Darlene and John Ensign Marriage Profile

Born

Darlene Sciaretta:

Wedding Date

Children

• Trevor Ensign:
• Siena Ensign:
• Michael Ensign:

Darlene: Member of the Board of Directors of the Nevada Community Foundation.

Extramarital Affair Scandal

Other Woman: According to the Los Angeles Times, the woman in the affair is Cynthia Hampton, a campaign staff member married to one of Ensign's Senate office employees. She was also employed by Ensign's Battle Born leadership political action committee. Cynthia and her husband were close friends of John and Darlene Ensign.

John Ensign: "Last year, I had an affair," the senator said outside his office in Las Vegas. "I violated the vows of marriage. It's absolutely the worse thing I've done in my life. I take full responsibility for my actions. I know I have deeply hurt and disappointed my wife, Darlene, my children, my family, friends, my staff and those who believed in me. And to all of them, especially my wife, I'm truly sorry."
Source: "Nevada Sen. John Ensign admits affair." Cnn.com. 6/16/2009.

Darlene Ensign: "Since we found out last year we have worked through the situation and we have come to a reconciliation. This has been difficult on both families. With the help of our family and close friends our marriage has become stronger. I love my husband."
Source: David M. Herszenhorn. "Senator Ensign Admits Extramarital Affair." NYTimes.com. 6/16/2009.

Molly Ball: "It was beginning to look like the worst was over for U.S. Sen. John Ensign. But a rash of new revelations last week complicated the political picture for the Nevada Republican, who last month disclosed an extramarital affair with a former staffer. The news that Ensign's parents paid nearly $100,000 to the family of his former mistress, and the emergence into the media spotlight of her aggrieved husband, served to raise new questions."
Source: Molly Ball. "Senator's Affair: Ensign wounds keep festering." LVRJ.com. 7/12/2009.

Senator Tom Coburn about allegations Ensign helped Doug Hampton find work as a political consultant: “John got trapped doing something really stupid and then made a lot of other mistakes afterward. Judgment gets impaired by arrogance, and that’s what’s going on here.”
Source: Eric Lichtblau, Eric Lipton. "Senator's Aid to Mistress's Husband Raises Ethics Flags." NYTimes.com. 10/01/2009.

Eric Lichtblau: "The Ensigns and the Hamptons had been friends going back to their time together in Southern California in the 1980s ... Darlene Ensign, the senator’s wife, and Cynthia Hampton had known each other growing up there. The families were so close that in 2004 the Ensigns persuaded the Hamptons to move to their expensive Las Vegas neighborhood ... watched their children’s sporting events together and shared regular Sunday dinners."
Source: Eric Lichtblau, Eric Lipton. "Senator's Aid to Mistress's Husband Raises Ethics Flags." NYTimes.com. 10/01/2009.

Manu Raju: "Political insiders in the Senate and in Nevada told POLITICO that Ensign began the affair with the staffer several months after he separated from his wife, Darlene. When Ensign reconciled with his wife, the sources said, he gave the aide a severance package, and the two parted ways. Some time later, a Nevada source said, Ensign met with the husband of the woman involved and had what this source described as a positive encounter. Sources said that the man subsequently asked Ensign for a substantial sum of money — at which point Ensign decided to make the affair public."
Source: Manu Raju, Alexander Burns. "Nevada Sen. John Ensign admits affair; sources say blackmail involved." Politico.com. 6/16/2009.

Betsy Rothstein: "Ensign missed votes during a family crisis in early 2002 ... Although his absence was conspicuous, all that was revealed at the time came in a curt statement from his spokeswoman, who told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the senator was “dealing with a family matter, and he’s asked for privacy” — a statement vague enough to lead to speculation over the health of his marriage."
Source: Betsy Rothstein, Kris Kitto. "Public display of heartbreak." The Hill.com. 3/04/2008.

John Ensign: "“Marriage recognizes the ideal of a father and mother living together to raise their children. Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded ... It is not right to mold marriage to fit the desires of a few, against the wishes of so many, and to ignore the important role of marriage.”
Source: "Ensign Defends Sanctity of Marriage on Senate Floor." Ensign.senate.gov. 7/13/2004.