We may never know what role, if any, former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, television reporter Tamron Hall, the Rev. Jesse Jackson or a strip-club boss played in the break-up of the marriage between former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and former Ald. Sandi Jackson.
The former power couple who wound up convicted felons finalized their contentious divorce in a Washington, D.C. courtroom on Friday, and the former congressman’s attorney said “no aspects of the settlement will be public.”
The attorney also said the hearing ended with the former couple sharing a hug.
The quiet and seemingly harmonious end comes after a series of explosive filings in which the two often seemed to be trying to outdo one another with accusations of “extra-marital affairs” and attempts to drag various parties into the proceedings — with no public explanation of why.
The pair married in 1991 and launched their contentious divorce proceedings in January 2017.
“Today — Jesse and Sandi Jackson divorced after 27 years of marriage and resolved all outstanding legal issues between them. While the marriage has ended, the party’s commitment to their family continues and each of them looks forward to working collaboratively and cooperatively for the benefit of their children and rebuilding an amicable friendship in the future,” said Jackson Jr’s attorneys Brendan Hammer and Julius P. Terrell., as well as Sandi Jackson’s attorney Chandra Walker Holloway. “While this case was often contentious, the parties ultimately resolved their disputes in person and respectfully — at the settlement table.”
Just eight months ago, Sandi Jackson sought to make Hall, the senior Jackson, a strip-club boss and a model whom Jesse Jackson Jr. has acknowledged was a “social acquaintance” part of the divorce case, court filings showed.
And Jackson Jr. had tried to bring McCarthy; Rick Simon, a former Chicago Police sergeant who now runs a cleaning company with city contracts, and former Chicago Police officer James Love into the case.
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The case was first carried out in both Chicago and D.C., but both agreed to try to resolve it in the nation’s capital, where Sandi Jackson and the couple’s two children, their 14-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter, live.
The finances of the former couple remain a mystery, although Jackson Jr. last April said they were $1.8 million in debt thanks to legal bills from their federal criminal prosecution and mounting fees from the divorce. In court documents, Jackson Jr.’s attorneys said he was living off of $125,000 in workers’ compensation and disability payments. After 17 years in Congress, Jackson Jr. in 2012 took a leave of absence for treatment of bipolar disorder.
In April 2017, the pair — who each served prison time for diverting $750,000 in political campaign contributions for their personal use — had agreed to mediate their divorce case to avoid a potentially sensational trial where allegations of “extramarital affairs” could be publicly detailed, according to court records. When mediation fizzled, a trial date was set for January 2018. But their lawyers now say the two have amicably settled.
