Newt Gingrich's second ex-wife told ABC News that the Republican presidential candidate sought an "open marriage" and that his campaign positions do not coincide with what she saw during their 18 years of marriage. Marianne Gingrich, in her first

Newt Gingrich's second ex-wife told ABC News that the Republican
presidential candidate sought an "open marriage" and that his campaign
positions do not coincide with what she saw during their 18 years of
marriage.

Marianne Gingrich, in her first television interview since the
couple's 1999 divorce, told ABC News that when Gingrich admitted to a
six-year affair with a congressional aide, he asked her if she would
share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to
Gingrich.

"And I just stared at him and he said, 'Callista doesn't care what I
do,'" Marianne Gingrich told ABC News. "He was asking to have an open
marriage and I refused...that is not a marriage."

Marianne Gingrich detailed her "shock" regarding the former House
speaker's behavior and said she learned he conducted his affair with
Callista "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington."

"He always called me at night," she told ABC News, "and always ended
with 'I love you.' Well, she was listening."

This occurred, according to Marianne Gingrich, during the same time
Gingrich condemned President Bill Clinton for his lack of moral
leadership.

At a debate Thursday night, Newt Gingrich said his ex-wife claims were
"false." Gingrich said earlier he would not comment on ABC News' plans
to air the interview Thursday night, describing it as an intrusion
into family affairs from more than a decade ago.

Gingrich said he has "nothing negative to say" about his ex-wife
Marianne, deferring to comments made by his two daughters in a letter
to ABC executives. He said they think the interview is "wrong."

Meanwhile, in a letter released to members of the media, Kathy Lubbers
and Jackie Cushman wrote: "ABC News or other campaigns may want to
talk about the past, just days before an important primary election.
But Newt is going to talk to the people of South Carolina about the
future- about job creation, lower taxes, and about who can defeat
Barack Obama by providing the sharpest contrast to his damaging,
extreme liberalism. We are confident this is the conversation the
people of South Carolina are interested in having."

Marianne Gingrich, in a separate interview with The Washington Post,
said Newt Gingrich initially asked for a divorce. He later asked to
pursue an open marriage, she said, again claiming she rejected the
idea. Gingrich told the Post that granting an interview on their
marriage was "unavoidable," since she had so many requests from the
media.
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