Huma Abedin is embracing the “spotlight like never before,” and America better get ready because Anthony Weiner may be a part that picture, the New York Post is reporting.
Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s famous righthand woman, is said to be giving her marriage to the sexting-addicted former congressman another try — just as reports circle that she’s teaming up again with Clinton for some new venture that could involve another stab at national politics.
“Huma has been working hard on her relationship with Anthony,” a source close to the Abedin family told the Post. “He has been spending 80 to 90 percent of his time at the [Irving Place apartment] they share . . . If there is a disagreement, he goes to his mother’s apartment in Brooklyn.
Abedin may have a forgiving heart, or she’s trying to make it look like she’s no longer estranged from Weiner — to help the father of her 5-year-old son avoid prison time. Federal investigators were said to be considering a “hefty” child pornography charge against Weiner that could send him to prison for up to 15 years, the Post reported in January.
Abedin has certainly performed the role of loyal spouse in their nearly seven years of marriage. She has stuck by Weiner through repeated sexting scandals that began in May 2011. That’s when the then-congressman accidentally tweeted out a photo of his erect penis in boxer briefs that was apparently intended to be sent privately to a college student. Two weeks later, Weiner resigned from Congress as more women with more photos emerged.
While Weiner was running for mayor in 2013, additional sexts and photos came out, posted under the alias “Carlos Danger.” He refused to withdraw from the race, in which at one point he had been a frontrunner. He ended up coming in fifth place with just 4.9 percent of the vote.
Over 2015 and 2016, Abedin was running former Secretary of State Clinton’s bid for president while Weiner was playing stay-at-home dad. In August, news broke that he’d sent a text that included another crotch shot — this time with his sleeping young son in the picture.
Abedin announced her split from Weiner but her decision was reportedly “more for optics” for Clinton’s campaign than because she was ready to give up on the marriage, the Post and other publications said.
However, more revelations followed in September, this time involving Weiner allegedly exchanging lurid texts with an underage girl in North Carolina.
Weiner went off to sex addiction rehab in November — but only after his sexting habits took center stage in the scandal that may have helped doom Clinton’s presidential bid.
Days before the Nov. 8 election, FBI director James Comey reopened the investigation of Clinton’s use of a private server after federal agents, investigating Weiner’s relationship with the underage girl, found “pertinent” emails on his laptop. For some reason, Weiner’s laptop also contained State Department-related emails between Abedin and her boss.
Despite all this, Abedin and Weiner are still in love, the family friend told the Post. They blame “the pressures of the campaign and presidential race . . . and him drifting off into obscurity” for Weiner’s most recent relapse, the friend added.
Weiner has also been working hard on his recovery, sources told the Post. He completed outpatient sex addiction therapy in the fall and continues to seek treatment in New York City.
“A lot of [their] friends believe this is an illness, that he is sick,” said the friend. Abedin also takes into consideration the fact that he never actually had an affair with anyone — at least as far as she knows, the friend said. “He never met [the women]” he sexted with, the friend said.
As Abedin reportedly works on her marriage, she’s also been making her way back into the public arena, with many wondering if she’s considering a career in high fashion or a return to politics with Clinton, whom she started working for in 1996 as a White House intern.
According to the Post, Abedin was in the front row at shows during New York Fashion Week. More recently, she was seen out and about in Los Angeles. She also made a very public visit to Disneyland with “Scandal” actor Tony Goldwyn and his family.
She and Clinton also were spotted together for the first time for months earlier this month, visiting the Bergdorf Goodman salon in Manhattan where the Clinton got a new $600 haircut and a $600 color job, according to the Daily Mail.
Abedin wasn’t getting her hair done, but was seen in a familiar role, accompanying Clinton and toting her boss’ bag in addition to her own on the way out of the department store.
The adventure raised raised questions about whether the two are working on something related to the Clinton Foundation or on Clinton’s return to politics, either a run for mayor of New York or in leading some kind of Trump resistance effort — even, yes, another run for president.
In various accounts, Abedin has always been depicted as shy of press attention for herself, preferring to let others, like her husband or Hillary Clinton, enjoy the limelight.
Then again, another source tells the Post that Abedin has always loved the celebrity and fashion world and being around powerful, famous people. That, in part, explains her reasons for staying with Weiner through so many public humiliations.
“When she married Anthony, nobody could understand it because he’s one of the world’s greatest (expletives),” another source told the Post. “But she saw a life she wanted to live, that provided her with a lot of the stuff that she’s drawn to.”
Whatever Abedin’s motives for possibly reconciling with Weiner, she’s not likely to find the American public so receptive. Sure, Clinton’s foes might savor the opportunity to have the Weiner connection to use against her — again.
But Clinton’s supporters are probably sick of hearing anything more about Weiner, especially if that association is going to hurt her chances to return to political leadership.
And apparently, other Manhattan parents are not all that receptive to Abedin’s Weiner connection, the Post said. There have been complications at the “fancy private school” where Abedin and Weiner send their son, a friend told the Post.
“Parents were very concerned . . . They didn’t want [Anthony] to be on the playground,” said the friend, adding that Abedin and Weiner eventually reached an agreement under which Weiner won’t show up for drop-off and pickup.
The Post notes that representatives for Abedin and Weiner did not reply to requests for comment for this story.
