BOSTON (AP) – Gov. Deval Patrick’s wife, Diane, said Sunday she’ll return to her law practice this week after being treated for exhaustion and depression but won’t rush back into the spotlight as first lady.
Diane Patrick publicly addressed her condition for the first time, in a letter posted on her husband’s campaign committee Web site Sunday.
“When the campaign was over, I expected life to settle down, at least a bit, and to regain some sense of normalcy,” she wrote.
“To my surprise, however, soon after the inauguration, I found myself aboard a new and different roller coaster.”
Patrick, a partner at the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray, wrote that she tried to balance her job demands “with the unfamiliar demands of serving as First Lady – all while living in a fishbowl.”
The governor’s office announced March 10 that she is being treated for depression and exhaustion.
“I now appreciate that I needed some time to rest and repair, to stand back and take full stock of what lay ahead for me, and to put it all in some context,” she wrote.
The 55-year-old said she’s had time to reflect over the past month. She wrote that she expects to return to her law practice this week “and to the duties of First Lady in due course.”
Diane Patrick was mentioned in media reports that questioned her husband’s decision to hire a former fund raiser to serve as her assistant at an office in the Statehouse. The aide later resigned.
Patrick’s four Republican predecessors did not have staffers dedicated solely to handling their spouses’ official activities.
Patrick spokesman Kyle Sullivan declined to comment on Sunday.
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On the Net: http://www.devalpatrick.com
AP-ES-04-08-07 2036EDT
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