Cindy McCain is an American educationist – who has a special passion for educating children with special needs; she is also a businesswoman, philanthropist and one committed to humanitarian work. She is the wife of the (now late and former) United State senator, John McCain, and loving mother to their 4 children. Here is more about her endeavors thus far.

Cindy McCain Bio, Age

Cindy McCain was born as Cindy Lou Hensley in Phoenix, Arizona, in the United States of America on May 20, 1954. She was born in a home of wealth and affluence, and she grew up having the best that life has to offer the children of the rich.

Her father, James Hensley, was the owner and founder of Hensley & Co. – one of the largest distributors of the Anheuser-Busch beer brand in the United States. Her mother is Marguerite Hensley (nee Johnson). She was the only child produced from the marriage of her parent’s, but she had two other siblings – two half-sisters who were offsprings of both of her parent’s, from their previous relationships before they married each other. Her half-sister, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, is the daughter of her father, and his previous wife, Mary Jane; her other half-sister, Dixie L. Burd, is the daughter of her mother from her previous relationship.

At age 14, Cindy McCain was named as “Junior Rodeo Queen of Arizona” in 1968. She attended Central High School in Phoenix and completed her studies in 1972; while in school she was named as the “Best Dressed” in the school in her senior years. She then applied to and got admission into the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Education in 1976.

While in college, she joined the Kappa-Alpha-Theta sorority as a freshman and was groomed to hold a very key and strategic leadership position in the house, all through her college years. Not yet satisfied with her first degree, she put in for her post-graduate studies and obtained a Master of Arts degree in Special Education just two years later in 1978.

After completing her post-grad studies, Cindy McCain was offered an Executive position in her family’s business, but her passion to help educate and nurture children with special needs made her turn down the offer. She worked at Agua Fria High School, Avondale in Arizona for a year, as a special education teacher, which saw her working with children with several disabilities and down syndrome.

Her Relationship with John McCain

Sometime in 1979, Cindy Hensley came across John McCain at a reception for the military; John was there in his capacity as the United States’ Navy Liaison officer to the United States Senate. They met while at this reception and began their acquaintance on a lying note; she lied about her age to make herself seem older, while John equally lied about his age to make him younger. Their liking for each other made them overlook this initial error.

John was married to Carol McCain for 14 years, at the time he met and liked Cindy Hensley, so they couldn’t make their love official right away. Shortly after meeting Cindy, John began filing for divorce from his then-current wife and unfortunately, they stopped living together as a couple in January 1980. Two months later, Carol gave her consent to the divorce initiated by John, and proceedings were finalized in April of 1980. Meanwhile, John’s relationship with Cindy continued to grow despite his divorce proceedings with his wife.

A month after John’s divorce became official, he married Cindy on May 17, 1980, in a beautiful ceremony at Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix. In order to save their marriage from financial crisis in the future, both John and Cindy signed a pre-nuptial agreement, under which most of her family’s assets would be kept by her, under her maiden name; they also kept their individual finances separate while married, and they filled separate income taxes on their earnings.

For the next 3 years of her life, Cindy devoted her time and resources to help her husband win his bid to be elected into the United States Senate by launching fund-raisers and committing her personal finances to foot the campaign bills. She would also go with him from door to door campaigning. The stress of this period would tell on Cindy, as she suffered several miscarriages in the couple’s bid to procreate.

Cindy McCain’s husband was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor – glioblastoma in 2017, and though he underwent surgeries and treatment to solve this issue, he eventually died on August 25, 2018, aged 81 years.

Children

In 1984, Cindy moved back to Arizona after her husband’s successful election bid, and she gave birth to their first child – a daughter they named Meghan. Two sons would follow suit in 1986 and 1988 named John Sidney IV and James.

In 1991, while Cindy was visiting Mother Theresa’s orphanage in Dhaka, she saw two girls that urgently needed medical help in the United States, and she immediately began the process to adopt one of the girls whom she named Bridget; the adoption became official in 1993. The McCain’s, therefore, had four children together.

Net Worth

As at 2018, Cindy McCain was reportedly worth $200 million. Most of her wealth comes from her position and shares in the Hensley & Co, of which she had become the Chairwoman after her father’s death in 2000.

Height

She is reportedly 5 feet and 7 inches (1.7 meters) tall, she has a slim frame that gives her a stately look which matches with her quiet and calm personality.