Anthony Weiner Says Wife Huma Abedin Will Stay, But Will She?
A private Huma Abedin still at work at the State Department.
June 7, 2011— -- Confessions from New York Rep. Anthony Weiner that he lied about sexting photos to a Seattle woman and at least five others over the past three years have shaken his barely 11-month marriage to Huma Abedin.
Weiner's wife has kept quiet and out of the public eye, and put her head down at the State Department, where she is a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In fact, Abedin will be on a plane bound for Africa with Clinton Wednesday evening, officials told ABC News' Claire Shipman. The officials said Abedin's been working non-stop since the scandal broke, and "hasn't missed a beat." They added that "she is committed to her marriage," and that "they love each other."
Abedin, 34, has endured humiliating headlines in The New York Post -- "ballooning scandal," "Hide the Weiner" and "What a Weenie" -- after word got out that 21-year-old Gennette Cordova received the now-infamous photo of a man's crotch from the congressman's Twitter account.
In a tear-stained, half-hour press conference Monday, the Democratic congressman said his wife would stand by him, despite the week-old scandal.
"We have no intention of splitting over this," said Weiner, 46, who added he will not resign from the House. "We will weather this. I love her. She loves me."
He said that he had told his wife about sexting with women before their marriage, but not about recent activities online, including one with single mom Meagan Broussard that began in April of this year.
Weiner said he has never met these women in person and has not had sex outside marriage.
The congressman said Abedin only learned the truth Monday when he told her about the sexting. She didn't show up for the press conference.
"Anybody who is so imprudent to do any of this, is mind-boggling to me," wrote Roxanne Roberts about the affair in the gossip column, "The Reliable Source," which she co-authors for the Washington Post. "From a purely practical standpoint -- what was he thinking?"
ABCNews.com made calls to both Weiner and Abedin that were not returned.
The couple -- with some irony noted by pundits -- was married last July by former President Bill Clinton, who was impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 over an affair with Monica Lewinsky.
When he officiated at the Long Island ceremony, Bill Clinton reportedly toasted Abedin, saying she was like a daughter to him.
Hillary Clinton weathered the same public humiliation when her husband was unfaithful with a White House intern, yet chose to stand by her man.
"The thought did cross into my mind -- 'Who is the person most upset about these circumstances?' -- and I am guessing it's probably a tie," said Roberts. "I bet it's both these women."
"[Abedin] has been extremely private about her longtime relationship working for Hillary Clinton," she said. "She has established a reputation for someone completely loyal and utterly discreet."
Whether she takes the Clinton's path or ultimately leaves Weiner is anyone's guess.
"I would never even attempt to speculate," said Roberts. "Nobody knows much about her emotional life or how she will likely process this. It all goes back to the old dictum -- you can't know what a marriage is like by just looking in."
Abedin began her career in 1996 as a White House intern, then later served as Hillary Clinton's traveling chief of staff and "body woman" during her 2008 presidential campaign.
Born in Kalamazoo, Mich., she was the daughter of an Iranian scholar of Indian descent and Pakistani mother who is a sociology professor in Saudi Arabia, where she was raised. She came to the United States to attend George Washington University.
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