Rob Porter’s ex-wife appeared on Today on Friday morning to discuss her four-year marriage to the disgraced White House secretary.
Jennifer Willoughby spoke in depth about the emotional, mental and on at least one occasion physical abuse she allegedly endured over the course of her relationship with Porter, who on Thursday spent his last day at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
And despite their rocky union,its seems that Porter and Willoughby do have a cordial relationship as he called his ex-twice earlier this week about a blog post she was preparing to share about her abuser.
On that call, Porter asked Willoughby to downplay the allegations of abuse she was making against him, a request that she did not honor before publishing her post, entitled Why I Stayed
Rob Porter’s ex-wife appeared on Today on Friday morning to discuss her four-year marriage to the disgraced White House secretary
Hope Hicks and Rob Porter re photographed leaving her apartment in Washington DC 12 days ago
Porter reminds U.S. President Donald Trump he had a bill to sign in this August 12, 2017, file photo
‘We were in contact even a couple of days ago as he was asking me to release a statement about my blog post,’ said Willoughby.
‘I went back and forth with him for an hour or so about what language I would be comfortable with and ultimately the language he asked I wasn’t comfortable with. He came out with that statement less than an hour later.’
When asked what he had asked her to say, Willoughby responded: ‘I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was something along the lines of the post does not accurately depict my marriage. There were other things associated with it. That doesn’t feel right. It does accurately depict my marriage.’
Willoughby also shed new light on the FBI background check into Porter while on Today, and revealed that her ex-husband new she had said multiple damning statements.
‘I was part of the background check and I was completely honest with my experience of the marriage, incing telling them instances of abuse or police contact,’ stated Willoughby.
Host Savannah Guthrie then asked if she had been told in advance about the FBI interview or if her ex hd tried to coach her in any way.
‘He let me know I was going to be contacted by the FBI once he was tapped for the White House,’ explained Hicks.
‘He was curious what I was going to say. He said, “what are you going to tell them?” And I told him, “I’m going to tell them the truth.”‘
At one point she even broke down in tears after being asked if she believed the allegations of abuse that are also being made by Porter’s first wife Colbie , who she only met a few months ago for the first time.
‘Of course I believe her said Willhoughby’
She went on to say of living in an abusive relationship: ‘I mentioned the shame, but it’s also isolating. You don’t think that anyone would understand.
‘To meet Colbie and to hear her story and that we both had that experience was a release. It was a recognition. We were in this together.’