Morrissey, estranged wife trade allegations in public rift

The couple began trading allegations after Morrissey said he reported to Richmond police that their son had welts on his buttocks from alleged punishment by Myrna Morrissey’s boyfriend. She then posted a series of statements on Instagram that detailed her husband’s infidelities and called their marriage “the biggest mistake of my life.”

In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Saturday, Myrna Morrissey said the senator’s allegations of abuse are “completely false” and are related to their impending divorce and visitation of their three children.

In her Instagram post, she said, “I’ve saved face for this man, protected this man, lied, cheated and stole for this man because you can’t have me the way you want and that I really moved on with my life he would stoop so low as accusing me and someone close to me of abusing my child! Anyone that knows ME, knows what a damn good mother I am to MY children.”

Myrna Morrissey was 17 years old and working as an assistant in Joe Morrissey’s Henrico County law firm when they began a sexual relationship that led him to accept an Alford plea to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2015. Now 26, she said she has been separated from her husband since 2019—the same year he was elected to the Virginia Senate.

“When I left, I left and I wasn’t coming back,” she said.

Myrna Morrissey said their three children—Chase, Bella and Maverick—live with her under their mutual arrangements for visitation. She said Joe Morrissey has visitation one day a week, alternating weekends and holidays, and equally during summer.

“I’m seeking to separate from Joe. I’m seeking to have my own identity,” she said in the interview. “I’ve been to hell and back.”

After Myrna Morrissey’s social media post, Joe Morrissey’s office released a statement on Friday night that said the previous night, he had discovered marks from an alleged beating on his son’s buttocks after the three children and their father had been swimming in the pool at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.

The statement said he confronted Myrna Morrissey by telephone and demanded that her boyfriend leave her house. The statement said she responded with a threat “to ruin him and his life” if he said anything publicly about the alleged incident. The statement said Sen. Morrissey called Richmond police, who then called Chesterfield County police and forensic photographers at midnight to document the alleged abuse.

The senator’s statement said Chesterfield detectives are investigating and that he intends to let the justice system run its course.

Capt. Michael Breeden of the Chesterfield Police Department confirmed in a text message: “Yes we are investigating an incident ... which he [Morrissey] contacted us about.”

Separately, without naming names, the department said in a statement: “The Chesterfield County Police Department received a report of alleged child abuse regarding a child who may possibly have been assaulted by an offender known to him. At this time, the report is assigned to a detective in our Special Investigations Unit and is being investigated. The investigation is in its preliminary stages and the safety of the child is paramount at this time. There are no further details to be released.”

In January 2022, just before he left office, then-Gov. Ralph Northam pardoned Morrissey for a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor related to his relationship with Myrna Warren Pride, whom he married in 2016.

Sen. Morrissey had entered an Alford plea to the misdemeanor count and was sentenced to 12 months in jail with six months suspended. He was allowed to work as a state delegate from Henrico through a work release program, spending nights in jail in 2015.

Their relationship was a public issue in a heated race for Richmond mayor in 2016, in which Morrissey finished third. He defeated Sen. Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg, in a Democratic primary in 2019 and was elected to the Senate that fall. Last month, he lost a congressional bid for the 4th District in a Democratic firehouse primary that Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, won resoundingly.

The public battle that erupted on social media on Friday night confirmed the couple’s estrangement as Myrna Morrissey detailed what she said were her husband’s infidelities, and confirmed he had fathered twins with another woman. Joe Morrissey refused to comment on his marriage and new children in an interview last fall with The Times-Dispatch.

“I love my children,” he said then.

Sen. Morrissey, a former Richmond prosecutor and local defense attorney, has been disbarred but now wields significant power as a member of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, often scrutinizing judges, and expresses more independent views than other Senate Democrats.

His license was previously revoked in 2003, and he won reinstatement in 2012 in a 4-3 decision by the Virginia Supreme Court. A three-judge panel revoked his law license again in mid-2018, and the Supreme Court denied his appeal a year later.

Myrna Morrissey said Saturday that she would no longer stay quiet about her husband’s private conduct and his treatment of her.

“I think it’s due time,” she said. “At this point, I think I owe the community the service of letting them know who this person actually is.”

She also said she remains afraid of retaliation by her estranged husband.

“When he wants to win, he will do anything to make sure he wins,” she said.