Mark Kelly's Diane Sawyer Interview: Gabrielle Giffords Feared She Would Be Shot (VIDEO)

Mark Kelly sat down with Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview for ABC's "20/20", where he discussed his wife Gabrielle Giffords' current condition, her earlier fears of being attacked by dissenters, and what it was like to believe she had died when news of the shooting first broke.

For about 20 minutes, Kelly broke down in a plane's bathroom after believing incorrect media reports that his wife had been fatally shot at a political event outside a supermarket.

He said he had rushed aboard a friend's plane to fly to Arizona after hearing of the shooting in Tucson, and that he saw the television report while enroute.

"I just, you know, walked into the bathroom and you know, broke down," Kelly told Sawyer. "To hear that she died is just -- it's devastating for me."

Giffords isn't aware that six people died in the shooting, including Gabe Zimmerman, one of her staff members, Kelly said. Authorities say she was targeted by a 22-year-old constituent who had met her at a similar event in 2007.

The three-term Democrat was among 13 people who were also wounded in the massacre Jan. 8 outside a Safeway supermarket. She remained in serious condition after a bullet traveled the length of her brain.

ABC News reports:

In a remarkably personal interview, Kelly revealed that his wife had spoken about 10 times before the shooting of her fears of being shot during one of her town meetings, and Kelly isn't sure she should continue being a member of Congress after her recovery.

Kelly also talks of his wife's remarkable progress and his hope that she'll eventually make a complete recovery.

Kelly, who has been photographed beside his wife's bed holding her hand, said there is a habit of hers that has convinced him that she recognizes him.

"If I hold her hand, she'll play with my wedding ring. She'll move it up and down my finger. She'll take it off... she'll put it on her own finger. She'll move it to her thumb. And then she can put it back on my finger," he said.

Kelly said he probably wouldn't want Giffords to return to Congress.

"But I know that's probably not going to matter to her. I think she's such a devoted public servant that she's going to come out of this and be more resolved to fix things," he said.

WATCH:

Comments

[AnasaziTribe]

09:52 AM on 01/24/2011

Mark Kelly's comments about Giffords' fear of being a victim of gunfire is the human side of these false Right Wing beliefs:

* Jefferson said true patriots kill Government officials when tyranny is suspected.

* Guns insure our Liberty.

The Rightists believe community is incompatible with the individual, which is why an instrument built to kill the community and petrify politicians is at the core of their political beliefs. Their beliefs are so absurd and antisocial that only guns can protect them.

[cuchulain]

10:59 PM on 01/24/2011

It's also amazing that they both fetishize the founders and forget that they were Civil Servants. The very people the right loves to hate. The founders served. They believed public service was a duty. Noblesse Oblige, etc. They believed in Civic Republicanism, not Commercial Republicanism. Almost every founder was a part of "the gubmint" before, during and after the revolution. And they thought enough of the importance of government to create a new one and then serve again.

Madison wrote the 2nd Amendment and he also believed Shay's Rebellion was insurrection and treasonous.

Contrary to right wing myths, the founders weren't anti-government. They weren't trying to make it easy for people to overthrow what they worked so hard to create. They were themselves government officials.

The right mythologizes the past. It doesn't "do" history.

[howso]

08:15 PM on 01/20/2011

This dude is macho, kind of odd looking, definitely hot. I can see why she went for him. Not to many macho intellectual guys out there.

[Madame De Stael]

04:33 PM on 01/20/2011

god bless them both. what good, good people.

[intolleft]

04:25 PM on 01/20/2011

If I was for gun rights, proper border enforcement, fiscal responsibility, and a member of the current make-up of the Dem_ocra_t party, I'd be worried too.

[levibatgirl]

08:51 PM on 01/20/2011

Polly want a cr acker?

[intolleft]

09:17 PM on 01/20/2011

Polly wants an XO and a VSG

[Michael Shatz]

02:39 PM on 01/20/2011

This is a newly found video of Glenn Beck telling Fox News viewers to "shoot [liberals] in the head"
http://bit.ly/gpUwaD

[intolleft]

04:27 PM on 01/20/2011

my guess is that actual segment was more than 22 seconds long.

[Michael Shatz]

05:28 PM on 01/20/2011

The link to Fox News' actual transcript has been added to the site. The full context is actually worse http://bit­.ly/gpUwaD”

Nice try though...

