Bill de Blasio’s estranged lesbian wife Chirlane McCray has been seen out and about for the first time since her cringe-worthy separation announcement from husband.
McCray, 68, was all-smiles as she enjoyed a lunch date in Brooklyn with her friend Karen Baicker, 62, who is a publisher at Scholastic.
The duo met Bar ToTo in Park Slope on Tuesday – where diners can enjoy chicken Caesar paninis for $20 and brunch cocktails for $13. McCray left the restaurant with a to-go box of food and her tote bag.
The smiling friends hugged as they went their separate ways following the lunchtime rendezvous.
The outing comes just a fortnight after former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced their separation after 27 years of marriage in a fawning New York Times interview.
On Tuesday, McCray wore a brown-patterned blouse with blue jeans and black sneakers, while her companion Baicker opted for a white skirt, open-toed shoes and a green raincoat.
The publisher placed a white helmet on her head following the lunch – as she supposedly rode off on her bicycle.
De Blasio, 62, and McCray, 68, divulged a variety of causes for their split – from Covid to the pressure of her previously-declared homosexuality.
But the couple – who were married in 1994 by two gay officiators, and who are parents to Chiara, 25 and Dante, 26 – are still going to live together in Brooklyn while seeing other people.
The couple’s choice to split came two months ago, on what the Times described as ‘another stale Saturday night of binge-watching television at their Brooklyn home’, when the former mayor asked his wife: ‘Why aren’t you lovey-dovey anymore?’
De Blasio’s question sparked a reconsideration of their relationship, and the pair determined they would part ways that very same evening.
However, they conceded the cracks in their marriage began showing years before – especially during the then-mayor’s disastrous 2020 run for the White House.
De Blasio’s dalliance with the long-shot run to become the Democratic presidential candidate made him deeply unpopular at home, as he pursued what critics called a vanity project while ignoring his obligations in the Big Apple.
During an interview with the New York Times, where they asked to disclose details of their non-divorce, de Blasio also spoke of his recent decision to start dyeing his hair.
The couple has made headlines in recent years amid financial scandals – including de Blasio being fined almost $475,000 last month for misusing his personal police detail during his failed 2020 presidential bid – a punishment he has appealed.
The couple added that now, four years on, they have decided not to divorce but will start dating other people – while still living in their Park Slope townhouse in Brooklyn, New York.
McCray identified as gay before they met, and has never described her sexuality in any other way. She did describe de Blasio as her soulmate.
In the emotional 1979 essay, McCray wrote: ‘I survived the tears, the isolation and the feeling that something was terribly wrong with me for loving another woman’.
‘Coming to terms with my life as a lesbian has been easier for me than it has been for many.
‘Since I don’t look or dress like the typical bulldagger, (masculine lesbian) I have a choice as to whether my sexual preference is known.
‘The pair became one of the most high-profile bi-racial couples in American politics when they tied the knot in 1994, and the partnership helped fuel de Blasio’s progressive campaign for the mayorship in 2014.
After their split announcement, McCray told reporters: ‘It was a big change for us, but Bill and I are still very much in love. We came to this decision together and I think it’s the right decision for us to start this new chapter in our lives.’
