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View full size(AP Photo/Alice Keeney)In a Friday, June 26, 2009 photo, Jenny Sanford, wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, speaks about her husband’s recent affair admission in Sullivans Island, S.C. South Carolina’s first lady has filed for divorce months after her husband publicly confessed an affair with an Argentine woman. CHARLESTON, S.C. — South Carolina’s first lady, a former Wall Street vice president
who helped launch her husband’s political career, announced today she
is filing for divorce months after his tearful public confession of an
affair with an Argentine woman.

“This came after many
unsuccessful efforts at reconciliation, yet I am still dedicated to
keeping the process that lies ahead peaceful for our family,” Jenny
Sanford said in a statement.

A spokesman for her husband, Gov.
Mark Sanford, had no immediate comment. The divorce complaint was filed
Friday in Charleston County Family Court.

Jenny Sanford’s
announcement came after a week of wrenching twists in her relationship
with the governor. A legislative panel rebuked him for his conduct, he
told reporters he still wanted to reconcile with his wife, and she said
in a television interview that it was a simple decision to not stand
with him as he publicly confessed the affair.

“Certainly his
actions hurt me, and they caused consequences for me, but they don’t in
any way take away my own self-esteem,” she told ABC’s Barbara Walters.
“They reflect poorly on him.”

Her divorce complaint did not mention money, property or custody arrangements for the couple’s four sons.

“The
defendant has engaged in a sexual relationship with a woman other than
plaintiff,” the complaint reads. “Plaintiff has not condoned that
relationship and is informed and believes that she is entitled to a
divorce … from the defendant on the grounds of adultery.”

After
news of the scandal broke in June, Jenny Sanford said she was willing
to reconcile with the two-term Republican governor. She weathered the
publication of e-mail exchanges between her husband and his lover and
an Associated Press interview in which Sanford called the Argentine
woman his “soul mate” and admitted “crossing the line” with other women
while he was married.

Jenny Sanford had called her husband’s behavior “inexcusable” but said she was willing to give him another chance.

Mark
Sanford, 49, disappeared for almost a week in late June to see his
Argentine lover, Maria Belen Chapur, leaving his staff, his wife and
the rest of the state in the dark about his whereabouts. Initially, his
staff told reporters he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

Jenny
Sanford said she learned about the affair in January when she came
across a copy of a letter her husband wrote to Chapur. In the months
following, her husband asked several times to visit the other woman,
she said.

“It’s one thing to forgive adultery; it’s another thing
to condone it,” she told the AP during an exclusive interview two days
after Sanford’s news conference during which he revealed the affair.

“He
was told in no uncertain terms not to see her,” she said. “I was hoping
he was on the Appalachian Trail. But I was not worried about his
safety. I was hoping he was doing some real soul searching somewhere
and devastated to find out it was Argentina. It’s tragic.”

Days
later, after the governor told AP he was relying on religious faith to
help salvage his marriage even though the love of his life was in
Argentina, Jenny Sanford said it was up to the people of South Carolina
whether they wanted to give their governor a second chance.

“His
far more egregious offenses were committed against God, the
institutions of marriage and family, our boys and me,” she said.

Born
Jennifer Sullivan, the first lady grew up near Chicago. Her grandfather
founded the Skil Corp., a power tool manufacturer. She graduated from
Georgetown University in 1984 with a degree in finance, then worked for
the Wall Street investment banking firm Lazard Freres & Co., where
she was a vice president in mergers and acquisitions.

The Sanfords met in New York in the 1980s when Mark Sanford also was working in finance, at Goldman Sachs.

The
couple married in 1989 and relocated to South Carolina, where Sanford
worked in real estate before serving three terms in Congress. Jenny
Sanford managed several of her husband’s campaigns. Until revelations
of the affair, he had been considered a possible 2012 Republican
presidential candidate.

The couple separated two weeks before
news of the affair became public. Jenny Sanford and her sons sought
refuge at the couple’s beachfront home on Sullivans Island while
Sanford remained in the state capital of Columbia, occasionally
visiting his family.

Unlike some political wives, Jenny Sanford
did not stand next to her husband when he revealed the affair with
Chapur, whom he met on a trip to Uruguay in 2001.

Even afterward, the governor seemed undecided about which road to take.

“I
don’t want to blow up the kids’ lives. I don’t want to blow up 20 years
that we’ve invested,” he told AP. “But if I’m completely honest, there
are still feelings in the way. If we keep pushing it this way, we get
those to die off, but they’re still there and they’re still real.”

Jenny Sanford said the couple had been to counseling since she found out about the affair.

“We
both indicated a willingness to continue working on the marriage, but
there’s not room for three people in a marriage,” she told the AP.
“I’ve done everything in my power possibly to keep him from going to
see her and to really make sure she was off the table, including asking
him to leave.”

View full size(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)In a Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009 file photo, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, right, and his wife Jenny, left, arrive at the White House to attend a dinner hosted by President Obama, in Washington. Jenny Sanford, South Carolina’s first lady, announced Friday, Dec. 11, 2009 that she has filed for divorce, months after her husband publicly confessed an affair with an Argentine woman.