[pasc]

01:25 PM on 01/20/2011

OH, when she talks, when she finally can talk to us all, SOME of us are going to get an earful.

[Romanyshyn]

05:07 AM on 01/20/2011

Palin put her in the crosshairs and the shooter carried out her wishes, that's the truth of it and now Palin can live with the results of her actions. Take a look!
http://phototodaynow.com/Palineffect.htm

[intolleft]

04:29 PM on 01/20/2011

You should work for the FBI. Even after over 300 interviews by them and local law, they still have not determined a motive. Yet you have thru wild speculation, false accusations, and fact devoid opinions.

[cuchulain]

11:07 PM on 01/24/2011

We're all products of our environment. We all are influenced by our surroundings, for good or ill.

Palin, Beck, Bachman, Savage, Broun, King, Hannity, Limbaugh and company have created a toxic environment, one in which everything is the End of the World or worse. One in which health care reform, based upon conservative ideas, based upon Romney's plan, become Armageddon.

Endless hyperbole, surreal levels of exaggeration and massive levels of irrational spin have an impact. When pundits and politicians say every thing "the left" does supposedly means the end of the world, people are impacted. Triggers are set.

To deny that we are impacted by our environment is to deny life itself.

[wyb]

04:35 PM on 02/02/2011

If I couldn't conjecture that costly advertisements for inane products, could ever convince people to buy, then it might be an error to fathom that a two year, multi media, right wing hate frenzy sold. Marketing and political research, which examines influences that drive behavior, stongly suggests otherwise.

[hwjone]

03:21 AM on 01/20/2011

Now what was Fox broadcasting.
1. Something about the LSM broadcasting things that had no basis in fact. Bad LSM (I agree).
2. Something about Rep. Giffords, not fearing that she might be shot.

Apparently, this had no basis in fact. Does this mean that Fox is now part of the LSM.

[ziggy49]

11:15 PM on 01/19/2011

it was said before, but what a class act - Mark and Gabby will be in my thoughts constantly. I am scared to be living in AZ at times. All this Congresswoman wanted to do was make things better here, and that's a TALL order considering what a mess we have created. peace, zig

[Balzac]

10:10 PM on 01/19/2011

I can only hope the suffering caused by this senseless, vicious attack didn't last long for those who did not survive it. May their families find solace in the feeling of their loss.

When a loved one dies, perhaps the most important relic which is left to the living is the very sense of longing one feels when reminded of their absence, which happens almost constantly.

Only by allowing ones self to feel this pain, which can be quite agonizing, can one most strongly feel their presence. The acute sensation of their absence is their presence you carry with you each day and in your dreams.

One couldn't feel their personality so acutely if lost loved one weren't a part of them. A personality does not originate from one person only.

Our personalities also arise from our most important relationships. Each person who really loves someone has space in their heart and their mind, reserved just for them.

If you can feel the pain so acutely that you almost cannot bear it, then you can dream of them, and there isn't any good reason to consider these dream interactions to be unreal.

Within a dream, the superficial details are not necessarily significant, but the warmth of their presence and their unique personality is authentic. When I dream of someone special and I'm lucky enough to remember it, I don't soon forget it.

[Balzac]

09:59 PM on 01/19/2011

Gabrielle Giffords is a very good woman. She and her husband are both impressive and accomplished people. It's a good thing she hasn't yet been told about who died that day.

[whirledgonecrazy]

07:41 PM on 01/19/2011

Regardless of how we might disagree with each other I would hope that every American is praying for her recovery and are impressed by this family and how they conduct themselves. Mark is a class act right down the line. Best wishes to them all.

[intolleft]

04:30 PM on 01/20/2011

Fave that.

[eilish]

07:16 PM on 01/19/2011

This is the first time I've cried over that day.

If Rep Giffords doesn't come back to us in AZ, it will be because of that nine year old girl with all the dreams and life ahead of her.

[up2uamerica]

06:55 PM on 01/19/2011

WOW When will we ever learn?

[observer9]

06:37 PM on 01/19/2011

I wrote that it would damage the Democratic cause for families to speak out and that her doctor said she would return to function. He didn't say she could return to Congress. I don't understand why this comment was deleted. There's so little of substance in this critical discussion, why would these comments be deleted?

My comments are always moderate and have never been deleted elsewhere. Are the editors under time pressure?