Jenny Sanford

Jennifer Sullivan Sanford (born September 11, 1962) is the former First Lady of South Carolina and a former investment banker. She was married to Governor Mark Sanford.

Early life and education Sanford was born and raised in Winnetka, Illinois, an upscale suburb of Chicago, the daughter of Susan Reynolds and John William Sullivan. She is the second of five children born to an Irish Catholic family. After Haley appointed Rep. Tim Scott instead, both Jenny Sanford and Mark Sanford were mentioned as potential candidates for Scott's vacant house seat. On January 14, 2013, she announced she would not be a candidate in the election.

Sanford expressed interest in becoming President of the College of Charleston upon the retirement of P. George Benson in 2014. but subsequently withdrew her name for consideration.

In December 2013, Sanford was appointed to the Charleston County Aviation Authority Board.

During the 2014 election season, Sanford crossed party lines to endorse Ginny Deerin, the Democratic Party nominee for South Carolina Secretary of State who was running against Republican incumbent Mark Hammond.

In March 2015, Sanford expressed interest in becoming Director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Personal life Marriage to Mark Sanford Sanford met her future husband, Mark Sanford, at a beach party in the Hamptons on Long Island.

It was not until the couple's second son was born that Mark Sanford announced his entry into politics. Sanford learned of her husband's infidelity in January 2009, before the scandal broke. Following her husband's public disclosure of the affair, she issued a statement indicating that the couple had agreed to a trial separation two weeks prior to his public confession.

On August 7, 2009, she moved out of the South Carolina Governor's Mansion with the couple's four sons and returned to the family home on Sullivan's Island. On December 11, 2009, she announced that she was filing for divorce. The Sanfords' divorce was finalized on March 19, 2010. She published a memoir, Staying True, which was released on February 5, 2010, which details her experience of her husband's affair and the effect it had on her own life.

On February 3, 2013, Sanford found Mark Sanford leaving her Sullivan's Island house. Under the terms of their divorce agreement, Mark was not allowed to visit Jenny's house without her permission. She filed a trespassing complaint against him the next day, alleging that Mark Sanford had repeatedly violated the agreement despite Jenny Sanford filing a "no trespass" letter with the Sullivan's Island Police Department. In a statement, Mark Sanford admitted that he had gone to the house to watch the second half of Super Bowl XLVII with his son. He claimed to have tried to contact Jenny beforehand, but was unable to do so. The disclosure of the trespassing complaint prompted the National Republican Congressional Committee to pull all support from his congressional campaign.

Andy McKay Sanford married Andy McKay, an investment banker from Louisville, Kentucky, in 2018.