Uncurbed Appetites: Top Political Sex Scandals
Sex and politics are strange bedfellows.
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Herman Cain - The irony of Herman Cain’s sex scandal is that there may have been no sex at all. But in these politically correct times, the slightest innuendo, however innocently intended, can land you in trouble. Cain likes to boast that he’s the only nonpolitician in the GOP’s presidential nominating race, but as he’s learned this week, a bit of political strategizing may have prevented him from spinning an ever-evolving tale about sexual harassment claims by two women when he headed the National Restaurant Association from 1996-1999 that have landed him in political hot water.(Photo: AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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John F. Kennedy - President John F. Kennedy may have started it all. His legendary Lothario ways, most notably with the actress, Marilyn Monroe, were, during his time, Washington’s juiciest open secret. (Photo: Landov)
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Bill Clinton - Former President Bill Clinton had a famously big appetite for a variety of pleasures, from fast food to extramarital dalliances with women. It almost derailed his first White House bid, when news of an affair with model/actress Gennifer Flowers surfaced and his presidency when he was discovered to have had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, which led to an impeachment charge of perjury.(Photo: REUTERS/Reuters TV /Landov)
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Anthony Weiner - Social media, a popular item in most modern-day politicians’ tool boxes, led to the demise of Rep. Anthony Weiner. The former New York lawmaker was forced to resign his seat and a potential bid to become mayor of New York City when it was discovered that he was sending salacious emails, photos and tweets to women who were not his wife.(Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
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John Edwards - Former North Carolina senator, vice presidential candidate and White House hopeful John Edwards always had a reputation for being vain, particularly when it came to his mane, which he reportedly at least once spent $400 to groom. Perhaps that’s why he thought he could actually get away with not only having a campaign-trail affair as his wife dealt with terminal cancer while he was running for president, but have a baby with his mistress, too. Now he could find himself serving a prison term if he is convicted of improperly using campaign contributions to cover up the affair.(Photo: Steve Exum/Getty Images)
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Gary Hart - In response to rumors of extramarital affairs, Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who was the favorite to win the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, dared reporters to follow him. They took him up on it and Hart was forced to drop out of the race after the Miami Herald captured photographs of a model named Donna Rice sitting on his lap as the two enjoyed the sun and salt air on a yacht called “Monkey Business.”(Photo: Dennis Brack /Landov)
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John Ensign - Former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nevada) thought that money could buy love. He resigned his senate seat earlier this year after it was revealed in 2009 that he was having an affair with the wife of one of his aides and had his parents pay the couple nearly $100,000 to help maintain their lifestyle. Ensign thought that by stepping down he would avoid an ethics investigation, but the Senate ethics panel has referred the matter to the Department of Justice.(Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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Mark Sanford - The affair between then-married former governor Mark Sanford (R-South Carolina) and an Argentinian woman named Maria Belén Chapur stood apart from the typical political sex scandal because, according to Sanford, what to many minds might be viewed as a dirty secret was instead a "hopelessly impossible situation of love," as emails between the two obtained by The State, South Carolina’s largest newspaper, revealed.(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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Kwame Kilpatrick - Despite having served time in prison, former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is still feeling the ramifications of a sexting scandal that ousted him from office. Text messages don’t lie, even if a politician does, and Kilpatrick is now an ex-felon after perjuring himself about exchanges between him and an affair he conducted with a married city employee, among other charges.(Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
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Eliot Spitzer - Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, AKA Client No. 9, fell far from grace when it was revealed in 2008 that he was cheating on his wife and the state with high-priced call girls. He worked his way back to redemption and was rewarded with a hosting gig on CNN. It was short-lived, but who knows what the future may hold?(Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
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James McGreevey - Former New Jersey governor James McGreevey resigned from office in 2004 after looking deeply into the “mirror” of his soul and deciding that “one’s unique truth in the world” is not “as we may want to see it or hope to see it, but as it is.” McGreevy admitted after such a struggle and a marriage to a woman that he was gay and had conducted an adulterous affair with a man. (Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)