Rudy Giuliani and wife Donna Hanover to separate

May 10, 2000
Web posted at: 6:14 p.m. EDT (2214 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced Wednesday that he is seeking a separation agreement from his wife, actress Donna Hanover, possibly bringing to a close a tumultuous marriage that has been consistently buffeted by the rigors of public life and rumors of strife.

The surprise announcement came at the mayor's daily news briefing, held Wednesday outside Bryant Park in Manhattan.

New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced Wednesday that he and his wife, actress Donna Hanover, are formally separating.

Giuliani, 55, and Hanover, 50, have been married since 1983 and have two children -- Andrew, aged 14, and Caroline, 10. Their marriage had been rumored to have been strained for some time, and Giuliani and Hanover were rarely seen in public together in the course of the last two years. They have often refused to answer questions about their marriage.

Speaking early Wednesday afternoon, Giuliani said, "For quite some time it's probably been apparent that Donna and I lead in many ways independent and separate lives." He described the course of his relationship with Hanover as a "painful road," and said he would seek an equitable separation agreement.

Speaking to reporters late Wednesday afternoon, Hanover confirmed that negotiations toward a legal separation were moving forward.

"Today's turn of events brings me great sadness," Hanover said. "I had hoped to keep this marriage together."

The separation agreement, Giuliani said, should protect their two children, and "give them all the security and protection they deserve." In turn, Giuliani added, the agreement should "protect Donna."

"That is something we need to work out," he said. "That is something we need to strive toward."

The mayor said he and Ms. Hanover would be seeking a legal separation, not a divorce, and that she would not be moving out of Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence.

"We'll do the best we can to make the decisions we have to make that are consistent with our own lives and our children," Giuliani said.

Donna Hanover: ""Today's turn of events brings me great sadness. I had hoped to keep this marriage together."

"Over time ... we have grown to live independent and separate lives and we should probably strive toward formalizing that," he said.

"This is damaging and painful for everyone."

Giuliani added that Judith Nathan, a woman he has publicly been seen with, is a good friend. Recent tabloid reports have linked the mayor and Nathan, raising some eyebrows in the New York GOP.

"We're very good friends and she and her family are entitled to privacy," Giuliani said last week to reporters who began writing about Giuliani-Nathan sightings around Manhattan. Neither he nor Nathan have elaborated further on their relationship.

Hanover, however, put her spin on recent developments when she spoke Wednesday, saying a relationship Giuliani was rumored to have had with a former press secretary nearly destroyed their marriage several years ago.

"For several years it had become increasingly difficult to participate in Rudy's public life because of his relationship with one staff member," she said. "Beginning last May, I made a major effort to get us back together, and Rudy and I re-established some of our personal intimacies through the fall."

"At that point, he chose another path," she said.

Giuliani's announcement Wednesday was his second city hall shocker in recent days, and follows the April 27 disclosure of his prostate cancer diagnosis. The mayor has said he will not make a final decision about his candidacy for the U.S. Senate -- versus first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton -- until he has decided along with his doctors how his cancer should be treated.

The New York State Republican Party's nominating convention is set for the end of the month in Buffalo. Giuliani will have to inform the party before then of his plans for the Senate race.

A source with Giuliani's Senate campaign told CNN late Wednesday afternoon that the mayor held a meeting with campaign staff after the announcement, and told them that for now, the campaign was on track.

Hillary Clinton said Wednesday afternoon that she did not want to address the state of Giuliani's marriage, saying it had no bearing on the substance of the Senate race.

"This is a campaign about the children and families of the state," she said. "I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing.

On Saturday, Hanover held a news conference outside St. Patrick's Cathedral before attending a Mass for the late Cardinal John O'Connor. Hanover, who at times appeared to be near tears, thanked those who have offered her support since her husband's cancer was announced.

"I will be supportive of Rudy in his fight against this illness, as this marriage and this man have been very precious to me," she said. "The well-being and safety of (children) Andrew and Caroline will be my primary concern in any decisions that have to be made, as has always been the case."

Hanover, an actress, has appeared in films including "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and on TV soap operas such as "One Life to Live" and "All My Children." She also is the host of a program on the Food Network, and has done stints as a guest on the television programs "Ally McBeal," "Law and Order" and "The Practice."

Recently Hanover had signed on to be one of three actresses in the saucy play, "The Vagina Monologues." But after Giuliani announced he had cancer, Hanover dropped out, citing "personal family circumstances."

"Donna Hanover is a wonderful woman," the mayor said Wednesday. "She is a very fine, wonderful person, and she is an extraordinary mother and I have tremendous respect for her."

Giuliani also said he doesn't believe the public is that interested in his marital woes.

"This is damaging and painful for everyone," Giuliani said. "My emotional state? I am very, very sad."

In a Daily News/NY1 poll released last weekend, 77 percent of New York voters said Giuliani's marriage was a private matter irrelevant to their opinion of him as a Senate candidate.

CNN's Phil Hirschkorn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.