New York Mayor Files For Divorce
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has filed papers to end his 16-year marriage to television personality Donna Hanover, according to the New York Daily News. In recent months, their marraige deteriorated into unfaithfulness and public feuding, and eventually helped derail Giuliani's U.S. Senate bid.
On Wednesday, the mayor declined to discuss the reported divorce, but did not deny the story.
"I have no comment," he said. "All that, I consider private and I'm not going to discuss it."
Giuliani's attorney, Raoul Felder, also declined comment, as did Hanover attorney Helene Brezinsky. Hanover spokeswoman Joannie Danielides also had no comment.
Divorce proceedings are confidential in New York. In Wednesday's editions, the Daily News reported that the divorce filing is listed as Anonymous vs. Anonymous in the court's database - a method employed by many celebrity couples.
The complaint was filed by Giuliani on Oct. 20, according to the newspaper.
Giuliani, Hanover and their attorneys met in the chambers of Acting State Supreme Court Justice Judith Gische on Monday afternoon, according to the Daily News.
Giuliani, 56, and Hanover, 50, have two children Andrew, 14, and Caroline, 11.
The reported divorce filing is the latest development in a relationship that the couple's confidants have said has been cold for years, but publicly unraveled this year.
In April, Giuliani told the press that 46-year-old divorcee Judith Nathan, whom he had been spotted squiring around town, was "a very good friend." Weeks later, he announced he was seeking a legal separation from Hanover.
Hanover responded by publicly accusing Giuliani of cheating on her with both Nathan and his former spokeswoman Cristyne Lategano-Nicholas.
Giuliani and Lategano-Nicholas have denied an affair.
The messy split, together with Giuliani's diagnosis of prostate cancer, forced the mayor to abandon his plans to run for the Senate. Rep. Rick Lazio received the Republican nomination instead and lost to Hillary Rodham Clinton in November.