Al and Tipper Gore decide to separate
The Gores, shown here at President Obama's inauguration, have decided to separate after 40 years of marriage. (Photo Credit: Getty Images/File)
(CNN) - Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, have sent an e-mail to family friends announcing a mutual decision to separate, a longtime family friend told CNN.
"We are announcing today that after a great deal of thought and discussion, we have decided to separate," the message said. "This is very much a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration. We ask for respect for our privacy and that of our family, and we do not intend to comment further."
Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail but declined to comment further.
The couple, married for 40 years, has four grown children and three grandchildren.
Al and Tipper Gore's dramatic kiss on the podium of the Democratic National Convention in 2000 was credited for giving him a more human image in his presidential run.
"The sheer carnality of the kiss - the-can't-wait-to-get-back-to-the-hotel-room urgency, the sexual electricity flowing south - was riveting," Time magazine's Lance Morrow wrote at the time.
CNN Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger described the kiss as "one of the most memorable moments of the campaign."
"For those of us who have watched political couples over the years this is sad," Borger said. "They are a genuine couple."
Since losing the 2000 presidential race, the former vice president has been active in environmental causes, but he has also pursued business interests.
He co-founded Generation Investment Management, a company that promotes "a new approach to sustainable investing." Gore is also the chairman of Current TV, a cable and satellite television network he co-founded. He also serves as a director for Google and Apple Computer.
His best-selling book about global warming - "An Inconvenient Truth" - was the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary film.
After leaving Washington and returning to Nashville, Tennessee, Tipper Gore considered but decided against a run for a U.S. Senate seat in her home state in 2002.
Read the full e-mail below:
Hi,We wanted to share this personal news with you because we care so much about you as a friend:
We are announcing today that after a great deal of thought and discussion, we have decided to separate.
This is very much a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration.
We ask for respect for our privacy and that of our family, and we do not intend to comment further.
Hope to see you soon.
- Al and Tipper
Updated: 2:38 p.m.
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40 years? 40 years? Who stays together for 40 years now? Looks like longer marriages are now not immune to strife. After all these two have been through, including the loss of a child...sad. My heart goes out to former VP Gore and his now-estranged wife, Tipper. This is sad.
This is a sad reminder that we are all human and sometimes things just don't go the way we would like them to. I will forever remember "the kiss"............I was really touched by that at the time. Had we elected this man in 2000 instead of Bush, one can't help but wonder if our country would be in better shape now.
Tipper must've left the lights on ONE too many times!!!!!
Wherever one stands politically or however much one disagrees with Al Gore, this story is a shame and my prayers are with the Gores today. There's really nothing funny about it, except maybe for the fact that it's included under "Breaking News."
I know most are too young to remember Tipper Gore's pursuit against Heavy Metal during the late 70's early 80's.... You know, it went something like, if you listen to Black Sabbath records backwards she reportedly said the words said something like I love Satan....therefore liberal logic, ban all heavy metal music....kind of like Al, CO2 bad so everyone stop breathing, unless you pay a tax to Al Gore Industries, LLC, that is.
Who cares but who else would marry someone like Al Gore?
After that long you need to figure how to work that crap out. What could be that bad, regardless of cheating or anything else they couldn't get through. Sad state of affairs and I wish them the best in their separate lives.
Yes, it is sad. Even though he has made millions and millions off the left, I guess money does not buy happiness.
wow, and the clintons are still together. who would have guessed it?
She slapped a warning sticker on Al and he said, that's it!
This is really sad. I wish them both the best of luck in whatever they choose.
I also hope that people have a little class with their posts this time too no matter how you feel about either of them.
I always wonder, when I hear how long people have been together before they split, just when they got to a point when they realised they just dont want to be together anymore.
Sometimes, of course, its caused by one cheating on the other, and that makes a split understandable, but when there is no true cause I wonder whether it was a slow death, or did it happen suddenly?
Al probably wants the fortune he is making off global warming all to himself! That's the real story about Gore...how about journalists look into the little green empire he has created? Sorry, I will get my environmental knowledge from someone who isn't trying to sell me something. Perhaps Tipper woke up and realized the man she is with is a fraud.
Al Gore got obesse with Global warming. Why can't he write novel about Climate Change?
Slick William: Actually it was the right, not the left that protested the music with the PMRC. Remember that idiot Rev. Wildmon? Liberals aren't the ones to blame in all cases.
I don't really like Al and his pompus attitude, but it is sad that people get happy over anyones break-up. No one except the two of them know what happened and it is really no ones business except their family.
Wow, and so far no suggestion that one of them cheated on the other. Wouldn't that be a breath of fresh air?
Sorry to hear that. Good-luck to the both of you.
Even I have to say that this is heartbreaking, yes we have the disagreement with global warming, but I never saw this coming, I truly do feel bad for them and I hope they can still find some happiness with each other even in separation
They where never together anyway!
Second: Who Cares
Ok, how long til TMZ gets us a picture of Al and the girl he's been cheating with? 40 years, wow.
I guess global warming got too hot for his marriage.
Go Tipper. I always like you; couldn't stand him.
She caught him listening to Rap music!
Really, after 40 years you decide to split? This is sad, but it's more than that. You can "tough" it out for only 40 years? There's got to be a catalyst for something like this, and "it" is likely younger and more attractive...
This is so sad. I never thought I would see this marriage fail after all these years.