Sanford Mistress: Divorced, Mom of 2, 'Beautiful Brunette'

Local media dishes details on Argentinian divorcee

By Ambreen Ali, Newser User

Posted Jun 25, 2009 4:15 PM CDT

(Newser) – Mark Sanford’s mistress is a 43-year-old businesswoman who works in agriculture, Argentine media is reporting. A divorcée with two kids, Maria Belen Shapur speaks English, Portuguese, and Chinese and lives in an upscale Buenos Aires apartment, Fox News reports. Witnesses described the beautiful brunette with big eyes canoodling with the South Carolina governor at a bar last week, the New York Daily News adds.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

This 2006 file photo shows Mark Sanford with his wife, Jenny. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

Members of the media wait outside the building where the woman South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford allegedly had an affair with was reported to live in Buenos Aires. (AP Photo/Rolando Andrade)

This photo taken from a security camera video last week shows Sanford walking through the Columbia, SC, airport wheeling a small suitcase the day he left for Argentina. (AP Photo/via Columbia Metropolitan Airport Police)

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You are my love ... something hard to believe even for myself as it's also a kind of impossible love.
- Shapur says in an e-mail to her "beloved"

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 16 comments

gropius

Jun 27, 2009 11:38 AM CDT

Agreed, but he problem with Sanford is that he went after Clinton during the Lewinsky affair. It's the height of hypocrisy to attack someone for their indiscretions but then excuse yourself when you face the same music. I personally relish watching these bible-thumping holier-than-thou bigots getting hoisted by their own petards. OK, sleep with whomever you see fit, but if you try to dictate to me who I can or cannot sleep with and get caught doing otherwise, YOU DESERVE TO GET TAKEN DOWN!

BeatBlaster

Jun 26, 2009 9:31 AM CDT

In some states you can sue for being cheated on can't you?

gropius

Jun 26, 2009 7:14 AM CDT

"The mistress is as guilty as he is"? Are you kidding me? _He's_ the one who "let down his family" and broke whatever sacred/social/legal bond the marriage contract affords. _He_ went looking. _He_ allowed himself to take to greener pastures. Her involvement is ethically wanting at worst -- she probably wouldn't want to be in Stanford's wife's shoes but in no way does she share the blame for the harm done. I simply don't understand how rational people can have this view and I've heard it a lot. Here in the developed world, marriage used to be advantageous for both sexes' survival in a male-breadwinners-only environment but has become a fairy-tale fantasy as society has changed. Until we drop the fiction that a legal contract based on lifelong fidelity and enduring love can work happily for most of the population, we're fooling ourselves. We are all going to continue to be disappointed -- over and over and over again.

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South Carolina • Argentina • governor • Buenos Aires • Mark Sanford • Maria Belen Chapur

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Sanford Mistress: Divorced, Mom of 2, 'Beautiful Brunette'