Hillary Clinton’s personal aide, Huma Abedin, has announced she is separating from her husband, disgraced former politician Anthony Weiner.
Ms Abedin’s announcement comes after a report emerged that he had allegedly exchanged sexual photos with a woman.
He appeared to have sent a photo of himself in his underpants with his toddler son nearby.
The former congressman resigned in 2011 after sending explicit photos to women by text message.
“After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband,” Ms Abedin said in a statement.
“Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy.”
The New York Post reported that Mr Weiner had sent sexual messages and half-dressed photos of himself to an unidentified woman.
One image, dated 31 July, 2015, appeared to show a child next to Mr Weiner, who was in his underpants, with the message: “Someone just climbed into my bed.”
Mr Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 and publicly apologised after inadvertently posting an explicit image of himself to his Twitter account.
Ms Abedin was pregnant at the time with the couple’s first child, Jordan, who was born in December of that year.
Abedin is now officially separated from her husband, ending (at least temporarily) a marriage that has been scrutinised in public for years.
She appeared in a fascinating documentary, Weiner, in which she stood near her husband with arms crossed, looking really angry, for much of the time.
After an earlier sexting scandal surrounding Weiner, she said that her work as an adviser to Hillary Clinton became a refuge. “My compass was my job,” she told the New York Times.
Clinton is now in the final stretch of her campaign. Abedin will have to focus – and try not to think about her personal problems. That may be a relief.
Behind the scenes of a sexting scandal
The former congressman then launched a bid for New York City mayor in 2013, but the campaign was ultimately derailed by another sex scandal.
At the time, Ms Abedin defended her decision to remain by her husband’s side.
“It was not an easy choice in any way, but I made the decision that it was worth staying in this marriage. That was a decision I made for me, for our son, and for our family,” she said in 2013.
Weiner, a documentary released in May, followed the politician’s failed mayoral bid and his strained marriage in the wake of revelations that he had again been exchanging messages with other women.
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