Cindy McCain Says Late Husband John Wouldn't Want Her to 'Sit Alone and Cry' After His Death
On August 25, 2018, Sen. John McCain was lying on his bed outside on a patio at his beloved Hidden Valley ranch in Arizona. Surrounded by his seven children and wife Cindy, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” was playing and a hawk had just landed on a nearby tree.
“He heard the music, he saw the hawk, and he passed,” Cindy recalled to The Washington Post as she opened up for the first time since her husband’s death at 81 from brain cancer. “He totally was in charge, and I mean this in the most loving way.”
Since then, the 64-year-old widow has seemingly been a whirlwind of energy. She quickly sold a condo the couple shared and moved to a French-country home a block from where she grew up. “This neighborhood is very comforting to me,” she told The Post.
“The last thing that John would have wanted me to do was just to sit here alone and cry — and mind you, I’ve had my moments,” added Cindy, who has given speeches across the country and the world, monitored elections in Ukraine, and chairs the McCain Institute for International Leadership.
“One thing he taught me, among so many things, was the importance of getting back up, the importance of keep doing what you’ve been doing,” McCain continued. “I’ve been doing these things all along. I think the reason people are noticing now is because he’s gone.”
Unlike her late husband and daughter Meghan McCain, a co-host of The View, Cindy admitted that she isn’t known for her outspoken opinions.
“We used to joke when Meghan was a little girl that she was John McCain in a dress because she is just like him,” she told the Post, describing their daughter as “tenacious, smart, driven, impatient and opinionated.”
RELATED: Meghan McCain Slams Donald Trump for Attacking Her Late Dad John: ‘My Father Was His Kryptonite’
Amid the crowded 2020 presidential race, Cindy has chosen to forgo entering the fray of politics, telling the Post that she has no intention of responding to Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on her late husband — unlike Meghan.
“And not because I’m angry about anything. I’m not,” she said, noting she did not vote for Trump. “My job is my family, and what I’m concerned about is whether or not they’re happy, whether everyone’s got their lives together, whether they need anything. I’ve not thought about responding.”
RELATED: John McCain’s Wife Cindy Makes It Clear She Will Not Campaign for ‘Dear Friend’ Joe Biden in 2020
Still, Cindy explained that unlike the days when words misspoken could have damaged her husband’s political career, she does feel more empowered to speak up.
“You hit a certain age — women do, at least in my opinion — where you’re going to say what you think and not hold back,” she told The Post.
“For so many people, especially political wives, you have to be careful and remind yourself that you can’t say exactly what’s on your mind. I’m not saying that I’ve become rude, but I think the issues are important and it’s easier for me to stand up to somebody now and say, ‘No, you’re wrong on that,’ ” she said.
