White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is back on the market after her split from former CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux.
Jean-Pierre announced their separation in an interview with Vogue magazine.
The two women share custody of their adopted daughter, Soleil, 9.
“I’m a single mom who is co-parenting this amazing kid,” Jean-Pierre told Vogue. “Our number-one priority is her privacy and to make sure we create an environment that’s nurturing.”
Jean-Pierre, 49, is the first Black person and the first openly LGBT+ person to serve as White House press secretary.
The Vogue interview explored Jean-Pierre’s past suicide attempt and her difficulty coming out to her Haitian parents.
She also addressed the same issues in her memoir “Moving Forward.”
Jean-Pierre and Malveaux, 56, met at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Malveaux was working as a correspondent for CNN, and Jean-Pierre was working for then-President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
They moved in together in Washington, D.C., in early 2014, Jean-Pierre wrote in her memoir.
Malveaux left her CNN anchor job to be a stay-at-home mom to her newly adopted baby daughter.
Jean-Pierre said Malveaux started the adoption process when they began dating. Malveaux adopted Soleil in May 2014, and Jean-Pierre adopted her a few years later.
Jean-Pierre was the household’s main breadwinner. She was promoted from White House deputy press secretary to principal press secretary.
Jean-Pierre told Vogue that having children was “a thousand percent” not on her mind in her race to break the glass ceiling.
Jean-Pierre helped raise her two younger siblings after immigrating with her parents from Martinique to the New York borough of Queens at age 5.
Her mom was a home health aide and her father worked as a taxi driver. Both parents worked long hours away from home.
“I think that’s one of the reasons I left to do campaigns,” Jean-Pierre said. “Because it took me away from the responsibilities of home.”
