MATT Hancock’s wife Martha has been battling long Covid after catching it from her husband before his affair was exposed, according to reports.
She had thought their marriage was “happy and stable” and was even Facebook friends with her husband’s lover, it emerged last night.
Follow our Matt Hancock live blog for the latest updates…
The disgraced former Health Secretary, 42, resigned on Saturday after Trending In The News revealed his affair with aide Gina Coladangelo, 43.
Martha, 44, had no idea that her husband of 15 years was having an affair until he broke the news on Thursday night and announced their marriage was over.
Trending In The Newsday Times reported that she had been suffering from long Covid, believed to be a result of her catching the virus from her husband.
Friends have rallied around Martha after Mr Hancock, 42, and millionaire lobbyist Ms Coladangelo were caught on camera in a clinch at his Whitehall office.
‘DIGNIFIED’
A family friend told Trending In The News on Sunday: “Martha has behaved in an incredibly dignified way.
“The poor woman has been publicly humiliated by her husband’s behaviour yet she has faced the cameras looking a model of composure.
“She has every reasons to feel aggrieved by what’s happened but she has risen above it all.
“She’s emerging from this as a woman of real class.”
Mr Hancock announced he had tested positive for Covid last March – shortly after Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed he had also caught the virus.
The then-Health Secretary suffered mild symptoms, saying at the time: “That was a few days ago now, so I’m on the mend.
“It’s hard to extrapolate from one person, but the good news for me is I was lucky and it wasn’t too bad.”
Martha, who has maintained a dignified silence after revelations of her husband’s affair broke, has been seen out wearing her wedding ring since the scandal emerged.
Family friends told the Daily Mail that the revelation of Mr Hancock’s affair had come as a shock to his wife and she had no suspicions over Ms Coladangelo.
‘SELFISH’
Like her husband, she had met Ms Coladangelo at Oxford University – and the pair were friends on Facebook.
The Mail today also reported Ms Coladangelo and her husband Oliver Tress, the founder of Oliver Bonas, had celebrated Christmas at parties with the Hancock family.
Love cheat Mr Hancock dumped his wife just hours after his secret affair was uncovered, it was revealed on Saturday.
Tories in Mr Hancock’s Suffolk constituency are so incensed some say he could be deselected as the candidate at the next election.
Hancock’s move echoed the action of former Labour Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who left his wife of 28 years after his affair with his Commons secretary Gaynor Regan was revealed.
One local activist said: “It was an incredibly selfish and thoughtless way to react.
“He’s done a Robin Cook. To make a decision about your wife of 15 years so quickly and brutally seems incredibly heartless.”
At a meeting of Suffolk Conservatives on Friday, there was said to be some “fury” on Martha Hancock’s behalf, the Sunday Times reports.
Ms Coladangelo, who has been a close friend of the former cabinet minister since their time at university, was appointed as a non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care last year.
She is the marketing and communications director at popular British retailer Oliver Bonas, which was founded by her husband Oliver Tress.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she has been working as a non-executive director at the Department of Health since September 2020.
