Hiring A Queens Divorce Lawyer When A Spouse Has An Affair
In splashy coverage from The New York Post, the cause of the recent divorce filing by Judith Nathan, wife of former mayor Rudy Giuliani, has finally become clear. Giuliani, who began his relationship with Nathan while still married to his ex-wife, Donna Hanover, has come full circle as an adulterer and began an affair with a Manchester, New Hampshire, hospital administrator weeks before Nathan went to court to end the marriage. The woman, Maria Ryan, 53, is married to a former Marine. While Giuliani himself has denied allegations of an affair, Nathan told The Post, “My husband’s denial of the affair with the married Mrs. Ryan is as false as his claim that we were separated when he took up with her.”
But the alleged affair with Ryan isn’t even the end of the current Giuliani imbroglio. Days later, Giuliani told Page Six that he’s dating a Louisiana political fundraiser named Jennifer LeBlanc, and that the pair have gone out three times in the past two or three weeks. This means that the dates likely occurred in between a trip Giuliani took to Israel with Ryan, where the lawyer to the President of the United States was caught on camera dancing wildly to the Major Lazer song “Watch Out For This.” In the video, which was tweeted out by an Israeli journalist, Giuliani can be seen waving a cloth napkin over his head while a scrum of young women dance around him. Giuliani and Ryan were in Jerusalem to tour the Hadassah Medical Organization, which has substantial experience treating victims of terrorism and is itself a hardened facility against terrorist attacks. In a press release, that group described Ryan as Giuliani’s “partner.”
The Post’s reporting suggests that Giuliani’s romance with Ryan played over at least several months. On March 29, Giuliani went to Manchester to tour the 25-bed hospital that she operates there. Accompanied by TV reporters, he told the media that he was there to learn about Cottage Hospital’s cybersecurity measures. What he didn’t share with the press was that after touring the facility, he and Ryan drove two hours to the four-star Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa in Whitefield, New Hampshire, where they dined with friends in the resort’s private dining area, then watched movies in a private screening room. According to staff, Ryan accompanied him to the palacial Summit Suite for the night. “We were all surprised,” a waitress said to The Post, “because he is really getting on in years and she was quite a bit younger than him. We were all like, ‘Hmmm.’” A week after the romantic getaway, Nathan filed for divorce from Giuliani after 15 years of marriage.
Giuliani does acknowledge that he knows the woman alleged to be his mistress. “I do know Dr. Ryan. She is a friend of mine, and so is her husband, Bob. She’s a Ph.D. and a very, very fine woman,” he told The Post, while also insisting, “I never spent the night with her. There’s no proof. There can’t be because we never did anything.” It all brings up memories of an earlier time in Giuliani’s life, back when he was mayor of the city and enjoying the trappings of power – including when it came to women who weren’t his wife.
Giuliani was first elected mayor in 1994, back when he was married to his second wife, Hanover. The couple had two children, and Hanover, a journalist and television personality, had been a staunch advocate for her husband on the campaign trail. She’d cut ads for the campaign, portraying Giuliani as an honest and decent family man, and once he was elected, she made healthcare and education her focus as First Lady of New York City.
Within two years, Hanover had largely disappeared from Giuliani’s public events. It was suggested that her withdrawal was related to an affair that Giuliani was having with a key staffer. One Hanover friend recounted a time in 1995 when Giuliani had told his wife that he was going to visit their son, but never arrived. Hanover went to City Hall to try to find her husband and learned that he was in the basement in a private suite with the female staffer, and had been for hours. When she tried to get into the suite to confront her husband, an aide blocked her way.
That staffer was not Judith Nathan, whom Giuliani met a few years later, seemingly sparking an immediate affair. There are lingering allegations that Giuliani, in an attempt to hide the affair, engaged in some financial shenanigans with taxpayer dollars, but nothing has ever been proven. He did order NYPD to provide a chauffeur service to his mistress at taxpayer expense. It was this relationship that led to Giuliani’s notorious press conference at Bryant Park, where he revealed to the world that he had separated from Hanover and would now be spending more time with his “very good friend” Judith Nathan. While this might seem like a normal level of messy at the end of the marriage, it turns out that Giuliani had not actually told Hanover that he considered them separated when he stepped up to the podium. Hanover responded to his remarks by addressing the press at Gracie Mansion, telling the world, “Today’s turn of events brings me great sadness. I had hoped to keep this marriage together. For several years, it was difficult to participate in Rudy’s public life because of his relationship with one staff member.”
Now it’s Nathan’s turn in the role of scorned wife. Giuliani has a new ‘friend,’ Ryan, and described LeBlanc, the woman he says he’s dating, by telling Page Six, “We are still only friends.” Of his dinner at the romantic resort with Ryan, Giuliani says that he was “in effect separated” from Nathan at the time, but based on Nathan’s statement, this is another situation where Giuliani decided he was separated without actually consulting with his wife about it. One has to wonder whether Nathan has lived for a decade and half with the worry about her husband meeting new ‘friends.’ While they sort out what’s estimated to be a marital estate worth $30 million, it’s certain that the pugnacious former mayor and current legal spokesman for an embattled president will be in the news a lot.
How The Affair Of A Spouse Impacts Divorce In Queens Courts
We’re sorry if you’re experiencing the pain of discovering a spouse has been having an affair. We can help answer all of your questions about how an affair affects divorce cases in Queens.
If your marriage in Queens is ending, count on the team at Zelenitz, Shapiro & D’Agostino to put you first. Call us today at 718-523-1111 for a free consultation with an experienced Queens divorce and child custody attorney.
