Wife Tired of Defending Herself in Husband's Disappearance

March 1, 2006 — -- Jennifer and George Smith were supposed to have spent the last months building memories together as husband and wife -- making their first Thanksgiving dinner, exchanging their first Christmas gifts, sharing their first New Year's kiss.

Instead Jennifer, 26, has spent much of the last seven months defending herself and her relationship with her husband after George disappeared on their honeymoon cruise in July.

"Why do I have to convince people that I loved George and he loved me and we were just so happy and we were just a normal couple on our honeymoon?" Jennifer said.

On the evening before George's disappearance, he and Jennifer were drinking and gambling on a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship sailing through the Mediterranean. What happened after they left the ship's casino is not clear, but in the morning a pool of blood was found on the deck below their room and George was missing.

"Yes, we were drinking," Jennifer said. "Yes, we were having a good time. We were on our honeymoon. Does that mean that we were two alcoholics and we just were crazy and did not know our limits? No."

Jennifer says she cannot remember her last night with her husband. ABC News has learned she was found passed out on July 5, hundreds of feet from her cabin. She was found closer to the cabin of the men the Smiths had been drinking with the night before.

"That frightened me," she said. "I'm constantly learning about new information. I still don't know exactly what happened to me or how I ended up there."

Media attention has focused largely on criticism surrounding Jennifer -- both on her inability to provide more details about her husband's disappearance and her seeming lack of attachment to the case. But the news coverage has not focused on Jennifer's own horror story, which started when she found herself in a foreign country, left to fly back from her honeymoon alone.

"I remember a couple in the next aisle, and it was terrible to watch a loving couple," Jennifer said of the flight. "It all reminded me of George."

Jennifer returned to her home in Connecticut to find George's family publicly questioning her role in his disappearance. Although she has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the FBI, she has not been shown much sympathy from the public.

"Forgive me, America, for not always being what you expected every step of the way," she said during her ABC News interview. "You expect that when you lose your husband that you come home and you grieve with your family and their arms around you and you get left alone to your feelings."

When she finally decided to tell her story on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," she was taken aback by one statement from the president of Royal Caribbean Cruises. He said that no one in the company suspected her of any wrongdoing.

"It was weird because I didn't realize it was so much up for debate," Jennifer said.

Jennifer said the saddest part of the media coverage was that George gets lost. As for her, there is no moving on before she gets answers.

"Every day I wake up it's no different," she said. "It might as well be July 5 all over agin, because George isn't here."

Tune in to "Good Morning America" on Thursday to watch more from Chris Cuomo's interview with Jennifer Smith.