Friends: Cuomo walked over wife's affair

Boston Herald ^ | July 2, 2003

[PJ-Comix]

Friends of Kennedy in-law Andrew Cuomo blame Kerry Kennedy Cuomo's ``raging'' affair with another man as the reason for the breakdown in their 13-year marriage, The New York Post reports today.
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``Kerry is definitely involved with another man, and Andrew knows who he is,'' a source told the Post.

After the affair came to light, the couple agreed to patch things up, friends said, but Kerry's relationship with her lover continued.

No one from the Cuomo camp or the Kennedy clan would comment on the story.

On Monday, Kerry, daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and wife Ethel, announced she wanted out of her marriage and was seeking a divorce.

Her husband - former HUD secretary, failed New York gubernatorial candidate and son of ex-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo - retaliated with a statement from his attorney in yesterday's New York Times that dissed his politically juiced spouse and mother of their three kids.

Attorney Harriet Newman Cohen told the Times: ``Mr. Cuomo was betrayed and saddened by his wife's conduct during their marriage. Despite that, for the sake of their three daughters, Mr. Cuomo has been trying to keep their marriage together for some time.

``But he will try to accommodate Ms. Kennedy Cuomo's decision to leave the marriage. In the interest of the privacy of the party's children and the family, Mr. Cuomo will make no further comment.''

Political insiders said yesterday Cuomo committed political suicide by lashing out at his estranged wife and airing the high-profile couple's dirty laundry in the press.

``He's made a series of blatant tactical political errors, but this one really puts the last nail in the coffin,'' said one local Dem.

``On two levels it was a jerk move. Whether you're married to a Kennedy or not, it lacks any sort of class. And to do it to a member of a politically connected family is beyond stupid.''

But that's Mario's kid, say People in the Know.

Cuomo, say insiders, has a ``certain amount of second generation entitlement'' that hasn't endeared him to pols in New York and Washington, D.C. - not to mention deep-pocketed Demmie donors.

Even the all-powerful Kennedy clan couldn't help Cuomo's career.

Kerry, who friends said was looking to leave Andrew last year, but stayed for the sake of her hubby's career, campaigned tirelessly for him. Which is, of course, the Kennedy way!

In fact, Kerry - along with her big brothers, Robert Jr. and Joe, the ex-congressman - co-hosted a $10,000-per-family fund-raising weekend at the family's historic Hyannisport homestead last July.

But even after some heavy hounding and strong-arming, attendance was anemic, we were told.

Cuomo, who was a visiting fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government last spring, has hopes of making another run for governor in 2006. Which, if you believe the buzz on the political wire yesterday - and who doesn't? - will be a fool's errand.

Kerry, 43, a globe-trotting human rights activist and author, married Cuomo, 45, then a homeless advocate, June 9, 1990, in the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Washington, D. C.

The couple, whose union was dubbed ``Cuomolot,'' lived with their three daughters - 9-year-old twins Cara and Mariah and 6-year-old Michaela - in tony Bedford, N. Y.

[PJ-Comix]

``Kerry is definitely involved with another man, and Andrew knows who he is...''

Bill Clinton?

Political insiders said yesterday Cuomo committed political suicide by lashing out at his estranged wife and airing the high-profile couple's dirty laundry in the press.

I knew there was an upside to this split-up.

``On two levels it was a jerk move. Whether you're married to a Kennedy or not, it lacks any sort of class. And to do it to a member of a politically connected family is beyond stupid.''

Stupid is as Stupid does.

Cuomo, say insiders, has a ``certain amount of second generation entitlement'' that hasn't endeared him to pols in New York and Washington, D.C. - not to mention deep-pocketed Demmie donors.

A quickie definition of this attitude is "shmuck."

[Corporate Law]

Clinton was the first thing I thought of as well.

[Bluntpoint]

More bad news for Andrew:

The Catholic Church refused to give him an annulment. They did offer to quietly move his wife to another unsuspecting parish.

[Dante3]

I doubt him talking about his wife's affiar will cause much damage to whatever little was left of his chances.

[PJ-Comix]

The article did say she was seeking a divorce. In the not so distant past they most likely would have seeked an annulment but she has her own brother, Joe Jr., to blame for ruining that annulment gimmick. Even though Joe Jr. and his wife had been married for years and had a few kids, Joe Jr. insisted of going the annulment route. Normally he would have gotten away with it but his wife wrote a book about this topic mocking that whole annulment routine. Joe Jr. was forced to back down on his annulment plans and since then Church annulments have been much tougher to get for EVERYBODY.

[PJ-Comix]

I doubt him talking about his wife's affiar will cause much damage to whatever little was left of his chances.

Which are somewhere between Nil and None. With a face and attitude like Cuomo's you just can't get very far in public life.

[AppyPappy]

At least we are trashing these people while they are ALIVE.

[nwrep]

Andrew Cuomo and his wife Kerry Kennedy-Cuomo on the occasion of "India day" in NYC, 2002.

[LarryM]

Hitlery got a lot of mileage out of Bill's escapades. Why not Andy?

[Dante3]

I agree.

[pettifogger]

Cuomo, say insiders, has a ``certain amount of second generation entitlement'' that hasn't endeared him to pols in New York and Washington, D.C.

Shouldn't this describe the Kennedys as well?

[big gray tabby]

The ugly SOB isn't any cuter for the horns his wife stuck on him, is he?

[mr.pink]

I'd have to figure that a lot of the folks who worked under this creep at HUD are having quite a chuckle over Andrew's latest implosion.

If Andrew ever did the horizontal mombo with any of the DC/NY pol-groupies it should roll off the presses pretty soon.

For the life of me I can't figure how a man of so much priviledge is so thoroughly nasty.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Whether you're married to a Kennedy or not, it lacks any sort of class.

I can't imagine anyone with class marrying a Kennedy.

[Hatteras]

I typed "Kerry Kennedy" in Google Images and came up with this:

Oh, the humanity...

[Xenalyte]

"But he will try to accommodate Ms. Kennedy Cuomo's decision to leave the marriage. In the interest of the privacy of the party's children and the family, Mr. Cuomo will make no further comment."

Ugh. Regardless of the status of her marriage, it would never be proper to address her as "Ms. Kennedy Cuomo." Until they divorce, she's "Mrs. Cuomo."

(Like I should expect correctness from the industry that allows people to "plead innocent.")

[TommyDale]

I was thinking more along the lines of Hillary Clinton.

[Miss Marple]

Ha! Boston chimes in on the Kennedy side!!

[Miss Marple]

That picture deserves it's own thread. It marks the public debut of Ketchup boy.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Ted Kennedy pictures from this era should be limited to the neck brace photo from Chappaquiddick.