The Heartbreaking Truth About Mitt Romney's Longtime Wife Ann

Mitt Romney and his wife Ann Romney have enjoyed plenty of success. As the one-time head of Boston's consulting firm Bain & Company, Mitt made quite a fortune, which puts the Republican U.S. senator from Utah among the richest members of Congress. Furthermore, Mitt's wife and high-school sweetheart is no mere spectator when it comes to politics.

Ann was elected town meeting representative in Belmont, Massachusetts, in 1977, showing an interest in politics 17 years before her husband challenged Ted Kennedy for a U.S. Senate seat in 1994. Ann was a big reason he ran, too. "I said, 'Mitt, you've got to run,” she recalled to The Boston Globe, reminding the son of former Michigan Governor George Romney of his political pedigree. However, Mitt trusts his wife's political prowess just as much — so much so that he voted for her in the 2016 elections. "I wrote in the name of a person who I admire deeply, who I think would be an excellent president," he told the Deseret News (via CNN) in 2018 (Romney wasn't a fan of Donald Trump's behavior then or now.)

 Ann has undeniably lived a privileged life. But she has also faced adversities. "Look, I know what it's like to struggle," she told The Wall Street Journal in 2012. "Maybe I haven't struggled as much financially as some people have. I can tell you and promise you that I have struggled in my life." Indeed, when it comes to her health, Ann has seen dark days. 

Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998 after she started experiencing numbness and extreme fatigue, the Boston Herald reported in 2002. "I was like, 'Would someone please give me a different diagnosis?' because I didn't know how I was going to live with this," she said. Mitt Romney didn't take the news much better, describing it as the "worst day of his life," according to Y Magazine.

MS, an auto-immune disorder that affects the central nervous system, causes a wide range of symptoms and Ann's symptoms were severe. "It's like a gray cloud that invaded every cell of my body. It was in the brain. It was in my muscles. It was in my organs. I had no ability to almost do anything," she said. "I felt I was being eaten away," she told The Wall Street Journal. In her pain, Ann said she wished she had something more serious that would be more definitive. "There were many times when I sort of wished I had cancer and would just die," she told The New York Times in 2012.

And she actually did have another medical issue, though she obviously didn't die. In 2008, Ann was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy to remove the tumor, The Hill reported. Her health journey has been no walk in the park, but Ann said it's taught her valuable lessons. "[It made me] more human, more understanding of others going through their own sorrows," she said on America's Radio News.

Ann Romney reached her 40s with five sons in tow and her childbearing years behind her — or so she thought. But she fell unexpectedly pregnant with a sixth child 10 years after a surgery that doctors assured her had left her unable to bear any more children. Despite the shock, Ann, Mitt Romney, and the boys were ecstatic. Craig, their youngest who was about 10 at the time, was especially excited, as he was the only one who had never experienced having a little sibling.

Around 6 a.m. on a school day in 1991, Ann miscarried. Before they sent the kids off to school, Ann and Mitt told their sons they were losing the baby. Craig took it hard. "He fell on the floor and just burst into tears. And the poor little kid had been at school all day long holding this sorrow inside of him," Ann said on CBS's "This Morning" in 2012 (via Politico). According to a 2012 CNN report (via HuffPost), Ann suffered a second-trimester loss at five months pregnant.

Ann also revealed that it wasn't the first time she had lost a pregnancy, admitting to having miscarried several times. She also reportedly lost a baby between 1978 and 1981, before Craig but after her fourth son, Ben, a source told the AP, the New York Daily News reported in 2012. According to the insider, Ann gave birth to a stillborn son, though the Romneys seemingly have never confirmed it.