Whoops: Court Papers Show Newt Filed 1st Divorce

More bad news for Newt on the marriage front: Looks like his version of his first divorce doesn't quite add up. Court papers show that he divorced Jackie Gingrich 13 years ago, and not the other way around, as his website contends. "The marriage of the parties is irretrievably broken," his divorce complaint read—at a time when he was seeing a 28-year-old congressional aide who later became his second wife. Jackie Gingrich's petition said that "she does not desire [a divorce] at this time."

Interviews with old friends of the couple by CNN confirm that Gingrich initiated the divorce. "He said, 'You know and I know that she's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president,'" says one. Court papers also show that Jackie Gingrich complained about a lack of support payments despite "repeated notice to plaintiff" about her inability to pay the bills. As questions of Gingrich's personal behavior swirl around him in the presidential campaign, his rep admits that Newt filed the divorce papers, but says "it was Jackie Battley who requested the divorce." (More Newt Gingrich 2012 stories.)