At that time, Mark Sanford said his wife was a "wonderful Christian woman," and had been "absolutely magnanimous and gracious," throughout the ordeal. Here's a look at Jenny Sanford as First Lady:

In an office led by a governor noted for his laid-back style, Jenny Sanford is a jolt of rapid-fire talking and high-heels walking with a whirlwind management style that wastes not a second.

She gets up at 5:30 every morning and does an exercise routine that includes aerobics and Pilates, a form of stretching exercise that she says has helped with back problems she suffered. She gets the kids off to school and arrives at the Statehouse by 8:30 for the daily staff meeting.

After the staff meeting one day last week, she prepped a staff member for the governor's Cabinet meeting and sat in on part of it.

Before the morning was over she had done an interview with The Greenville News; approved a press release quoting the governor urging the Senate to pass his Fiscal Discipline Plan; discussed with the governor's speechwriter details of the mountains-to-the-sea bike ride the first family plans in May to encourage fitness; fielded questions from a group of Girl Scouts who had come to the Statehouse to serve as pages -- and held a 30-second tete-a-tete in her cubicle with the governor on contacting a former New York banker and a former chief financial officer for Macy's who want to help with a review of the state's finances.
"It's no knock on a traditional first lady role," the governor said as he whisked through the intern area on his way to his meeting in Fort Mill. "It's just that God gives every one of us different talents, and I think that one of her talents ... is that she has a remarkable eye for detail. That eye for detail has consistently shown itself to be of great help to me in my political work."

Note that Mrs. Sanford's "eye for detail" did not miss a letter from her husband to his soul mate revealing his secreted philandering. Recently, the couple have been spending time together with their boys, taking a family vacation and working to repair their union, but Mrs. Sanford must believe that all that togetherness won't do the job that needs to be done and so she is putting some distance between him and the family for now.


 Jenny Sanford Video