An Unabridged Guide to All of Newt Gingrich’s Wives

by Juli Weiner
Vanity Fair
August 10, 2010, 5:30 PM

The September issue of Esquire features an interview with Marianne Ginther, the second wife of perennial Republican presidential nominee Newt Gingrich. The two were married for more than 18 years, as were Gingrich and his first wife, Jackie Battley. The Ginther and Battley unions each lasted nearly twice as long as his third and current marriage, to former congressional aide Callista Bisek, with whom Gingrich had been having an affair while still married to Ginther. Actually, in a uncomfortable twist, Gingrich first courted Ginther while still married to Battley. If you’re confused, that’s because it’s confusing. For a helpful gloss to the former Speaker of the House’s matrimonial ecstasy and agony, consult our complete guide to Gingrich’s wives.

The betrothed: Jackie Battley

• Dates of marriage: 1962 to 1980.
• The meet-cute: Gingrich was a high school student when he met Battley, who, at the time, happened to be his geometry teacher. He says that when they started dating he was 18 and she was 25, although Ginther insists that Gingrich was just 16 at the time the teacher-student courtship commenced.
• How it all ends: According to Esquire, Gingrich “went to the hospital to present [Battley] with divorce terms while she was recovering from uterine cancer and then fought the case so hard, Jackie had to get a court order just to pay her utility bills.”

(Continued here.)