General Wesley Clark Ends Marriage of 46 years

August 14, 2013: General Wesley Clark Ends Marriage of 46 years

The retired four-star NATO supreme allied commander, General Wesley Clark, 68, is claiming “general indignities” in his divorce from his wife Gertrude Kingston Clark, 69, ending their marriage of 46 years.

The ground of “general indignities” includes a list of derogatory actions such as “rudeness, vulgarity, neglect, malignant ridicule and even plain manifestation of settled hate, alienation and estrangement.” In Arkansas, divorce law requires either a ground for divorce to be cited, or for the couple to be living separate and apart for 18 months prior the filing of the petition. Although “general indignities” is a similar ground for divorce to the “irreconcilable differences” bid in other states, it requires that General Clark provide an additional witness as proof.

The petition was filed in Arkansas court September 2012, and the divorce was scheduled to be finalized in May, but was postponed further due to complications with their “real and personal property rights.” Meanwhile, the general moved out of their $560,000 marital home to a condo in Little Rock, Ark, and has been publicly dating entrepreneur and former Goldman Sach’s CEO Shauna Mei, 30, since last year. Shauna Mei, a New York socialite, has been seen with Murdoch’s soon-to-be ex-wife Wendi Deng and other celebrities, and accompanied Clark to the 2013 Apex for Youth Inspiration Awards Gala on May 8, one week after his divorce should have been finalized.

New York Post reports that Mrs. Clark “was totally blindsided and devastated by the divorce,” considering she stood by her husband “through all those wars, all those years, as they moved home 32 times because of his career.” Mrs. Clark, a devout catholic, lauded on her husband’s goodness of character during his failed 2004 campaign bid for democratic leader nomination. “It is very upsetting for Gertrude to see him out at black-tie events with Shauna. The whole situation is very painful.” Mrs. Clark gave up her job in a bank in 1970, when her son was born. 43-year-old Wesley Clark Jr., now a screen writer living in L.A., has refused to comment on his parent’s divorce.