...The couple had two daughters, Alexandra in 1973 and Vanessa in 1976, but all was not bliss in the Kerry mansions. They separated in 1982 (when Kerry was Massachusetts lieutenant governor), with Thorne in the depths of a severe depression and on the brink of suicide, which she blamed on her husband's cold and distant nature, his long absences, and his fierce ambition (which she was bankrolling). The separation came as Kerry was mulling a bid to run for the Senate seat vacated by Paul Tsongas in 1984; Thorne said she still associates politics "only with anger, fear, and loneliness." In 1988, the final divorce went through (she later wrote a self-help manual, "A Change Of Heart," designed to help other unhappily married couples; in the book, she called her relationship with Kerry a "suffocating marriage.")...
...The first Mrs. Kerry filed papers the following year seeking more child support. Kerry interpreted the move as vindictive and fired back: he asked the Catholic Church to formally annul his failed marriage. He didn't even tell her; the church sent her a letter in November 1996 (some say Kerry filed for the annulment because Heinz is a devout Catholic who wanted to participate fully in church ceremonies; others say it was retaliatory).
Thorne, who had emerged from her depression, shot a letter to the church—along with a copy to a Boston newspaper. In vivid language, she said that, as the mother of Kerry's two children, she would not cooperate with a policy that was "hypocritical, antifamily and dishonest."
Kerry, who says on his Web page that he "was raised in the Catholic faith and continues to be an active member of the Catholic Church," joked about the annulment in 1997 on a radio show, saying "75 percent of all the annulments in the world take place in the United States, and I guess the figure drops to 50 percent if you take out all Massachusetts politicians." ....
