Rumors of marital issues between Sen. John Fetterman and his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, have surged in recent weeks given her noticeable absence from social media after previously posting quite frequently in support of her husband.
That speculation was shut down on Wednesday when the married couple appeared together at an event and joked about being "separated" while they posed for photos with each other, the Washington Examiner reported.
Separately, the rumors were also largely squashed by Gisele's apparent return to social media, albeit if only briefly, as well as an explanation from the Pennsylvania senator himself for why his wife felt the need to step away from social media in the first place.
The Examiner reported that Sen. Fetterman and his wife Gisele showed up together Wednesday evening as guests of the media outlet for the annual Congressional Dinner at the Washington Press Club in D.C., with her in a black gown and overcoat and him in his typical black shorts and hoodie, though the hoodie was stylized to resemble a tuxedo.
As the married couple posed for pictures together, the senator seemingly referenced the rumors about their supposedly troubled relationship and joked to a reporter, "I’m here with Gisele. Clearly, we’re separated."
.@SenFettermanPA attending tonight’s congressional dinner in a hoodie tux! pic.twitter.com/qePNJk62De
— David Sivak (@DISivak) February 1, 2024
Newsweek reported this week on the growing speculation about alleged marital problems for Sen. Fetterman and his wife that were spurred in large part by her absence from social media platforms over the past few months, which was conspicuous given her prior prodigious use of Instagram and the X platform.
Fueling that talk were assumptions and suspicions that Gisele was not pleased with the perceived political shift by the Democratic senator on certain issues, such as his demands for strong border security and enforcement of existing immigration laws as well as his strong support for the embattled Jewish nation of Israel as it fights against Hamas terrorists.
Perhaps to respond to some of the viral rumors about the deletion of her accounts -- and thus all of the photos she'd posted of herself and her husband together -- Gisele reactivated her X account on Tuesday and wrote, "I posted several months ago that i would be talking a break from social media. I was bored with it … i am a Pisces … it wasn’t adding anything to my life ... but leaving social media is somehow more exhausting than having it?!"
Also likely in response to the wild speculators, she added in a follow-up post, "You guys really are terrible, respectfully."
The outlet noted that the senator's wife had announced in an X post on November 17 that she was "3 weeks into a social media break that may last another month or forever. PS. treating someone as simply someone's spouse is insulting and minimizing. PSS. did you know male spouses don't get treated this way? PSSS. no more cute animal pics for you."
The Daily Mail reported this week that it reached out to Sen. Fetterman with questions about the rumored split between him and his wife, to which the senator replied, "She's right upstairs in my office right now. And this is absurd. I am not even sure why that we'd even be addressing."
He revealed that her absence from social media was because of the severe abuse she had received online from pro-Palestinian leftists who were outraged over her husband's openly displayed and staunch support for Israel in its conflict against Hamas -- the same sort of people who've been angrily protesting the senator at his home every week and accusing him of being complicit in "genocide."
"I don't even understand why there's rumors because my wife clearly got tired of the online abuse from the same kind of crazies that show up at my home on Friday nights," Fetterman told the Daily Mail, and added, "So how that now can turn into there's an issue with our marriage is outrageous. Like I said, she's here in town right now and everything is wonderful."
