Jenny Sanford: Racy E-mails Sunk Marriage

(AP)  South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford says the final blow to her marriage came with the publication of racy e-mails between Gov. Mark Sanford and his Argentine mistress.

She also tells ABC TV's Barbara Walters in an interview airing Friday on "20/20" that she made a "leap of faith" marrying Sanford more than 20 years ago because he insisted on removing a clause promising to be faithful from their wedding vows.

The show released excerpts of Sanford's interview with Walters, which coincides with publication of her memoir, "Staying True."

In the interview, Jenny Sanford says the e-mails where her husband talked about his lover's body parts were not something anyone would want their children to read on the Internet. They were published last year by The State newspaper in Columbia, appearing online the same day the governor returned from a five-day absence - his staff told reporters he was hiking the Appalachian Trail - to admit an affair with an Argentine woman.

Mark Sanford revealed the affair with Maria Belen Chapur in a tearful news conference at the Statehouse.

One e-mail from the governor read: "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 - but hey, that would be going into sexual details."

Jenny Sanford tells Walters her children were devastated.

"It just ripped me up, to see them reading these e-mails, to see them have to grow up so fast," she says.

Jenny Sanford has filed for a divorce that is to be finalized later this month. Last summer she moved out of the governor's mansion in Columbia and now lives with the couple's four sons at the family's beachfront home on Sullivans Island.

Removing the vow of faithfulness from their marriage ceremony "bothered me to some extent, but ... we were very young, we were in love," Sanford says. "I questioned it, but I got past it."

She did not stand by her man when he announced the details of the affair to a waiting world but tells Walters it was a terrible thing to watch.

"It was awful for me to watch my husband come back and pine about his 'soul mate' and days spent crying in Argentina," Jenny Sanford says. "It was awful to think that the world now, you know, was watching this about us and our marriage. It was awful from the political standpoint because he really should've, should've stopped talking at a certain point."

The governor's office had no comment Wednesday.

Mark Sanford, in Myrtle Beach for a tourism conference, told The Sun News newspaper on Tuesday that he had not read his wife's book.

"I know anything Jenny does, she does well, so I look forward to reading it along with everybody else," he said.

Jenny Sanford says she is ready to get on with her life.

"I'm looking forward to whatever comes next," she says in the interview, adding that if she pondered for the rest of her life, she will probably never know what went wrong with her marriage.

"I would say I have acted honorably in our marriage and I've been the best wife I can be," she says.

[bjj62]

Hold on here. If this jerk refused to promise to be faithful, why is she holding him to this promise? If I were to marry someone, and they pointedly refused to promise to be faithful, I would assume they were going to be unfaithful. She may have been young and naive and in love, but come on people, she knew the score. I wonder what her pastor or religious leader said to her when she told him her husband refused to promise to be faithful? Did she even consult her pastor? They are BOTH guilty of lying--not to each other--but to the people of South Carolina.

[taiotoshi8602]

Ms Sanford has carried herself with grace, and class throughout this whole sordid affair. Even after she was made to look like a fool in front of the whole world she carried herself with a dignity that speaks volumes about her character. You posters who try to assert that Ms Sanford is in any way at fault are fools and you posters who try to portray this as a partisan issue are misguided. On the other hand, this "self-proclaimed christian" is fair game. >> How did this piece of slime ever get elected? << .... easy answer, the politics of division (wedge issues) but that is off-topic. Peace All

[WitchBroom]

Article: Removing the vow of faithfulness from their marriage ceremony "bothered me to some extent, but ... we were very young, we were in love," Sanford says. "I questioned it, but I got past it."

Well obviously Jenny Sanford did not get past it because if she did it would not be one of the subjects of her contention with Mark now. She has revealed other matters before and after her marriage to Mark that calls her sensibility and intelligence into question. Jenny needs to stop casting all the blame at Mark and begin realizing she has culpability in it too. Stop the blame game, pity and drama. She looks and sounds sophomoric. Yes it hurts, but accept it for what it is. Begin the healing process and work toward moving on to the next chapter of life. Focus on finding the inner strength to not allow the anger to contaminate her life or the lives of her sons. This to will pass.

[peacefulperson]

You're kidding, right? He writes erotic emails to his MISTRESS, and you blame his wife? Why? Did she write the emails?

And if you don't think she's a strong woman moving on with her life, then I doubt such a thing even exists in your world.

[ffoulkes-2009]

How is it a marriage without the clause for remaining true to your spouse? She was foolish in marrying the jerk.

[wdh3007]

He should resign and move to Argentina...

[pjk12354]

Jenny,
You and your kids need to get away from that pig..........

[stevex47]

If I could draw a picture of the perfect wife, it would look a lot like Jenny Sanford.

She did nothing wrong, other than try and protect her family.

Her soon to be ex is a real idiot. Any decision making on his part has to be extremely suspect.

[formrusmcsgt]

"...she made a "leap of faith" marrying Sanford more than 20 years ago because he insisted on removing a clause promising to be faithful from their wedding vows."

Leap of faith?

Silly name for being downright stupid.

[jcnbma]

He strayed because he probably was in a sexless marriage.

[curse914]

Spoken like a true family values Christian.

[taiotoshi8602]

First, "probably in a sexless marriage", specifically what makes you qualified to make this assertion? Second, assuming you are right (a huge "leap of faith") does that make it right? Possibly, you are trying to justify your own indiscretions. I doubt that you are a either a good parent or a commited spouse or you would never make such a foolish assertion. Peace All

[msimamaji]

Hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti are homeless. Global warming is continuing unabated and will generate a series of disasters throughout the world. Al Qaida has made it clear that they will blame all these disasters on the United States. And what gets the news, Mark Sanford's marriage?
What did Rhett Butler tell Scarlett O'Hara at the end of Gone with the Wind? That's precisely how I feel about this southern-fried soap opera. It's as bad as Sarah Palin's family troubles. It's also a reason I won't vote for the GOP.

[peacefulperson]

I don't think anyone cares who you personally voted for in any election.