Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, have announced that they are separating but won’t divorce after nearly three decades of marriage. They share two kids together. Details on his family explored.
Bill de Blasio is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New York City Public Advocate from 2010 to 2013.
In the course of his political aspiration, he was married to a supportive wife Chirlane McCray. The couple lived happily and a private life with their kids until in July when the former N.Y.C. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he was separating from his wife.
Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray, who have been married for 29 years, said they don’t plan on divorcing but are open to dating other people while living together.
This led to many an inquisition about his family. So, who is Bill de Blasio’s wife Chirlane and how many children did they have? Read on for more about the politician’s life.
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Who is Bill de Blasio married to?
De Blasio was born in Manhattan and raised primarily in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from New York University and Columbia University before brief stints working as a campaign manager for Charles Rangel and Hillary Clinton.
De Blasio started his career as an elected official on the New York City Council, representing the 39th district in Brooklyn from 2002 to 2009. After serving one term as a public advocate, he was elected mayor of New York City in 2013 and reelected in 2017.
De Blasio ran in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential election. After registering low poll numbers and failing to qualify for the third round of primary debates, he suspended his campaign on September 20, 2019, and endorsed Bernie Sanders five months later.
De Blasio was term-limited and ineligible to seek a third term in the 2021 New York City mayoral election. He was succeeded by Eric Adams on January 1, 2022. On May 20, 2022, he announced he was running in the 2022 U.S. House election in the newly redrawn 10th congressional district. He withdrew from the race on July 19, saying he was done with “electoral politics”.
Bill De Blasio has been married to his wife, activist, and poet Chirlane McCray, since 1994.
In 2013, McCray told the New Yorker that she met de Blasio at City Hall in 1991. At the time, she was a speechwriter for Mayor David Dinkins and he was a deputy mayor’s aide.
De Blasio is Italian and his wife, Chirlane McCray, is black.
The couple honeymooned in Cuba in violation of a US travel ban. They lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn before they moved to Gracie Mansion, the traditional residence of New York City mayors.
SOURCE: GETTY
Who is Chirlane McCray?
Born Chirlane Irene McCray on November 29, 1954, she is an American writer, editor, and activist. She is famous for being the wife of De Blasio, the former mayor of New York City, and had been described as de Blasio’s “closest advisor.”
Chirlane McCray has been instrumental in creating a mental health plan for the city during her time as the First Lady of New York City.
McCray went to Wellesley College for English. After college, she moved to New York and worked as a writer in the magazine industry.
In 2015, McCray developed a billion-dollar initiative ThriveNYC with the purpose of connecting people with mental health needs to the people and the programs that can help them. Ultimately, the program aims to make mental healthcare more accessible.
In 2018, McCray was named one of TIME’s 50 Most Influential People in Healthcare after it became a worldwide model for mental health reform.
She has also published poetry and worked in politics as a speechwriter.
Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, are separating after 29 years of marriage. In an interview with The New York Times, the politician explained that they plan to remain in their shared Brooklyn home but will be open to dating other people. Bill also shared the news on Twitter, writing, “Even at this moment of change, this is a love story.”
And despite previously identifying as a lesbian, Chirlane has since shied away from labels. “I believe there is a fluidity that we are only just now growing to be more accepting of and aware of,” she told Broadly Meets.
Since then, the pair have become one of the most notable interracial couples in political history. During the 2013 Democratic primary, Chirlane was a visible presence during Bill’s campaign stops – often prompting backlash from his opponents.
And while the de Blasio family was once a happy unit, Bill and Chirlane have decided to split. Here’s everything we know about the couple’s separation.
SOURCE: GETTY
Why are Bill de Blasio and Chirlane McCray separating? the politician admits his career played a part in his failed marriage.
Since serving as the mayor of New York City, Bill’s political career has stalled. In June, the city of New York fined the former mayor $475,000 for misuse of his NYPD security detail, according to the New York Post. The complaint alleges that Bill, without authorization, enlisted his security detail for 31 out-of-state trips in 2019.
In 2020, Bill launched an unsuccessful presidential bid which he now admits led to the deterioration of his marriage to Chirlane. “I thought it was a distraction,” Chirlane told the Times. She went on to explain that although she was unhappy with her husband’s decision, she tried to remain supportive. Adding, “That’s part of the difficulty of being part of a package.”
Bill further suggests that his 2014 to 2021 term as mayor also caused a strain in the couple’s relationship. The politician explained that the pandemic, combined with his increased responsibilities as the mayor, became “overwhelming.” “That kind of took away a little bit of our soul…It made me emotionally very needy.”
SOURCE: GETTY
Bill admits he had fears about Chirlane’s sexual orientation.
Bill and Chirlane welcomed their first child in 1994 and their second just three years later, Oprah Daily reports. Throughout their marriage, Chirlane continuously addressed speculation about her sexual orientation. Now, Bill has spoken out about the pair’s union and explained that he also had fears about dating Chirlane.
“There was a part of me that would at times say, ‘Hmmm, is this like a time bomb ticking? Is this something that you’re going to regret later on?’” he said during the couple’s interview with the Times. “So I always lived with that stuff.”
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Who are Bill de Blasio’s children? He shares all his kids with his wife Chirlane McCray
Bill de Blasio and his wife McCray are parents to two children; a daughter and a son. The names of their adult kids are Chiara de Blasio and Dante de Blasio.
Their daughter is 28 years old and their son is 25 years old.
De Blasio has talked about his biracial family in reference to social reform in various campaigns.
Dante de Blasio helped his dad with his first mayoral campaign when he was 15.
In 2013, when he was 15, Dante starred in an ad for de Blasio’s mayoral campaign.
Years later, Dante wrote an op-ed article for USA Today. The 2019 article detailed his perspective of and experience with police as a young black man. The piece was published shortly after Dante graduated from Yale University and recalled two memories — one of de Blasio and Dante’s cousins explaining how he should talk to police officers at age 13, and another of Dante feeling afraid of police officers as a young adult.
Chiara de Blasio studied sociology at Santa Clara University and has been working as a program coordinator of Feminists for Justice at Santa Clara Community Action Program since 2015.
Chiara went to Beacon High School, a selective public high school in Manhattan, and Santa Clara University, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Their daughter appeared in a video released on Bill’s Youtube channel, gushing over her father’s cultural awareness.
Chiara is a student at Santa Clara University in California. Chiara addressed her drug use and depression in late December 2013, in a four-minute video that de Blasio’s mayoral transition team released.