The Rev. Al Sharpton and his wife, Kathy, enjoy themselves
at a National Action Network Dinner in April of 2001
The Rev. Al Sharpton and his wife, Kathy, enjoy themselves at a National Action Network Dinner in April of 2001.
The Rev. Sharpton and his wife, Kathy, are splitting up after 24 years of marriage.
The couple will announce the separation today, Sharpton's representative Rachel Nordlinger confirmed to the Daily News.
"It's entirely amicable," Nordlinger said. "They are on the best of terms. But at this point, their daughters are grown and they want to pursue their separate interests."
Rumors the couple had grown distant have dogged Sharpton for months.
The civil rights activist insisted in March that he had been bunking at the Manhattan apartment of a friend, rather than at his Brooklyn home, because of the demands of his presidential campaign.
But even after he dropped out of the race for the White House, Kathy Sharpton often was missing from his side at public events.
"Kathy is getting back to entertainment" as a consultant, Al Sharpton told The News in July. "She runs on her track and I run on mine. That's what we promised each other when our kids got older."
Sharpton met his future wife, Kathy Lee Jordan, in 1979, when she was a backup singer for his mentor, James Brown. They married the following year in a Las Vegas civil ceremony.
The couple has two daughters: Dominique, 18, and Ashley, 17.
Nordlinger insisted no third party was involved in the breakup. But there has been no shortage of speculation about other women in Sharpton's life.
He frequently travels with National Action Network exec Marjorie Harris, who has been writing a book about him.
Hip-hop star Foxy Brown accompanied Sharpton when he stumped for Sen. John Kerry in swing states last month.
Sharpton also has been collaborating with Stephanie Raye, his co-host on the reality TV show "I Hate My Job," which airs Tuesday on the Spike TV cable channel.
Last night, Sharpton was to attend rapper Sean (P. Diddy) Combs' 35th-birthday party with actress Robin Givens, ex-wife of boxer Mike Tyson.
Sharpton told The News in July that he resented the suspicious minds.
"One minute I get blasted if I have all men around me," he said. "Then I get blasted if I have women."
