December 31, 2009: Former Bush advisor Karl Rove gets a divorce

by Jeffrey Cottrill

TEXAS -- Karl Rove managed to get at least one Mission Accomplished in this decade, even if it wasn't helping the United States create stability in Iraq. The controversial ex-advisor to former U.S. president George W. Bush did succeed in achieving a divorce this month.

Rove and his wife, Darby Rove (née Hickson), had been married since January 1986.

"Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week," Dana Perino, a spokesperson for the Rove family, said in a press statement on Tuesday. "The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment, and the family requests that its privacy be respected."

"It's always sad to see a marriage end," former U.S. presidential counselor Ed Gillespie told news website Politico. "These are two very good people, who came to a not-easy decision. But they care a lot about each other, and they love their son. And they'll work through it."

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Gillespie's wife reportedly has been a friend of the Rove family since the 1980s.

The website quoted another family friend, who said: "After 24 [sic] years of marriage, many of which were spent under incredible stress and strain during the White House years, the Roves came to a mutual decision that they would end the marriage.

"They did spend Christmas together with their son," the source added, "and they plan to spend time together in the future. They maintain a strong friendship, and they both feel that that friendship is a source of comfort and inspiration for their friends and family."

Karl Rove, who turned 59 on Christmas Day, served as Bush's Senior Advisor from the former president's inauguration in 2001 to August 2007. He also served as a White House Deputy Chief of Staff for the last 30 months of that period. Rove was previously married to Houston socialite Valerie Wainwright, from 1976 to 1980.

Rove has been a contributor to Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal, and a political analyst for Fox News, since resigning from his White House positions. He recently has written a 600+-page memoir, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight, which will be in American stores on March 9.

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