De Blasio Calls for Newspapers To Apologize to Wife

Mayor Bill de Blasio has demanded two newspapers apologize for their characterizations of his wife’s comments on motherhood.

The mayor, whose family played a significant role in his election, on Monday called the newspapers’ stories “deeply disturbing” and “offensive” and criticized their “misunderstanding” of the first lady’s remarks.

His wife, Chirlane McCray, told New York Magazine in an interview published Sunday that she struggled adjusting to motherhood after the couple’s first child, Chiara, was born.

“I was 40 years old. I had a life,” McCray told the magazine as part of a profile about her outsized role in her husband’s administration. “Especially with Chiara — will we feel guilt forever more? Of course, yes. But the truth is, I could not spend every day with her. I didn’t want to do that. I looked for all kinds of reason not to do it.”

McCray said she loves her daughter but had been working since she was 14.

“It took a long time for me to get into ‘I’m taking care of kids,’ and what that means,” she said.

On Monday, both city tabloids ran stories about the interview and put McCray’s picture on their front pages.

The New York Post ran a screaming headline of “I Was a Bad Mom,” a sentiment that McCray does not express in the magazine piece. The Daily News ran a headline of “Didn’t Want to Be a Mom,” which de Blasio said wasn’t reflected in the magazine piece.

“I think both the Post and the Daily News owe Chirlane an apology,” he said. “I think they owe all of us an apology for absolutely misrepresenting what she said and for caricaturing a reality that so many women face.”

This article appeared in print on page 14 of the May 21st, 2014 edition of Hamodia.