Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Gotham/GC Images
Just after the Fourth of July, Bill de Blasio and Chirlane McCray announced their separation via a nearly three-hour interview with the New York Times. While the news itself wasn’t that shocking, the piece caused a sensation in New York media and political circles. It was chock-full of cringey details and quotes, like the former New York City mayor’s declaration that “Labels put people in boxes, and those boxes are shaped like coffins.”
At the time, it was unclear why de Blasio and McCray were sharing all this information. I guessed that they wanted their “conscious uncoupling” to empower others in stale marriages, or that they were trying to launch themselves back into the dating scene with the most high-profile Tinder profile ever. Now I have a new theory: They knew that eventually some wild stories about their new relationships would wind up in the tabloids, and they were hoping to soften the blow.
If that was the plan, it didn’t work.
Over the past few months, the New York Post has kept us apprised on how de Blasio is “playing the field.” The paper ran photos of the “Horndog ex-Hizzoner” on a date at La Mercerie and shots of “Bill de Smoochio” engaging in a “3-hour ‘touchy-feely’ make-out session with mystery woman at rooftop bar.”
These stories still did not adequately prepare us for the messiness of Thursday’s Post report, titled “‘Bachelor’ Bill de Blasio’s new fling still married, her husband says — though she claims they’re getting divorced.”
Perhaps, like one of my colleagues, you’re thinking, Oh, the Post is overselling this; it’s gonna turn out that she’s legally separated or whatever. But that’s not what’s going on here.
The saga started innocently enough. Early on Thursday afternoon, the Post reported that de Blasio was spotted holding hands with new “gal pal” Kristy Stark. When my colleagues shared the X post below, it seemed the real story was that the former mayor was inexplicably dressed in a purple suit with a fleece layered underneath, giving off a “Joker who’s put his Gotham-terrorizing days behind him” vibe.
Then on Thursday evening, the other shoe dropped. The paper reported that Stark is married — and her husband may have learned their relationship is over from the New York Post.
The Post reported that the de Blasio hand-holding photo “appeared to catch her husband, Owen Stark, off-guard.” When they contacted him, Owen identified Kristy as his wife, not his ex, and seemed unaware that she’d been spotted out with the former mayor:
He told The Post he and Kristy Stark are still married after tying the knot about 12 years ago and having two children together. He also claimed he didn’t know anything about de Blasio and his wife dating or spending a night out in the city’s NoHo neighborhood.
“I don’t know anything about my wife holding hands with Bill de Blasio,” Owen Stark said during an awkward phone call from Michigan Thursday afternoon.
When he was initially asked if Kristy, 42, was his ex-wife, he clarified, “No, that’s my wife.” And after he was asked about her dating de Blasio, 62, and the two holding hands, he replied with some sarcasm, “Yes, sounds wonderful.”
Rough stuff! Although maybe they have some kind of understanding, like de Blasio and McCray, who said they plan to remain legally married as they see other people. Or maybe not:
He also said he wasn’t in an open marriage with his wife.
“She’s denied any sort of infidelity in the past,” Owen Stark said, stressing “any infidelity” and not just possibly tied to de Blasio.
“If she has something to tell me, she’ll tell me,” he said.
Okay, but Kristy told the Post via text that they’re “in the process of getting a divorce.” Surely he knew that?
Her husband, however, appeared surprised by his wife’s divorce claim.
“I haven’t seen any legal communication or been made aware of anything like that. You know as much or more than I do at this point,” Owen Stark wrote in a text.
Holy smokes, Batman!
To be clear, we don’t know what exactly is going on between the Starks. And it’s very possible that de Blasio is an innocent bystander to this marital drama. After all, he isn’t sneaking around on Chirlane; if anything, they were a little too honest with each other and the world about their change in relationship status. But the Post’s reporting certainly leaves the impression that a random Michigan man learned of his impending divorce via a phone call from the New York tabloid and was then informed that the man who stole his wife is Bill de Blasio, a six-foot-five ex-mayor who’s been gallivanting about town looking like a villainous clown who wants to unleash chaos just to prove a point. Truly horrifying!
