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Published: January 19 2012

A 1998 UPI File photo of Newt and Marianne Gingrich. Jim Ruymen/file UPI WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Newt Gingrich's second wife said Thursday their marriage failed after the presidential hopeful asked for an "open marriage."

Marianne Gingrich told The Washington Post Gingrich asked her for a divorce on May 11, 1999, within 48 hours of having delivered a speech on family values.

The former House speaker, at a campaign event in South Carolina, called the interview with his ex-wife "tawdry and inappropriate."

In an interview with ABC to be broadcast on "Nightline," Marianne Gingrich said her ex-husband lacks the moral character to be president.

She said he asked her for an "open marriage" so he could carry on an affair with Callista, his current wife, at the same time he was leading the charge against President Bill Clinton over his alleged indiscretions.

"And I just stared at him and he said, 'Callista doesn't care what I do,'" she told ABC News. "He wanted an open marriage and I refused."

Newt Gingrich told NBC's "Today" show his divorce is a private matter and his daughters, Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman, had written to ABC, asking that the interview not be broadcast.

"Intruding into family things that are more than a decade old is simply wrong," he said, at the same time refusing to say "anything negative against Marianne."