Paul Pelosi attended the Kennedy Center Honors alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Sunday evening, his first public appearance since being violently attacked at his San Francisco home in October.
Donning a black tuxedo, the 82-year-old financier looked slightly disguised in a brimmed sporting hat and a glove on his left hand for the affair. He was seen only clapping with one hand during moments of applause. The event comes less than six weeks after his brutal assault, which resulted in him requiring surgery for a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands.
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The Pelosis were seated one box over from President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Biden appeared to become gleeful upon seeing Paul Pelosi in attendance, flashing him a smile and making a fist bump toward him in the air.
Philanthropist and Carlyle Group founder David Rubenstein, who chairs the Kennedy Center, introduced the House speaker to the audience after an extended intermission. He celebrated her as someone who has devoted herself to the institution of Congress for “several decades,” according to pool reports.
Pelosi and her husband then stood up to wave to the cheering crowd, which the elderly venture capitalist used both hands to do. The couple of nearly 60 years were then seen holding hands as the thousands in attendance continued to applaud them. The camera panned to numerous high-profile guests who cheered for the couple, including Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
The speaker’s husband also appeared in good spirits at the post-ceremony reception, where he was seen chatting with other guests and laughing as he ate dinner.
The outgoing House speaker revealed during her weekly press conference on Thursday that her husband was “coming along” in his recovery, adding, “It’s going to take a while. Head injuries are, they have an impact beyond surgery. It’s a big thing.”
Pelosi’s suspected assailant, 42-year-old David DePape, has been charged with attempted homicide and a litany of other offenses. DePape told authorities that he was on a “suicide mission” to kidnap the House speaker and hold her hostage, threatening to break “her kneecaps” if she lied. After breaking into Pelosi’s San Francisco residence and waking the 82-year-old, Pelosi convinced DePape to let him use the bathroom, where he called 911 and spoke in code from a phone he had left charging there.
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While authorities have remained tight-lipped on details of the assault that followed, it is known that the intruder asked, “Where is Nancy?” during the break-in and sought to restrain Paul Pelosi while “waiting for Nancy.”
An edited version of Sunday evening’s ceremony will air in late December on CBS and the Paramount+ streaming service. This year’s Kennedy Center honorees are actor George Clooney, singer-songwriter Amy Grant, singer Gladys Knight, composer Tania Leon, and the iconic rock band U2, composed of band members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr.
