NYC mayoral candidate, Christine Quinn, admits past struggle with bulimia and alcohol

Via Wikipedia

In a very personal revelation Tuesday night, New York City Council Speaker and current candidate for Mayor Christine Quinn admitted to having a past struggle with bulimia for nearly 10 years.  Quinn also admitted she is in recovery from alcoholism.

Via Talking Points Memo:

New Yorkers might have felt they knew about the personal life of Christine Quinn, the veteran politician seeking to become the city’s first gay and first female mayor.

But on Tuesday, Quinn disclosed a difficult piece of her past that she had kept private: She was bulimic for a decade in her teens and 20s, went to rehab for it at 26 and considers herself a recovering alcoholic to this day.

“I’ve always held the belief that the more honest we are, and the more we kind of take things that are our own personal secrets and make them public, it’s really transformative for us but also for society,” the Democratic City Council speaker told an audience of students at Barnard College, where she described an eating disorder that began as a quest for self-perfection and a sense of power as she cared for her dying mother. A drinking problem developed in tandem as she struggled to contend with the pain and upheaval of her family’s loss, Quinn said.

These revelations are stunning, both in their honesty, and because they will not likely derail her candidacy for mayor.  Welcome to 2013 ladies, where you can actually be a human being before you run for office, and it doesn’t have to be an issue.  Men have enjoyed this privilege since the beginning of time (*waves* at George W. Bush) and it’s refreshing to see a female candidate reveal such personal life struggles without fear that it would cost her the office she’s running for.

While Quinn may not be everyone’s ideal candidate on the left, her presence in the race as a take no prisoners, out, Council Speaker is progress no matter who ends up as New York’s next Mayor.