Just days after a former Virginia House delegate took a hit on social media for posing in an antebellum family portrait with the teenage mother of his child, Joe Morrissey announced plans to marry the 19-year-old African-American woman, reports Richmond Magazine.
Morrissey, 57, who is white, last week publicly acknowledged fathering a child with the woman, Myrna Pride, his former receptionist. As The Root reported earlier, Morrissey served three months of a six-month sentence as part of a plea deal related to charges of having a sexual relationship with Pride when she was underage.
Morrissey, a defense attorney and former Democratic politician, told a room of two dozen reporters at his Highland Springs law office Thursday that he, Pride and their 9-week-old infant, Chase, are living together as a happy family, the magazine reports. He also announced plans to run for the state Senate in November, the report says.
“Of course we’re going to get married,” he told reporters, denying claims that he abandoned them, the magazine says. “I love Myrna. She’s smart. She’s intelligent. She makes me laugh. I think she makes me a better person. We’ve got a great life.”
The couple denied having a sexual relationship before Pride turned 18, the magazine writes. Morrissey says he learned of her pregnancy last July. He flew down to Atlanta earlier this year when Pride gave birth, the report says.
Read more at Richmond Magazine.