Weiner's wife pulled into the spotlight

WASHINGTON — In a town that demands conservative conformity, Huma Abedin, the wife of Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., has for years been a high-powered professional with exotic beauty and a closet full of Prada suits and heels.

Now, with her husband's admission of sexually explicit Internet and phone exchanges with several women, Abedin, joins a more pedestrian group — the wife of a wayward and powerful husband.

At his Monday afternoon news conference, in which he admitted that he had lied about sending a lewd photo to a college-aged woman from Seattle, the seven-term congressman seemed to choke back tears as he apologized to Abedin, and said that he and his wife "have no intention of splitting up over this."

As the controversy around Weiner, 46, has heightened in recent days, Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, has not missed a day of work, said people close to her. Late Tuesday, she boarded a plane bound for Africa for a weeklong, four-country visit.

Abedin did not stand at her husband's side Monday during the news conference, but "she is committed to their marriage, and she loves her husband very much," said a friend close to Abedin, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Over the past 15 years, Abedin, 35, has been a fixture in Clinton's inner circle. She began as an intern, rose through the ranks as an aide to the former first lady when the Clintons were in the White House, then worked for Clinton in the Senate and then as an aide during her presidential campaign.

In briefings, it is Abedin who hands Clinton a glass of water when her voice breaks.

While her official title is deputy chief of staff, Abedin is personally close to Clinton, overseeing planning and scheduling and advising, both on politics and policy, especially the Middle East.

"I have one daughter. But if I had a second daughter, it would be Huma," Clinton said at a pre-wedding celebration for Abedin and Weiner in 2010.

Fluent in Arabic, and raised in Saudi Arabia by an Indian father and Pakistani mother, Abedin is a practicing Muslim who once dated actor John Cusack and was romanced by George Clooney. Weiner, who is Jewish, courted the George Washington University graduate on the campaign trail in 2008 as Clinton ran for president.

Philippe Reines, a top State Department official and longtime Clinton aide, said that Abedin is "doing well under the circumstances" and her wide circle of family and friends has rallied around her.

She is an "incredibly strong woman," he said. "And she's obviously uncomfortable with the attention."

The couple has been married nearly a year. Bill Clinton officiated the couple's lavish Long Island wedding in July 2010.

The former president, himself no stranger to political and sexual scandals, had an awkward quip for the couple on their wedding day: Politicians can prove to be difficult spouses, he said, because it is "easy to distrust them, whatever their religion."

Information in this article, originally published June 7, 2011, was corrected June 8, 2011. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the date of Huma Abedin and Rep. Anthony Weiner's wedding. The couple married in July 2010.