Ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and wife Judith divorcing: media

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who rose to national fame in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and his third wife, Judith, are divorcing, the New York Post reported on Wednesday.

After a 15-year marriage, Judith Giuliani, 63, filed a contested divorce proceeding in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, indicating an expected fight over their assets, including properties in New York and Palm Beach, Florida.

“It is with great sadness I can confirm that Judith and I are divorcing,” Rudy Giuliani, 73, told the Post. “We hope to do this as amicably as possible, and hope that people will respect the privacy of our children at this time.”

Neither Rudy nor Judith Giuliani could be reached for immediate comment. A search of online court records did not immediately show that the two had filed for divorce.

 Rudy Giuliani and his second wife, Donna Hanover, a television journalist, have two adult children, Andrew and Caroline. His first marriage to Regina Peruggi, his second cousin, was annulled after 14 years.

Judith Giuliani, a registered nurse, and her previous husband, Bruce Nathan, have an adult daughter, Whitney. Her first marriage to Jeffrey Ross ended in divorce in 1979.

Giuliani became the city’s first Republican mayor in 20 years when he defeated David Dinkins, New York’s first black mayor, in 1993. He was serving his second term at City Hall when planes crashed into the World Trade Center in 2001, and he went on to run for the White House in 2008.

Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; editing by Jonathan Oatis