Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson shocked a New York radio reporter when he spoke openly about sex, love, and intimacy during a candid interview – and he even admitted that he had once "slugged" a cop.
Anna Sale, a political and media affairs reporter with WNYC, interviewed 82-year-old Simpson and his wife, Ann, for her new podcast "Death, Sex and Money" after meeting them when the ex-senator helped her to reunite with her boyfriend.
"Al Simpson is frank and will say things in ways other politicians won’t, but it still was surprising to me how open he and wife were about their marriage," Sale told
Politico.
"They brought up the importance of talking about intimacy and sex in a relationship. They wanted to give advice, they wanted to tell stories."
Sale continued, "They were telling me very intimate things, not just about when things were great, and how important love is and commitment, but when it was hard, and about couples counseling, and about the conversations they had when they were really angry at each other."
Sale explained that she met the Simpsons after her boyfriend Arthur sent a plea to the Republican politician for help in getting him get back together with Anna after they had split up, and he’d gone to Wyoming to study wildlife.
The senator did, in fact, bring them back together, and Sale said that the four of them have now become good friends.
"They ended up being a couple who was really kind of at a point in their life when they wanted to share what they knew about commitment," Sale said.
"It actually was really helpful to have them both say, 'Look, it’s not about figuring it out or knowing what your life is going to look like from the get-go when you make a commitment to somebody. It’s about choosing to make that commitment. And that’s what long-term relationships are about.'
"They’re in their 80s, and it feels so fresh and exactly what I need to hear."
In the first episode of her podcast posted Wednesday and available on iTunes,
Simpson said, "When you talk about [sex], you think, well, there’s a couple of horny people. No, that’s not the point. It’s called intimacy. Scratch my back. Give me a hug. Just a hug. Just a touch, you know, a whack on the fanny in the kitchen."
When Simpson was asked how a partner can make a person better, Sale was stunned by the reply.
"I got arrested one night, got in a fistfight, got in a fight with a cop, slugged the cop," said Simpson, who served in the Senate for nearly 20 years. "Ended up in jail, called her (Ann).
"I said I need $300 bail. She said, 'Are you kidding? I’m working my way through school, I don’t have 300 bucks bail. Maybe you oughta just stay there.' And I thought, Jesus, you know, it would be good if I linked up with her. She could be a helpful ally in this continuing battle for maturity."