Former New Jersey
governor James E. McGreevey revealed during an
interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he was
having an affair with a man while his wife was in
the hospital giving birth to their child,
according to audience members. The nation's first
openly gay governor told Winfrey he believed he was in love
with the man, who would become a central figure in his
downfall, said two audience members who agreed to
speak only on condition of anonymity.
Winfrey asked audience members not to
divulge the contents of the broadcast, which was taped
in Chicago on Tuesday. A dozen friends of McGreevey
who attended had to sign confidentiality agreements with
Regan Books, which is publishing McGreevey's political
memoir. The hour-long program will be broadcast
September 19, the day McGreevey's much-anticipated
The Confession hits bookstores and he
embarks on a national book tour.
McGreevey, 49, stunned the nation on August 12,
2004, when he said he had been involved in an affair
with a man and would resign. McGreevey later
identified the man as Golan Cipel, though Cipel repeatedly
has denied being gay. The lawyer who represented
Cipel, Allen Lowy, would not comment Wednesday.
In the interview, the audience members said,
Winfrey explores McGreevey's lifelong struggle with
his sexuality. McGreevey recounted going to the
library as an adolescent to look up the word
homosexual in a dictionary. When he found it
included terms like perverse and psychiatric
disorder, the Irish-Catholic said he quickly
learned to repress his feelings, audience members said.
The American Psychiatric Association removed
homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in
1973. The interview also explores how McGreevey came
out to his wife and parents, how his life is more authentic
today, and what life is like with Australian financial
adviser Mark O'Donnell, whom he refers to as his life
partner, the audience members said. O'Donnell also
appears on the program. (Angela Delli Santi, AP)
(An exclusive interview with Jim McGreevey and
his partner, Mark O'Donnell, will appear in the
October 10 issue of The Advocate, on newsstands
September 26.)
