Bill de Blasio has been seen walking hand-in-hand with a woman from Michigan. However, the woman's husband has claimed that they are still married. The former New York mayor was seen on Wednesday night in Manhattan with Kristy Stark, a 42-year-old behavioral scientist and mother of two, according to a New York Post report.
However, Stark has claimed that she is in the process of getting divorced. Stark's husband, Owen, on the other hand, said that he was completely unaware that his wife was spending time with de Blasio, 62, the outlet reported. He also mentioned that he had "not been made aware" of any divorce filing by his wife.
Romancing a Married Woman
The marital discord became evident on Thursday evening when Blasio and Stark, the owner of a literacy company, were seen holding hands during a cozy stroll in Manhattan on Wednesday night.
This unexpected development seemed to catch her husband, Owen Stark, off-guard when contacted by The Post.
Owen, a radiologist, was asked by The New York Post whether Kristy Stark was his ex-wife and replied: "No, that's my wife," claiming that they had been married for 12 years.
"I don't know anything about my wife holding hands with Bill de Blasio," Owen remarked during an awkward phone call from Michigan on Thursday afternoon.
Owen also clarified that he and his wife were not in an open marriage.
"She's denied any sort of infidelity in the past," Owen Stark said, stressing "any infidelity" and not just possibly tied to de Blasio.
"If she has something to tell me, she'll tell me," he said.
In Her Defense
Kristy Stark told the outlet in a text message on Thursday evening that she and her husband are "in the process of getting a divorce," shortly after she was initially contacted. However, follow-up calls and messages to her were not immediately returned.
Owen Stark, her husband, appeared surprised by his wife's claims of filing for divorce.
"I haven't seen any legal communication or been made aware of anything like that. You know as much or more than I do at this point," Owen Stark wrote in a text.
Kristy Stark, who holds a master's degree from Harvard in education, is the founder and CEO of MindsEmerge, an education and literacy company based in Michigan.
The details of how she and the former mayor, Bill de Blasio, met are still unclear.
De Blasio taught leadership at Harvard in the fall of 2022 and is listed on MindsEmerge's website as one of its 'experts & advisors.'
Moreover, it was announced last month that he will be joining the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy faculty in the winter of 2024.
The University of Michigan, where Bill de Blasio will join the faculty, is located in Ann Arbor, where the Starks have a home. De Blasio has not commented on his relationship with Kristy Stark.
Earlier in July, de Blasio and his wife of 30 years, Chirlane McCray, announced their separation.
While they expressed no intention to divorce, they stated that they would see other people. Since then, de Blasio has been seen with several women at bars across the city, while McCray's romantic life has been more discreet.
