why they stay (first edition)
Available in paperback, audiobook, audio CD, and ebook formats
Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jackie and Jack Kennedy, Valerie Hobson and Jack Profumo, Marion Stein and Jeremy Thorpe, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Gila and Moshe Katsav, Wendy and David Vitter, Silda Wall and Eliot Spitzer, Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner.
“Debunks the reductive stereotype of disgraced political wives with depth and humanity. Grounding her profiles of these women in history, gender studies and relationship psychology, Michaud also lays bare the patriarchal tightrope each were forced to navigate and presents a fascinating case study on what it really means to be a political power couple." — Caroline Ervin and Cristen Conger, Co-authors of Unladylike
Why They Stay is about the lives of politically married women who have stood by their men after sex scandals. It covers Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Silda Wall Spitzer, Huma Abedin Weiner and more. It has won multiple national book honors, including in the categories of Women’s Issues and Current Events. Audio and e-book versions are available. CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY
“Marriage is a mysterious thing and political unions are even more so. In the engrossing and important Why They Stay Anne Michaud peers into the heart of some of the most famously troubled political marriages of the past 100 years in an attempt to understand why accomplished women ranging from Hillary Clinton to Silda Spitzer put up with men many others would have quickly kicked to the curb. Her answers will no doubt influence how we think about these scandals going forward -- not to mention the ones still to come.”
--Helaine Olen, author of Pound Foolish
“It’s a story we’ve heard often: Prominent politicians suddenly find themselves ensnared in humiliatingly public sex scandals, but their wives decide to stay with them. With a prodigious amount of research and deft storytelling skill, Anne Michaud goes beyond the headlines and explores the stories of both spouses, on both sides of the Atlantic, revealing the pain, the loyalty, and the calculations behind the wives’ decisions. Every political couple should read it.”
-- Bob Keeler, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
“Anne Michaud breathes life into headlines that I thought I knew so well with fresh details about well-known political spouses like Hillary Clinton, Silda Wall Spitzer and Huma Abedin. Her thorough reporting helps cast them into an entirely new light to show how their personal struggles reflect the internal struggles women have faced for centuries.”
-- Christine Haughney, creator of award-winning Netflix series “Rotten”
"In Why They Stay, Anne Michaud debunks the reductive stereotype of disgraced political wives with depth and humanity. Grounding her profiles of these eight women in history, gender studies and relationship psychology, Michaud also lays bare the patriarchal tightrope each were forced to navigate and presents a fascinating case study on what it really means to be a political power couple. Informative, insightful and accessible, Why They Stay is essential reading for fans of [the TV show] 'Scandal,' First Lady enthusiasts and feminist media critics alike."
-Caroline Ervin and Cristen Conger, Co-authors of Unladylike
A journalist explores the motivations and emotional constructs of nine political wives who chose to stay in their marriages—in some cases, only for a while—after being confronted with their husbands’ infidelities.
Why do wives of prominent politicians stand by their men after they have been betrayed, especially when that disloyalty has been publicly revealed? This is the question Michaud, a former columnist for Newsday, sets out to answer in her gossipy debut book. She establishes a rather esoteric scale by which to evaluate these women’s decisions — something she calls the White Queen Quotient. For those unfamiliar with 15th-century British history (or the eponymous TV series), the original White Queen was Elizabeth Woodville, who “apparently knew that her husband Edward IV had mistresses—and even one special mistress, Elizabeth Shore. But the rewards of being queen kept her bound to her royal husband.” Michaud then creates five attributes by which she establishes her subjects’ White Queen rating: Submitting to Tradition; Longing for Security; A Personal Sense of Patriotism; Responsibility for Family’s Emotional Health; and Ambition to Build and Bequeath a Legacy. From Eleanor Roosevelt (whose heartache was kept relatively private) to Huma Abedin (assistant to Hillary Clinton and former wife of Anthony Weiner), Michaud, using numerous secondary research sources, details the family histories and accomplishments of each of the women and their erring spouses. There’s not much new here about the six American couples studied, but U.S. readers will likely be less familiar with the one Israeli and two British couples dissected. Skillful prose makes the dishy profiles an engaging read. Unfortunately, Michaud sometimes veers into judgmental speculation and indulges in unsubstantiated assumptions. For example, after discussing the humiliation of wives facing the press during their husbands’ standard confessionals, she writes: “The publicity allows the women who stay to inflate their sense of themselves as loyal, and to bask in other ego-pleasing fantasies.” Of Abedin, the author offers: “Huma had to choose: Anthony Weiner or Hillary Clinton. In the end, it wasn’t Huma’s injured wifely feelings that ended her marriage so much as her professional pride and ambition.”
A lively political book that focuses more on pop psychology than objective analysis.
March 20, 2017
Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Why They Stay: Sex Scandals, Deals, and Hidden Agendas of Nine Political Wives by Anne Michaud is a nonfiction book that explores one of the questions that have baffled many American citizens and political enthusiasts: Why do the wives of politicians decide to stay in the marriage in spite of reported scandals, shady deals, and their husbands' sometimes wanton cheating? The author takes readers on a ride through the lives of some of the political couples in this well-researched and masterfully articulated work to unveil the surprising reasons why these women chose to stay. Among other things, she talks about submission to tradition, a personal sense of patriotism, a deep sense of the emotional health and well-being of the family, and the drive to build a legacy as some of the strong reasons political wives in a shaky relationship choose to stay.
Anne Michaud has masterfully profiled nine political wives whose husbands have cheated and who chose to stay in the marriage, featuring Eleanor and FDR, Jackie and JFK, Valerie Hobson and Jack Profumo, Hillary and Bill Clinton and many others. The author unveils secrets that are not so accessible to the public, exploring the psychology of women married to cheating politicians, and what it costs and means to them to stay. No one could have written this book better than Anne Michaud, a columnist who has covered politicians for decades. Her observations are sharp and compelling and her prose shines with her unique signature for phraseology, crispness, and excellent diction. Why They Stay: Sex Scandals, Deals, and Hidden Agendas of Nine Political Wives is a very informative, engaging, and entertaining work.