De Blasio separating from wife

NEW YORK — Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, announced Wednesday they are separating — effectively ending a marriage that became an integral part of de Blasio's ascent to Gracie Mansion and his subsequent years leading the city.

The duo, who sat down with The New York Times to explain their decision, will not divorce or even move out of their Park Slope row house. Instead, they will live together and date other people.

“You can feel when things are off,” de Blasio told the Times, “and you don’t want to live that way.”

The couple said the rigors of public life took a serious toll on their bond. The pandemic accelerated that erosion and, for McCray in particular, de Blasio's ill-fated decision to run for president in 2020 caused a palpable shift that they did not recover from.

De Blasio's multiracial family resonated strongly with New Yorkers during the 2013 mayoral race following 12 years of the Bloomberg administration — and an ad cut by his son was one of the key moments in the race. After taking office, de Blasio and McCray often appeared at press conferences together and she eventually took over a controversial mental health initiative called ThriveNYC in a volunteer capacity.

Since leaving office, McCray has continued her work in the mental health field while de Blasio has been teaching and, according to the Times, giving speeches in Italy.