WH spox Karine Jean-Pierre ends relationship with CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux: report

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has ended her relationship with her longtime partner and CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux, according to a new report.

Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay spokeswoman to hold press briefings for a US president, acknowledged the split in a Vogue profile published Thursday, saying she was now “a single mom who is co-parenting” a nine-year-old with Malveaux.

“Our number-one priority is her privacy and to make sure we create an environment that’s nurturing,” Jean-Pierre added of the pair’s daughter, Soleil, but did not remark on the separation.

The 49-year-old White House press secretary met Malveaux at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 during a stint on former President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

“We met at a donor party being held in a nightclub,” Jean-Pierre wrote in her 2019 memoir “Moving Forward.” “I know it’s a cliché, but the truth is, I spotted her across a crowded dance floor.”


Karine Jean-Pierre
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has ended her relationship with her longtime partner and CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux, according to a new report.
Norman Jean Roy

Karine Jean-Pierre
Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay spokeswoman to hold press briefings for a US president, acknowledged the split in a Vogue profile published Thursday, saying she was now “a single mom who is co-parenting” a nine-year-old.
AP

The two moved in together in 2014 and adopted Soleil, the French word for “sun,” at Malveaux’s prompting later that year, despite Jean-Pierre’s own reservations about becoming a parent.

Having helped raise her younger siblings, she told Vogue that she often views her political work as a refuge “from the responsibilities of home.”

Over the next decade, they rose to become a “power couple” in Washington, DC, according to a People magazine article on Malveaux published days before news broke of their separation.


Karine Jean-Pierre and Suzanne Malveaux
The 49-year-old White House press secretary met Malveaux at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 during a stint on former President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
Getty Images

“Suzanne is a beautiful woman with striking cheekbones and a dazzling smile,” Jean-Pierre also wrote in her memoir. “Suzanne is warm, brilliant, grounded, funny — and supportive of me.”

In an interview with USA Today last year, Jean-Pierre said she had a painful experience coming out to her family as a gay woman, which initially “devastated” her mother but later led to reconciliation.


Karine Jean-Pierre and Suzanne Malveaux
In an interview with USA Today last year, Jean-Pierre said she had a painful experience coming out to her family as a gay woman, which initially “devastated” her mother but later led to reconciliation.
CBS via Getty Images

“My mom loves my partner, my mom loves my kid, and my mom loves me — and has always loved me — but she loves everything about me now,” she told the outlet.

Jean-Pierre is the third woman in the Biden White House to receive fawning coverage from Vogue after similar profiles of former White House press secretary Jen Psaki — which was published days before the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan — and first lady Jill Biden.