Profile of Cindy McCain, Wife of Presidential Candidate John McCain

During McCain's early political career, the couple lived in Alexandria, VA, but Cindy didn't fit in as a politician's wife. After several miscarriages, Cindy decided Phoenix would be a better place to raise a family. She moved back and had three children in four years: Megan (1984), Jack (1986), and Jimmy (1988.) Cindy raised the children with help from her parents who lived nearby; McCain came home on weekends.

The family grew in 1991. While on am AVMT mission to Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, Cindy saw an infant so disfigured by a cleft palate it was difficult to feed her. She brought the child to the US for surgery and ended up adopting the little girl whom they named Bridget.

In 1989, after taking Vicodin and Percocet following back surgery, Cindy became addicted, turning to AVMT doctors to write her prescriptions. The situation was exacerbated by stress over the McCains' involvement with the Keating savings and loan scandal. She regards her three-year addiction as "the darkest period of my life." After kicking the habit, she publicly acknowledged her addiction in 1994. In 1995, AVMT closed.

In 2004, Cindy had a stroke that affected her speech and the right side of her body. For four months she retreated to San Diego's Coronado Island to focus on her recovery, eventually regaining nearly all her abilities.

Cindy has a private pilot's license and races cars. Yet she disavows the label 'feminist' and in an interview with MORE magazine stated, "Oh, I'm not a feminist. I am an independent Western woman" - one who learned to fend for herself and understands that "you never know where life is going to take you."

Updated August 8, 2008

_Sources

Alexander, Paul. "Cindy McCain at Full Throttle." MORE, September 2007.
Bailey, Holly. "In Search of Cindy McCain." Newsweek, 30 June 2008.
Collins, Nancy. "Cindy McCain: Myth vs. Reality." Harper's Bazaar, July 2007.
Copeland, Libby. "Cindy McCain: A Quiet Strength." Washingtonpost.com, 22 February 2008.
Copeland, Libby. "The Perfect Part." Washingtonpost.com, 22 July 2008.
Deans, Bob. "Cindy McCain, the woman behind the man, prefers to keep a lower profile." Atlanta Journal Constitution ajc.com, 7 March 208.
Henneberger, Melinda. "Unexpectedly, Cindy McCain Basks in a New Political Role." The New York Times, 3 March 2000.
Records of the University of Southern California Registrar, retrieved 8 August 2008
Zuckman, Jill. "The Contrasts of Cindy McCain." Chicagotribune.com, 15 April 2008.