Why is Giuliani estranged from his children?

Mr. Giuliani once prided himself on attending all his children’s events and went to Andrew’s high school football games and Caroline’s plays. But he stopped at some point after his marriage to Ms. Nathan in 2003. He missed his son’s graduation, in 2005, and his daughter’s plays in the last 18 months, said people who attended those events.

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Noticeably Absent From the Giuliani Campaign: His Children

As he embarks on a campaign for the presidency, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani is going forward without two people who once played supporting roles in his political life: his children, Andrew, 21, and Caroline, 17.

Andrew Giuliani has been at his father’s side in campaign commercials and inaugurations since he was a toddler, famously bounding across the stage in a rambunctious manner and mimicking his father’s rhetorical flourishes during Mr. Giuliani’s 1994 mayoral inauguration.

But Mr. Giuliani’s relationship with Andrew has grown strained and distant since his very public and bitter divorce from Andrew’s mother, Donna Hanover, and his marriage to Judith Nathan, according to Andrew and others familiar with the relationship.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Andrew, a sophomore and member of the golf team at Duke University, acknowledged having had difficulties with Ms. Nathan, and said that he and his father had recently tried to reconcile after not speaking “for a decent amount of time.”

“There’s obviously a little problem that exists between me and his wife,” the younger Mr. Giuliani said. “And we’re trying to figure that out. But as of right now it’s not working as well as we would like.”

Andrew Giuliani said he would not participate in his father’s campaign, saying his devotion to becoming a professional golfer within three years allows no time for distraction.

While he would not say how long he had been estranged from his father, others close to the family said it appeared to have been for at least a year.

Similarly, a distance appears to have developed between Mr. Giuliani and his daughter, now a high school senior who is to attend Harvard University in September.

The familial tensions come as Mr. Giuliani prepares to run for president and as other Republican contenders deploy their children as campaign assets.

Mr. Giuliani’s three marriages have already bubbled up as an issue. In February, Ann Romney, the wife of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, noted that her husband “had only one wife” — comparing him to other leading Republican candidates who had gone through divorces.

Some campaign Web sites highlight pictures of candidates with family members, but Mr. Giuliani’s does not mention his children, though it includes photographs and mentions of Ms. Nathan.

The Giuliani campaign declined to comment about the former mayor’s relationship with his children, and Ms. Hanover did not respond to messages left at her home and office.

Mr. Giuliani once prided himself on attending all his children’s events and went to Andrew’s high school football games and Caroline’s plays. But he stopped at some point after his marriage to Ms. Nathan in 2003. He missed his son’s graduation, in 2005, and his daughter’s plays in the last 18 months, said people who attended those events.

In the interview, Andrew Giuliani spoke of his father’s campaign, aware that he would have to address his absence. He said the decision not to participate hinged on his goal of becoming a professional golfer.

“I am going to be focused on my golf for the next, well really I don’t even know for the next how long, but definitely over the next bunch of years,” he said. “So I’m not going to have time to, even if I wanted to, be in the campaign.”

He said that he and his father had recently begun trying to reconcile. “For a while there, we weren’t talking, for a decent amount of time,” Andrew said. “But lately we’ve been having more contact and trying to figure things out.”

In 1989, Ms. Hanover and Andrew, then 3, were at Mr. Giuliani’s side when he declared his mayoral candidacy. Caroline appeared with the family in campaign commercials after her birth in August that year.

When Mr. Giuliani ran in 1993, he and Andrew were featured playing baseball; Caroline appeared in a commercial blowing soap bubbles.

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I know Rudy has been married 3 times, but did he cheat on his kids mother was it a bad divorce etc.? I don't seem to remember too much about it at the time, but obviously this was before 9/11 and Rudy's jump to national politics.

 

Ouch.

 

Can I start a serious thread without you roaring in and throwing it off topic with your shenanigans?


Did I spell shenanigans right -- i'm not even going to check. That is how upset I am.



Huff.