Deanna Favre knows her role in the current mess surrounding her husband Brett. She's not supposed to make it worse, and so she fulfilled previously scheduled promotional appearances for a new book she co-authored.
On Thursday morning, October 21 she was interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America as well as Fox & Friends, and in concert with the theme of the new book, "The Cure for the Chronic Life, Overcoming the Hopelessness That Holds You Back", she fell back on the subject of faith to explain how she is managing the rough waters.
"I'm handling this through faith, Robin," she told GMA host Robin Roberts. "We were talking earlier about a verse that I have on my fridge: Isaiah 41:9-13, actually, is on my fridge right now. 'Don't be afraid. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.' And that's what I'm leaning on."
No host of either show would push her on the subject and ask the follow-up question that seems to make sense, which is to query Mrs. Favre if she has faith in her husband. She gets points from me for merely showing up to do the book tour stops and putting on the best face she can. Speaking of her face, it is showing the strain of dealing with her husband and the controversy over alleged voice mails and nude photos sent to female co-worker by Brett, while they worked for the New York Jets in 2008.
UPDATE: Friday October 22. Jenn Sterger's lawyer announces discussions underway with NFL to set up a potential meeting to discuss Brett Favre.
This particular kind of scandal is a bit new since the last couple of times her husband messed up and didn't show the proper respect for her and their marriage, the Internet had yet to become the behemoth it is, and we hadn't fallen into the trap of the "gotcha" celebrity tattle tale shows. For the latest news on the NFL investigation of Brett Favre, click here.
Deanna Favre learned early about the fame, fortune and adulation that came along with Favre's career. It left him vulnerable to all the temptations life has to offer. In the early to mid-90s, without Deanna and his daughter living full time in Green Bay, Wisconsin with him during football season, her husband reportedly lived the life of a carousing footballer who ultimately got addicted to Vicodin.
Once Deanna realized the magnitude of the problem, she insisted Brett get clean and stop the nonsense. He went public with his problem and news that he was entering a rehab facility. Only after getting sober did he propose and they married in the summer of 1996. They had been together for almost 10 years and were raising a daughter born in 1989.
The timing of his recovery can't be ignored. After that Brett Favre led the Packers to two Super Bowls, winning one, making one wonder what might have been his legacy and career stats had he continued down the road he was on.
That didn't do the trick, however, and within three years, the post-Super Bowl Favre, made his way through many a bar and late night-early morning arrivals at home. When they faced the fact that he had a growing problem with alcohol, Brett asked her to be his keeper and monitor his alcohol consumption. As you would expect, that didn't work and it led to her ultimatum in 1999.
Deanna authored a book published in 2007 entitled, "Don't Bet Against Me! Beating the Odds Against Breast Cancer and in Life." In it she shares how he pleaded with her, "He kept telling me, 'I want to stop all this, you're going to have to help me. Whatever you do, don't let me drink.' " She was "silly and naive," she says now, to think she could change him on her own.
She packed his bags, left them outside their home and called his agent to say she was done. "I said, 'Take your stuff and go. I'm done,' " she remembers. He begged, refusing to leave, so she called his agent. "You need to come get him, I'm not putting up with this anymore. He needs to get out of my house or I'm calling 9-1-1," she said. According to Deanna, that led to good times, "And it totally changed the quality of our life." Within months of his second rehab stint, their second daughter, Breleigh Ann, was born.
With him firmly in recovery, she cleared the stories she intended to tell in the 2007 book with Brett. In it she writes about his astonishment at the jerk he used to be."You know, this is so painful for me to read," he told her. "I cannot believe I ever was this person."
Guess what? He might just be that person again. Deanna Favre is no longer the background figure in a high profile marriage. She is a public person in her own right thanks to her breast cancer fight and her decision to form a foundation and inspire others with her books.
We, the public, may never know whether Brett Favre is the voice and penis behind the published audio and photos posted on Deadspin.com, but I'll bet Deanna will. If so, is her instinct to act like Jenny Sanford, ex-wife of the South Carolina Governor who called another woman his soul mate, in a public address?
Or is she more like the wife of Eliot Spitzer, standing at the podium in gut wrenching pain, but standing by her man? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, know that she promotes this latest book with the need to recite a biblical passage to get through the rough parts of her day.