Inside the marriage of Washington power couple Ted and Heidi Cruz, who played Aladdin's 'A Whole New World' at their wedding and spend most of their time in separate states

Grace PanettaOct 24, 2018, 01:08 IST

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) shares a moment with his wife Heidi during a campaign event February 19, 2016 in Charleston, South Carolina.Alex Wong/Getty Images

The close US Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke has garnered national attention, but Cruz's wife, Heidi Cruz (née Nelson) is no stranger to the sacrifices and demands that come with being a politician's spouse in the public eye.

Heidi sat down for her first interview since 2016 with The Atlantic's Elaina Plott, opening up about her journey forging an identity and a high-powered career at Goldman Sachs separate from that of her husband.

As her husband's political career took off, Heidi became well-liked and respected among Republicans and even some Democrats for her work ethnic, discipline, and naturally warm and charming personality - helping Ted win over both voters and donors during his Senate and presidential campaigns.

Here's a look inside the marriage of political power couple Ted and Heidi Cruz:

See Inside the marriage of Washington power couple Ted and Heidi Cruz, who played Aladdin's 'A Whole New World' at their wedding and spend most of their time in separate states >>

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Inside the marriage of Washington power couple Ted and Heidi Cruz, who played Aladdin's 'A Whole New World' at their wedding and spend most of their time in separate states

They met working on George W. Bush's presidential campaign when Heidi was on break from Harvard Business School.

Their first date was at a bar in Austin in January 2001, where Heidi says he "asked me a lot of questions about my background, my goals in life, my 10-year plan, my 20-year plan." They got married that May.

Ted insisted they play "A Whole New World" from the popular Disney movie "Aladdin" at the end of their wedding ceremony despite Heidi's objections that they hire a professional violinist.

“Because no one can do Aladdin,” she recalled Cruz responding to her protests. "She relented, and it became a theme of sorts," Plott wrote.

"He'll be like, 'It's such a great life! We have so much adventure ahead! It's like our magic-carpet ride,'" Heidi said. "And sometimes I'm like, 'I hope we don't hit the cement.'"

Right after their marriage, they both worked in the Bush administration, with Heidi in the US Treasury Department and Ted at the Federal Trade Commission.

But Ted wasn't completely satisfied with his career in Washington, so he applied for and accepted a job as Texas' solicitor general — moving him to Austin.

For two years, they carried on a long-distance marriage, in which Ted worked full-time in Austin and Heidi stayed behind working as an aide to Condoleezza Rice on the National Security Council.

Heidi eventually left her dream job in DC to join Ted in Texas working for Merill Lynch, now Bank of America-Merill Lynch.

Plott described that Heidi had "divorced an essential piece of herself" by saying goodbye to the career and life she had meticulously planned for herself since high school.

Heidi revealed in The Atlantic piece that she even had an emotional breakdown one night in 2005 over the move to Texas.

She said she became so overwhelmed by her unhappiness that she broke down and sat on an expressway until a police officer found her and brought her to the station.

"It was, like, all of this—like, 'Why am I here?'" Heidi said.

Heidi remembered that when Ted came to pick her up, he wasn't angry or disappointed. "He just hugged me and said, 'I just wanna make sure that you're happy here, and that this is a successful chapter," she said.

"It was a challenging time," Ted remembered. "Because she was struggling with having given up a professional post that was very meaningful to her."

Heidi recalled going to a Catholic spiritual retreat after the breakdown, where her counselor told her, "God's gonna use you to do something beyond yourself ... Because there's something bigger than you now.'"

Heidi steadily found happiness in Houston, taking on a job as a managing director in charge of private wealth management at Goldman Sachs. She and Ted also had two daughters: Caroline, currently 10, and Catherine, 7.

After serving as Texas' solicitor general, Ted worked in private practice at Texas law fim Cooper & Kirk PLLC until deciding to run for statewide office. In 2013, he ran for and won the Texas Senate seat.

Ted became a prominent rising star in the right wing of the party, gaining attention for his conservative stances and strong public speaking skills.

He famously filibustered for 21-hours, eventually reading "Green Eggs and Ham" on the Senate floor to protest the Affordable Care Act in 2013. Heidi was the one who suggested he read the book.

When Ted became a Senator, the two started spending most of their time in different places, with Ted in DC and Heidi in Texas not only being the family's primary breadwinner, but doing most of the work raising their two girls, along with the help of a nanny.

Ted decided to run in the Republican primary for president in 2015 — and Heidi took several months of unpaid leave from Goldman Sachs to campaign with her husband, earning praise for her natural charm and ease in winning over voters and donors.

"I'd go into events, and people [would be] like, 'Oh, you're so gracious!'" she remembered. "I don't know that I'm that gracious, but going through that campaign, I knew that I had done a great job and made a great impression."

But the campaign didn't come without challenges. As the race between then-candidate Donald Trump and Cruz got more bitter, the attacks on the Cruzes became more personal. But Heidi took it all in stride and like Ted, saw everything pragmatically.

Trump famously tweeted out a side-by-side photo of Heidi and his wife Melania to attack Heidi's appearance, and accused Ted's father of being involved in the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.

"I don't get angry often," Cruz said after Trump tweeted the photos. "But you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that will do it every time. Donald Trump, you're a sniveling coward. Leave Heidi the hell alone."

"I don't know that I even shed a tear," Heidi said of the day Ted decided to drop out of the race.

Even after that highly contentious campaign, Heidi said she and Ted were both pleased to eventually vote for Trump, and that they've been satisfied with his administration relying on the Federalist Society to nominate conservative judges.

The president held a rally for Ted in Houston on October 22, deciding he was now "beautiful Ted" instead of his previous disparaging moniker, "lyin' Ted."

Even though their lives calmed down after the 2016 election, Heidi said people never really looked at her the same way after months of constantly being in the spotlight on the 2016 campaign trial.

Heidi described Ted as a "practical" and "strategic" "visionary," and said she wants to make sure everybody is "comfortable" and "talking to each other.

After a somewhat quiet two years of Ted going back to the Senate and Heidi returning to Goldman, the Cruz family is back into the fray as Ted faces a tough challenge from a Democratic congressman.

Ted is fighting to stave off Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke, who has shattered quarterly fundraising records and quickly risen up to rock-star status as a darling of the Democratic party — even raising speculation he might run for president in 2020.

"You know, Ted is up for a tough reelection. I don't know the future. I think he's gonna win," Heidi predicted.