Karl Rove - Personal Life

Personal Life

Rove married Houston socialite Valerie Mather Wainwright, on July 10, 1976. He moved to Texas in January 1977. His sister and father still remembered "the wedding was so extravagant that ... still recall it with awe". Rove and Wainwright were divorced in early 1980. He attended the University of Texas at Austin in 1977. In July 1999 he told The Washington Post that he did not have a degree because "I lack at this point one math class, which I can take by exam, and my foreign language requirement."

In January 1986, Rove married Darby Tara Hickson, a breast cancer survivor, graphic designer, and former employee of Karl Rove & Company. Rove and Hickson have one son, Andrew Madison Rove, who attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

In December 2009, Rove and Hickson were granted a divorce in Texas. Dana Perino, Rove's spokesperson, said, "Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week. The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment and the family requests that its privacy be respected."

In June 2012, Rove married lobbyist Karen Johnson in Austin, Texas. The wedding was attended by George W. Bush and Steve Wynn.

Rove resides in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., and also keeps a house near Austin, Texas.