Over the years, in business, politics, entertainment and more, there have been sex scandals—those that come and go and those that take down the person or entity they're filed against. Whether true are not, all are painful to watch, and, one would imagine, painful to endure—especially for the women who choose to "stand by their man" through it all. In light of the recent sex scandals that have rocked the worlds of politicians like <b>Herman Cain</b> <em>(pictured, left, with supporters along the campaign trail)</em> and pastors like <b>Bishop Eddie Long</b>, we rounded up a few of the wives who made the decision through uncomfortable press conferences, embarrassing court cases and shocking announcements to stay and be…The Good Wife.—<em>Elayne Fluker</em>
<b>Herman Cain and wife Gloria Cain</b>
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This past Saturday, December 3, 2011, <b><a href="http://www.blackenterprise.com/2011/12/01/5-lessons-you-can-learn-from-herman-cains-imploding-campaign/">Herman Cain</a></b>—former frontrunner in the Republican presidential nominee race—announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy. To blame in the eyes of many? Sexual harassment claims from several women who worked with Cain when he was head of the National Restaurant Association. The most recent, however, and arguably the nail in the sex scandal coffin, was claims from an Atlanta woman, Ginger White, that the two had a 13-year affair. In spite of the accusations, Cain maintains they're false, saying Saturday, "My wife is at peace with me… And I am at peace with myself." In an interview with Fox News—her only—wife Gloria Cain said, "He totally respects women." During her few public appearances, Mrs. Cain smiled, waved, and made no public statements.
<b>Kobe Bryant and wife Vanessa Bryant</b>
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In the summer of 2003, the Eagle, Colorado sheriff's office announced that they had arrested NBA superstar Kobe Bryant in connection with a sexual assault complaint filed by a 19-year-old woman. The woman accused Bryant, who was at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera to have surgery, of raping her in his hotel room on July 1. If convicted, Bryant faced probation to life in prison. After he was formally charged on July 18, the Lakers star held a news conference adamantly denying he raped the woman, while wife, Vanessa, sat at his side and held his hand. Through tears and terse lips, he admitted to having an adulterous sexual encounter with the woman, but insisted it was consensual. His accuser reportedly told a friend that "She couldn't believe that his wife was sitting there and apparently didn't care about adultery." The case was later dropped after Bryant's accuser refused to testify. A separate civil suit was later settled out of court.
<b>Isiah Thomas and wife Lynn Thomas</b>
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When her husband, Isaiah Thomas, was accused of sexual harassment in 2006 by Anucha Browne Saunders and a jury awarded Brown Saunders $11.6 million after an explosive trial where the then-Knicks head coach and president was portrayed as someone who condones disparaging black women, Lynn Thomas stood by seemingly shell-shocked. Lynn, who married Thomas in 1985, said at a press conference, "I don't normally address the media, but I felt it was very, very important in this issue to make a stand. This has been a hard, hard time for our family. But we're survivors. Like my husband said, we've been together for close to 30 years. We have two kids that we're raising, and I just wanted you all to know that if my husband had said those things there is no way I would be with him for that long." Thomas was eventually fired as Knicks head coach in April 2008.
<b>Magic Johnson and wife Cookie Johnson</b>
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After a physical before the 1991–92 NBA season, Johnson discovered that he had tested positive for HIV. In a press conference held on November 7, 1991, Johnson made a public announcement that he would retire immediately. He stated that his wife Earlitha "Cookie" Kelly, who he married in 1991, and their unborn child did not have HIV, and that he would dedicate his life to "battle this deadly disease". Johnson initially said that he did not know how he contracted the disease, but later acknowledged that it was through having multiple sexual partners during his playing career. Magic continued to play off an on–including the NBA All Star game in 1992 and the Summer Olympics in the same year—before finally retiring in 1996.
<b>Rev. Jesse Jackson and wife Jacqueline Jackson</b>
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In 1991, Long before loquacious speaker Rev. Jesse Jackson put a bad taste in the mouths of many when he was recorded saying that he wanted to "cut [the] balls off" of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama for "talking down to black people," Jackson faced the big mouth of the <em>National Enquirer</em>, which threatened to release their story about reverend's extra-marital affair with a woman, Karin Stanford, an employee of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Jackson admitted that he had not only had an affair with Stanford, but that also fathered her daughter Ashley, then 20 months old. "I love this child very much and have assumed responsibility for her emotional and financial support since she was born," said Jackson, who took some time off "to revive my spirit and reconnect with my family before I return to my public ministry." Three days later, revival complete. Jackson appeared at Chicago's Salem Baptist Church with wife, Jacqueline, whom he married in 1962. "After 38 years and five children, Jackie, we are still here," he said from the pulpit that day. Friends at the time told the media that "Jackson's family, especially Jackie, are devastated by the affair."
<b>Bill Cosby and wife Camille Cosby</b>
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In November 2006, one of America's most beloved comedians, <b><a href="http://www.blackenterprise.com/2011/10/27/bill-cosby-decoded-a-family-friendly-brand/">Bill Cosby</a></b>, settled a civil lawsuit with Andrea Constand, 32, a former Temple University employee who claimed Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Philadelphia-area mansion in 2004. 13 other witnesses also came forward voluntarily with similar claims, <em>People</em> magazine reported. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. But this wasn't Cosby's first not-so-funny sex scandal accusation. More than a decade ago, in 1997, Autumn Jackson, then 22, claimed that she was Cosby's illegitimate child from an affair the comedian had with her mother, Shawn Upshaw. Though Cosby admitted to having an affair with Upshaw and cheating on his wife, Camille Cosby, to whom he has been married since 1964, he maintained that Jackson was not his child. Jackson was later convicted on charges of extortion for threatening to take her story to the tabloids unless Cosby paid her $40 million.
