Gary Johnson - Personal Life

Personal Life

Johnson was married to Dee Johnson née Simms (1952–2006) from 1977 to 2005. As First Lady of New Mexico, she engaged in campaigns against smoking and breast cancer, and oversaw the enlargement of the Governor's Mansion. He initiated a separation in May 2005, and announced they were getting divorced four months later. Dee Johnson died unexpectedly on December 22, 2006, at the age of 54. It was established in February 2007 that her death was caused by hypertensive heart disease. Syndicated columnist John Dendahl expressed shock upon her death, as she had been "very vivacious" only two weeks previously. After her death, Johnson said, "People couldn't have gotten a better number one volunteer, because that's what she was. Whatever was, she had a caring approach." Johnson and his late wife have two grown children: a daughter, Seah (born 1979), and a son, Erik (born 1982).

Johnson is now engaged to Santa Fe real estate agent Kate Prusack, whom he began dating in 2008 after meeting on a bike ride. Johnson proposed in 2009 on the chair lift at Taos Ski Valley Resort in New Mexico. He lives with Prusack in Taos, New Mexico, in a home that he built himself. Johnson is an avid triathlete who bikes extensively and abstains from all recreational drug use, caffeine, alcohol, and some sugar products. During his term in office, he competed in several triathlons, marathons and bike races. He competed three times (1993, 1997, 1999) as celebrity invitee at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, registering his best time for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim, 112-mile (180 km) bike ride, and 26.2-mile (42.2 km) marathon run in 1999 with 10 hours, 39 minutes, and 16 seconds. He once ran 100 miles (160 km) in 30 consecutive hours in the Rocky Mountains. On May 30, 2003, he reached the summit of Mount Everest "despite toes blackened with frostbite." He has also climbed three more of the Seven Summits: Mount Elbrus, Mount McKinley, and Mount Kilimanjaro—the tallest peaks in Europe, North America, and Africa respectively. He ran in the 25-mile Bataan Memorial Death March in New Mexico, in which participants run in the desert in combat boots while wearing 35-pound packs. On October 12, 2005, Johnson was involved in a near-fatal paragliding accident when his wing got caught in a tree and he fell approximately 50 feet to the ground. Johnson suffered multiple bone fractures, including a burst fracture to his T12 vertebrae, a broken rib, and a broken knee. He used medicinal cannabis for pain control from 2005 to 2008. Johnson is a Lutheran.