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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It seems, this time, the National Enquirer was caught completely off guard. I bet it's because of an extra-marital affair of Al's.
Oh well...glad they are smart enough and love themselves enough to know when it's not working and not put up false pretenses. Too bad everyone in a bad relationship or marriage can't do this. I wish them well, together or apart. Life goes on and can be better than ever ...
It must have been very tough to live with a nut. Good luck to you Tipper.
Cynical as I am, I would have never predicted this one!!!
Slick William is way off. Tipper was never involved with heavy metal as "Satanic music" or similar. She was involved in the PMRC, which was involved with the issue of profanity, etc., in music and "warnings" for such. Regardless of your feelings about the PMRC or Tipper, at least get your facts straight if you want to condemn "liberal logic". Otherwise, you just sound like an idiot.
Not knowing the details of this situation, one can only guess what the reason is. However, Al Gore deserves everything he’s got coming to him and worse.
He has caused untold suffering on millions of people all over the world who are paying extra taxes and fees the leftist politicians, wherever they are in power, are levying on them because of his filthy lies, on top of the already unreasonable ones they extort from the people they’re supposed to serve.
They couldn't agree on a thermostat setting.
Anonymous wrote, "wow, and the clintons are still together. who would have guessed it?"
You can't be serious... Tipper doesn't want to be President.
If Bush isn't blamed for this like everything else that goes wrong, we can always blame the conservative SCOTUS for their 2000 decision on the presidential election. This way, no Democrats (as always) are responsible for the breakup.
This really is sad after 40 years of marriage. It seems if you've been able to weather all the ups and downs in 40 years, why now now? I was never an Al Gore supporter however my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family...I'm sure his children are devastated by this news. Divorce is just too easy in today's world. Learn to push through your differences and find the reason you loved each other to begin with. For all those with stupid comments and jokes, you are not funny....get a life and quit showing what little IQ you actually have. This is a family being destroyed, show a little empathy.
WHAT! This is sad but so what is going on today. People just can not stay together. I hope it was not because of another woman or man.
Being married is not what it use to be. I wish them well and hope they can still remain trusted friends.
No jokes here- divorce is always sad. But I will say this, I don't buy the whole "we just mutually decided this was the best thing for both of us" stuff, as if this decision were akin to deciding what color to paint the bedroom walls. After 40 years you can't work it out?? I don't care what your political stripe is, grown ups need to honor their commitments and work out their disappointments.
Too too bad after 40 years something like this
has to happen. Tipper will do fine, because she's
hot. On the other hand Al is not.
Tipper caught Al playing Black Sabbath in his Hybrid Rolls?
I'm so very sorry to hear about their break-up. How very sad that a 40 year marriage is over. I wish them both well and hope the children are not but in the middle. I also hope the press leave them alone and people who post here leave politics out of it or don't post at all.
It is such a shame to see two people, regardless of political imagery, break up after 40 years. When the dust settles, I can only wonder who or what got between them. I will bet money right now that he has someone waiting on him. I have never seen any man leave without having another nest warmed and waiting. Perhaps that is why they can't work it out after 40 years. This time frame is touted as if we should award them for staying together for four decades.
Of course, any new potential mate will be reported as a surprise. They were suppsed to be an ideal couple, compared with every Democratic couple from the Kennedy's to the Clintons. Would this have still happened if Gore had gotten the Presidency?
Who's next? I know the grown children must be anguished. No matter your age, this is not what kids want to hear about their parents.
This is truly tragic.
Hmmmm...guess he is having an affair too
ecology versus too much junk?
As another said, they should work it out. Divorce is detestable to God.
Jeff in TN
He is a snake oil salesman. Good for her for getting out.
It's not very green after all the paperwork is filed, signed and delivered!
To "Slick William"– I do not think you know what the word "liberalism" means. A true liberal would never try to ban any kind of music.
Tipper was warming and Gore was cooling, or was it the other way around...
Yikes. That marriage has endured 40 years and 4 presidential campaigns. You'd think it could go the distance. Scary.