<b>Eddie Murphy and former wife Nicole Murphy</b>
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Eddie Murphy married former model Nicole Murphy in 1993. In May, 1997, <b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9705/02/murphy/ target=_blank">Murphy was arrested with a transsexual prostitute who was riding in his car</a></b>, authorities said. A sheriff's department spokesman said no illegal activity had occurred, but they arrested Atisone Seuli, 20, on an outstanding warrant for prostitution. Murphy's spokesman told CNN that the actor had trouble sleeping, felt restless and decided to drive to a newsstand. After leaving the newsstand, Murphy spotted someone who appeared to be "having a problem," the spokesman said. The star stopped his vehicle to see if the person was all right. At that time, the individual asked Murphy for a ride, and he agreed, the spokesman said. The spokesman quoted Murphy as saying, "I I was trying to be a good Samaritan and this is what happens." The Murphys survived the ordeal but later divorced in 2006.
<b>Marion Barry and former wife Effi Barry</b>
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Marion Barry married Effi Slaughter, his third wife, just after announcing his candidacy for mayor of the District of Columbia in 1978. Barry served as mayor from 1979 to 1991, and again as the fourth mayor from 1995 to 1999. During his earlier tenure, Barry came to national prominence, giving the presidential nomination speech for Jesse Jackson at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. But his celebrity transformed into international notoriety in January 1990, when he was videotaped smoking crack cocaine and arrested by FBI officials on drug charges. The arrest and subsequent trial precluded Barry seeking re-election, and Barry served six months in a federal prison. After his release, however, he was elected to the D.C. city council in 1992 and ultimately returned to mayor in 1994 for second term. The Barrys divorced in 1993. On September 6, 2007, Effi Barry died after an 18-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia.
The circus…..goes on and on and on. And the guy who is twice divorced and had an extra-marital affair with his current wife hopes to gain the most from this. AMAZING!! More than ever, as I look at the sorry set of Republican “rivals” on the other side, I am THANKFUL to have Barack Obama as President, and as a viable candidate for re-election. Mr. Obama: your heart, your values, and your basic decency are all in the right place. BUT…your hands are tied. Unfortunately they were tied by us, the electorate…..when we failed to provide you with a Congress that you can work with. Instead, you are saddled with a don’t-tax-the-1%-do-nothing Congress that battles you at every turn, while the people suffer. God, they don’t EVEN let you pass your own appointments. It’s not Tea-publican gridlock -it’s Tea-publican sabotage. Heck, it’s Tea-publican treason….while the 99% BLEEDS. And then they try to pin the blame on Mr. Obama. These people have no shame…or else its been purchased by those who can afford to do so. In her last years, Grandma gets her meager Social Security check, and they DARE to call it “socialism”. Give me a break! (and Grandma too!) Thankfully, with Occupy Wall Street, America has found its voice: a voice that reminds us that people -ordinary down-to-earth working people- really DO matter. Not “corporations are people -people” , but REAL people! Tea-publicans want even MORE 1%-tax-break-corporate-loopholes….while these “job-creators” send our jobs overseas, and wish that we’d go away too…. as they buy every politician in sight. And if these politicians don’t have ENOUGH mistresses, I can hook them up with a few gorgeous -and rich!- oil companies. It would be a perfect blind date, except for the fact that they’re ALREADY in bed with them . But instead of talking about LESS government, and LESS taxes on the 1%, and MORE corporate welfare, and MORE painful cuts to those who can LEAST afford it….Occupy is a voice that demands a government that WORKS, a government that works FOR ALL OF US, not just for a favored few….not just for the rich. It’s a voice that comes up from the grassroots, and lifts us up in turn: because it insists that this land IS our land…and that we WANT IT BACK! It’s a voice that will help us re-elect the President AND give him a more progressive people-oriented Congress to work with. Mr. Obama: I wish you well…. because you STILL give us hope!
Grace Mickie
Amen.
Still Optimistic
WELL SAID
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The Good Wife: 9 Women Who Stood By Their Husbands During Scandals
![Rev. Jesse Jackson and wife Jacqueline Jackson
In 1991, Long before loquacious speaker Rev. Jesse Jackson put a bad taste in the mouths of many when he was recorded saying that he wanted to "cut [the] balls off" of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama for "talking down to black people," Jackson faced the big mouth of the National Enquirer, which threatened to release their story about reverend's extra-marital affair with a woman, Karin Stanford, an employee of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Jackson admitted that he had not only had an affair with Stanford, but that also fathered her daughter Ashley, then 20 months old. "I love this child very much and have assumed responsibility for her emotional and financial support since she was born," said Jackson, who took some time off "to revive my spirit and reconnect with my family before I return to my public ministry." Three days later, revival complete. Jackson appeared at Chicago's Salem Baptist Church with wife, Jacqueline, whom he married in 1962. "After 38 years and five children, Jackie, we are still here," he said from the pulpit that day. Friends at the time told the media that "Jackson's family, especially Jackie, are devastated by the affair."](http://cdn3.blackenterprise.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/12/Jessee-Jackson-and-wife-515x480.jpg "Jesse-Jackson-and-wife-515x480.jpg")
