Huma Abedin reveals she is in the ‘final stages’ of divorcing Anthony Weiner

Huma Abedin has revealed she is in the ‘final stages’ of divorcing her husband Anthony Weiner, who still lives ‘very nearby’ in her building, while opening up the ‘extreme trauma’ she suffered following his scandals and affairs.  

Hillary Clinton‘s top aide, 45, spoke about the dissolution of her marriage in a candid interview with The Cut, saying she and Weiner, 57, sought therapy after he was released from prison as they adjusted to co-parenting their son Jordan, nine.  

The couple separated in 2016 and filed for divorce but later withdrew that filing. When asked if they were getting divorced, she confirmed they were.   

‘We are in the final stages of our divorce,’ she told the outlet. ‘Lawyers are doing their lawyer thing.’  

Abedin is back in the spotlight while promoting her new memoir Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds, which was released on Tuesday. 

The book chronicles her life growing up as an American raised in a Muslim society in Saudi Arabia, her time working with the Clintons, and her marriage and eventual separation to disgraced Congressman Weiner.

Abedin said she wrote the memoir largely for her son because she wanted him to hear her side of the story.   

‘I liked being an invisible person, but I felt like if I didn’t write my story, somebody else is telling my history,’ she explained. 

Abedin wrote in her memoir, Both/And that while she knew her marriage to Weiner was over, ‘my relationship with my child’s father is not, and never will be.’  

Weiner had been a congressman from New York when he and Abedin first met in 2007. 

The politician, 12 years her senior, pursued her for years, The Cut reported. 

She was 32 when he proposed at the Gramercy Park Hotel, but she was admittedly inexperienced with men. 

‘As was expected of any girl with my background, I would lose my virginity to the man I would marry,’ she said.   

Just one year after they were married, Weiner was forced to resign in disgrace after a photo of him in his boxer briefs was posted on his personal Twitter account.   

Abedin was newly pregnant with their son at the time and was traveling frequently with Clinton, then secretary of state.

Weiner accidentally posted the photograph on his feed instead of sending it as a direct message to a woman he’d been flirting with on Twitter.

He first told Abedin that it was ‘the work of a hacker,’ which she believed, then after a week told her what had really happened.

‘”What’s wrong?” I asked. And then, just like that, life as I knew it was officially over,’ she wrote. “‘It’s true,” he said. “I sent the picture.”‘

Weiner was ashamed of his actions and insisted it didn’t mean anything. 

‘I was simultaneously filled with rage and stunned to my core,’ Abedin recalled in her book. ‘It felt like a bolt of lightning had struck me and run straight through my body.’

Journalists began to search for other illicit photos and messages Weiner sent, and by June 6, he held a press conference, confessing that he had sent sexual photos and messages to women online over the course of a few years.

He said at the time he ‘deeply’ regretted his actions, noting: ‘I’m going to try to be a better husband.’

He resigned within a few weeks of the Twitter scandal, then ran unsuccessfully for New York City mayor in 2013.

As he was leading in the polls, a young woman from Indiana named Sydney Leathers shared explicit photos and messages he sent her using the alias ‘Carlos Danger.’

Still, Abedin stood by his side, making a public appearance in a rare press conference on July 23, 2013, telling reporters: ‘I have forgiven him, I believe in him… I made that decision. That was a decision I made for me, for our son, and for my family.’

By 2016, DailyMail.com revealed that he had been sending lewd text messages to a 15-year-old girl that included more explicit photographs. A year later, he was sentenced to 21 months in prison for sending obscene material to a minor. 

The former congressman served 15 months in federal prison in Massachusetts and three more in a Bronx halfway house.

‘In hindsight, I was in extreme trauma,’ Abedin told The Cut, explaining that after the Carlos Danger scandal, ‘we were kind of in it alone. We didn’t really have anyone to talk to, aside from whichever therapist we were seeing.’

The political staffer credited her friend, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, for giving her a ‘safe space’ by introducing her to ‘writers, people in the fashion world. Mostly people who just weren’t really into politics.’

‘It’s hard to have this conversation with a lot of girlfriends, because their experience is not similar to mine,’ she said. 

Abedin noted that despite Weiner’s lies and affairs, he was — and still is — a good partner. She said that throughout their marriage, ‘he made my life so much easier. He did everything. He did our shopping. He cleaned our house. He made sure the laundry was done.’

The couple separated in 2016 and are now moving forward with their divorce, although they remain on good terms. They were seen shopping together in New York’s East Village last week.  

‘I had my heart broken, dragged out, stomped on, humiliated. I lived with shame, in shame, for so long,’ she told The Cut. 

‘On the one hand, you have this person who’s making your life so easy. On the other hand, you have this person who’s doing these deeply irresponsible things, and what felt to me like very, very selfish things, and taking us down.’ 

Abedin’s long-time boss Hillary Clinton also experienced life in the public eye during a sex scandal when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had an affair with a 22-year-old White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.

The former president denied having intercourse with Lewinsky, ending a televised speech in January 1998 saying he ‘did not have sexual relations with that woman.’

But further investigation led to charges of perjury against him, and in 1998 he was impeached by the House of Representatives. He was subsequently acquitted on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day trial.

Throughout that time, Hillary stood by his side.

She revealed in a documentary last year: ‘I defended and stood by him because I thought the impeachment process was wrong, but that wasn’t the necessary answer to what I would do with my marriage.

‘It was not — to me — the same. I still had to decide whether I wanted to stay in the marriage, whether I thought it was worth saving.’

When asked during her interview with The Cut if Hillary had ever talked about the analogies in their personal stories, Abedin replied: ‘Zero.’ 

Earlier this week, Abedin promoted her memoir during an interview with Norah O’Donnell that aired on CBS Evening News. 

During the conversation, they touched upon the revelation that she had contemplated suicide at the height of the sexting scandal that engulfed her and Weiner. 

‘You write that, for a brief second, you contemplated walking off the subway platform?’ O’Donnell asked Abedin. 

She said it was her Muslim faith that got her through the difficult ordeal after Weiner finished in fifth place in the New York City Democratic Party’s mayoral primary in September 2013.  

‘Well, one of the best things I’ve had in my life is my faith, and the belief that there is always a way through,’ Abedin replied.

She also revealed that Weiner was having in-person affairs in the apartment that they shared.

‘I know it’s hard for you to say it, but you found that he was having physical relationships in your apartment?’ O’Donnell asked.

Abedin responded: ‘Yes.’

She added: ‘It was that moment that I realized the way I had been handling my response to him was not working.’

At the end of the interview, O’Donnell asked Abedin whether she’s still ‘angry’ with her estranged husband. 

‘I can’t live in that space anymore,’ she said. ‘I tried that. It almost killed me.’

When asked to comment on Abedin’s interview, Weiner praised his estranged wife, but he didn’t answer any questions about his alleged cheating. 

‘Huma is a remarkable woman who has written a truly amazing book,’ he told the New York Post. This is a time for her to tell her story. It is both riveting and ultimately uplifting.’

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 160 crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 1-800-273-8255.

It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.