Heidi Cruz, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, broke her silence Tuesday night in an in-depth interview with Fox News. The Harvard Business School and George H.W. Bush administration alumna admitted feeling “itchy” about supporting his White House bid due to the amount of sacrifice it would require on her part.
“When you’re doing something for your spouse only and you feel like you’ve already done a lot for your spouse and vice versa … you start to think about those trade-offs and if you’re willing to do it for them,” Cruz told Megyn Kelly. “I did get a little bit itchy. We’d just gone through a Senate race.”
But Cruz said she was struck one day why it would be worth it to support her husband’s run for president even if it was a long shot.
“If Ted could even be a voice in this election for constitutional freedoms, for economic growth and for greater security for our families, that we should be a part of this [election],” she said.
The investment banker spoke about the beginning of her relationship with the now-Texas senator. The two met while at Harvard. Mrs. Cruz said she was not a risk taker and was “surprised to fall in love so quickly.”
“One of the things that attracted me most to Ted Cruz was all of his friends,” she said, criticizing Republican senators’ affinity to say the Tea Party senator was not well-liked. “This likability thing really is, I think, a misnomer for people who aren’t getting much done.”
Mrs. Cruz recalled thinking to herself that Ted was a man who wanted to leave a legacy through his work as a lawyer.
“I knew this was a person, like I described to my parents, who was going to have a big impact. I didn’t think this could be a future president of the United States, but I knew this was a person who was gonna be a doer,” she said.
The mother of two young girls reflected on their time as newlyweds, telling a story she has shared at campaign rallies about a time after their honeymoon when Ted came home from the store with 100 cans of chunky soup “because he loves soup.”
“Our potential president of the United States can have a can of soup for dinner,” she joked.
The journey, in both of their careers and as parents, has not been easy, Mrs. Cruz admitted. She said she has not dealt with “working mother guilt,” but has worked with her husband to continually ensure their careers bring both of them joy, as well as their children.
“If the parents are happy with the trade-offs they’ve made, there’s not a lot of working mother guilt if your kids are happy,” said Mrs. Cruz.
