Former New Jersey
governor James E. McGreevey, who has remained publicly
silent since resigning from office two years ago after
announcing he is gay, is set to tell his story on
The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Winfrey landed the exclusive interview with
49-year-old McGreevey because of her sense of faith
and spirituality, according to friends of the former
governor. McGreevey is said to be a fan of Winfrey's work in
promoting education and fighting poverty, two issues to
which the former governor is devoting more time in his
post-political life.
About a dozen friends accompanied McGreevey and
his partner, Australian financial adviser Mark
O'Donnell, 42, to Chicago for the taping, scheduled
for Tuesday afternoon. Some segments of the show, including
clips from the Union County, N.J., home McGreevey
shares with O'Donnell, were filmed previously.
The interview will air September 19, the same
day McGreevey's political memoir, The
Confession, goes on sale. The book traces his life
through two failed marriages, his rise to the governor's
office, and the sudden, public implosion of his political career.
McGreevey announced his homosexuality and his
impending resignation in the same speech on August 12,
2004, declaring that he had been involved in an affair
with a man. A Democrat, he was governor from January 15,
2002, to November 15, 2004.
New Jersey state senator Ray Lesniak and Rahway
mayor Jim Kennedy were among those planning to attend
the taping of the Winfrey show. Lesniak, who was
interviewed by Winfrey's staff in preparation for the
program, said they were interested in how McGreevey is
now compared with how he was as governor.
"They are two different people," Lesniak said.
"The first person was very guarded and very concerned
about how he was perceived. He was driven to achieve
and was somewhat uncomfortable.
"The McGreevey I know now has accepted who he is
and has shared that with the rest of the world," he
said. "He is comfortable with himself and concerned
about being authentic to himself and his beliefs."
(Angela Delli Santi, AP)
