Ex-Wife of Jared Fogle Gives Interview About the Experience of Discovering His Pedophilia

CBS News correspondent Anna Werner asks at one point during the interview what McLaughlin would say to the people who might wonder how she could possibly not have known. She responds, “There are going to be people out there who believe what they want to believe about me. I mean, how could anyone think that I would stay married to a man and have children with a man who was doing this? Of course I wouldn’t be there. Of course I wouldn’t stay with him. I did not know.”

McLaughlin says she only became aware of her husband’s sexual abuse of children when the FBI arrived at her house on July 7, 2015.

“They walked in and you’re just in shock,” McLaughlin said.

“Did you even understand what was happening?” Werner asked.

“No. No, I didn’t understand any of it to be honest,” McLaughlin said. “I mean you just — you float out of yourself because the FBI shouldn’t be in your house.”

Werner asks if the fact that Fogle was able to hide his activities from his wife might indicate that he was also capable of hiding them from Subway. McLaughlin answers, “No one ever brought me complaints. We know that there was at least one complaint brought to them that was mishandled.”

McLaughlin says she no longer has any emotional attachment to Fogle, adding, “In my opinion, he took himself out of our lives and I — I can’t even think about him at this point in my life.” In a particularly sad exchange, she explains what this experience has cost her:

“What did he take from you?” Werner asked.

“I mean, my ability to trust. I mean, my ability to — to think that things will be okay,” McLaughlin said. “I think I was always a pretty happy person who thought if everyone puts in their hard work, things will end up okay. And now I’m not so sure about that now.”