On Wednesday, former Virginia Delegate Joe Morrissey confessed that he was the father of his 19-year-old former secretary’s newborn child, Chase. A day later, he held a press conference with Myrna Pride, whom he said he plans on marrying and having more children with.
Pride was 17 years old when she interned at Morrissey’s law firm — and is still on the payroll. The Democratic politician, who will run for state Senate as an Independent because he failed to get enough signatures to get on the ballot, recently spent three months in jail for “contributing to the delinquency of a minor.” He is 57 years old.
Pride insisted during the press conference that she “never engaged in any sexual activity with Mr. Morrissey before I was a legal adult.” Morrissey added, “You become friends first, and then intimate. And that’s what happened with us.”
When reporting on the story, the Washington Post noted that it “typically does not identify victims of sexual crimes, but Pride, who said she is now 19, gave The Post permission to be named.”
Morrissey sort of made his relationship with Pride official last week when he handed the photo below — taken in Virginia Beach on Mother’s Day — to a CBS6 reporter.
On a radio appearance on Wednesday, Morrissey said, “Chase is my blood. We had our baby, we love our baby.”
