When Maggie Kneip married John Andrew after dating for 18 months in 1986, she believed they were living a charmed life.
But when the Wall Street Journal editor died five years later, his secret gay life and struggle with AIDS was revealed, leaving Maggie, a mother of a three-year-old girl and a newborn baby, devastated and unsure how to proceed.
“I was a mother desperate to keep my husband’s secrets in the closet.” Maggie told The Daily Mail Online.
“I was bitter and angry but I also loved this man and thought he was an incredible man.”
Maggie says she and John had an active sex life during most of their relationship. “I never questioned much about him but at one point, having been in the theatre, I asked him if he ever slept with men and he said, ‘No.’”
When John started to fall ill with exhaustion, frequent coughing, and a red rash covering his hands amongst other things, Maggie’s worst fears were realised – John was diagnosed with AIDS, and had likely been living with it for seven or eight years.
When he finally answered Maggie’s question on how he contracted the disease, John admitted he had slept with men in LA.
Maggie kept John’s secret – until now. Twenty-four years after his untimely death, she has written a book – Now Everyone Will Know: The Perfect Husband, His Shattering Secret, My Rediscovered Life – exposing her late husband’s illness.
She told The Daily Mail she thought writing about John would validate his life, and that she also realised she had to let go of hating him – he had given her the best of himself with their two children.
“My book is about people keeping secrets. The good, the bad, and even the ugly – they’re all part of life’s narrative, if we are brave enough to own them.”
Photo courtesy of Maggie Kniep
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