Patrick Clancy Forgave Ex-Wife Who Killed Their Children: 'I Gave It to Her'
In a '60 Minutes' interview, Patrick Clancy spoke about his ex-wife Lindsay's mental state and his decision to forgive her for the deaths of their three children.
Patrick Clancy revealed in a "60 Minutes" interview that his ex-wife, Lindsay Clancy, never asked for his forgiveness after she strangled their three children, but he chose to grant it to her. "No. But I gave it to her," Clancy told CBS correspondent Ross Douthat.
Lindsay Clancy killed their children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan, with exercise bands in their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023 before attempting suicide. Patrick Clancy's immediate public statement of forgiveness for his then-wife, citing her mental illness, surprised many.
"I believe that it was her mental illness that caused that. So I shared those words," he recalled. "And I think when it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn’t get there, I would be eaten up inside forever."
Patrick Clancy described his ex-wife's mental state deteriorating significantly starting in the fall of 2022. He recounted that by December of that year, she was experiencing a severe lack of sleep, deep depression, and intrusive thoughts, leading to her hospitalization. He admitted he did not fully understand postpartum mental illness at the time, acknowledging that mental illness can be deceptive and that he may have missed signs.
Seventeen days after being admitted to McLean Psychiatric Hospital, Lindsay Clancy attacked and killed her children, then attempted suicide by slitting her wrists and throat and jumping from a second-story window. Patrick Clancy testified during his ex-wife's trial about finding her partially paralyzed in the backyard after the suicide attempt. He also described experiencing a "massive traumatic panic attack" when a 911 call of him discovering the children was played during the trial.
He stated that he felt he "did the best" he could to support his ex-wife through her postpartum mental health crisis and that he lives with the outcome daily.
The "60 Minutes" interview occurred three weeks after Lindsay Clancy's murder case ended in a mistrial. The mistrial was declared after one juror refused to find her not guilty by reason of insanity, while the other 11 jurors had sided with the defense's argument that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis. Patrick Clancy and his new wife, fertility doctor Rachel Danis, also shared during the interview that they are expecting a child together. They met in January 2024 after Clancy relocated to New York City.