Former South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford is still the focus of national attention. She appeared on the “Oprah” television show Thursday, talking more about what happened with her marriage to Governor Mark Sanford and about his affair with a woman in Argentina.
Oprah quoted from Sanford’s book entitled “Staying True.” Ms. Sanford said the governor speaking of his soul mate in South America was like a punch in the stomach.
She also told Oprah she has released her husband to have his own life.
I really want him to be happy. But more than that…you know, our marriage is based on a set of core values, Christian principles that allow you to work through your differences. And when you come to the place where he has really lost site of those values, that’s the thing I want him to get back to. I want him at some point to become the person I always thought he was, for the sake of the children, for I fear otherwise they will always think of him as a hypocrite.
Jenny Sanford had this advice for others going through the same experience:
Don’t do it alone. Make sure you get some really close girlfriends you can chat or pray with. The other one is, don’t do anything that makes you the problem. The inclination is to want to scream or hit him over the head or…I can think of an awful lot of things I wanted to do. But the advice was be the best I could be, not to engage with him. And the funny thing is when I got to the stage when I was ready to divorce, I could look back with great peace in my heart that I had stayed the best Jenny I could be.
Jenny Sanford says she was not bitter, but only hurt, and she has told her children that they can love their father anyway and learn from the experience. She said the relationship with her husband is now completely civil.
