THE audience at the auditorium fixed their eyes on the stage as the man of the hour spoke about the defining moments of his life.
They have already heard and read much about him but 49-year-old James E. McGreevey still held his listeners captive last Tuesday night as he spoke of his fall from politics and how he had looked for love in all the wrong places.
Here’s the man who caused a stir in 2004 when he quit as New Jersey governor upon declaring “my truth is that I am a gay American”.
McGreevey has been the flavour of the week lately following the release of his tell-all titled The Confession. Big names like Oprah Winfrey and Larry King have interviewed him on their show.
Excerpts from his book have also been published in magazines here.
“You have here a man who has been married twice to beautiful women and has two daughters. And the New Jersey governor's post is a very powerful office, more so than other seats like New York,” said Patrick Healy, a political reporter from New York Times.
That, he felt, was why McGreevey had been such hot news although he was certainly not the first big name to come out of the closet.
TV visuals showed McGreevey hobnobbing with past and present presidents during his term as governor.
Indeed, McGreevey, a Democrat, has mentioned that Bill Clinton had been “incredibly gracious since I came out”.
He also spoke of how his daughter, 14, (his other girl is four) found his confession painful but honest and that his second wife was supportive.
“We are in a period of transition,” he said.
The couple is going through divorce. She, however, was not ready to talk as Oprah noted on her show last week.
McGreevey said he was aware of insinuations about his private life prior to his 2004 revelation.
As Healy, who was the moderator of the talk, quipped: the press corp had noticed that his aides were usually good-looking men.
Asked whether he had ever flirted with his staff, McGreevey gave an emphatic no.
“This is becoming a very high-brow conversation,” he added, laughing.
Among those at the audience was Mark O'Donnell, the Australian who is now McGreevey’s partner. He had appeared on Oprah and Larry King Live with McGreevey and both men were openly affectionate with each other on TV.
When the talk ended, dozens of men rushed to the microphone to ask him questions. One of them said he was from Harlem’s first openly gay church congregation.
Later, there was quite a long line of people queuing for the book-signing.
But there are McGreevey critics as well. They questioned the honesty of a man who had lived a life of lies.
They were outraged that he had appointed his then lover as a security adviser, among other flaws of his administration.
That man, an Israeli, threatened to expose their relationship and it was then that McGreevey decided to come clean.
During a chat later, Healy said McGreevey seemed passionate about wanting to come clean.
However, he cautioned that many people felt that there was something more complicated than what McGreevey was actually owning up to.
“There is a lot of sceptism on why he came out. Was it because there was a scandal brewing? There is a lot of discomfort especially within the gay society,” he said, adding that it also led to fear among women over the state of their marriage.
McGreevey had declared that he had no further political ambition but Healy thought otherwise.
“I won’t be surprised if he runs (for office) again,” he said.
The former governor himself admitted previously that he loved being adored like celebrities and to be the centre of attention. Or, as they say, an “addiction to adulation”.
So, McGreevey said goodbye to his double life but his public life remains unclear.
(Sunday October 1, 2006)
