Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Sydney Leathers Speaks: Weiner "Not Who I Thought He Was"
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 26, 2013
Modified Jul 26, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 26, 2013
Modified Jul 26, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The college sophomore who carried on a sexually explicit Internet and telephone relationship with would-be mayor Anthony Weiner gave her first television interview to Inside Edition yesterday. Are you sitting down? According to 23-year-old Sydney Leathers, it turns out that the man who was forced to quit Congress because of his crippling sexting addiction is kind of a creep! "It literally disgusts me. It makes me feel physically ill,” she said. “I feel sick about it. I’m disgusted by him. He’s not who I thought he was.” When you're ready to raise your face from your palm and face the world, here's a clip:
Leathers, who hails from the small town of Princeton, Indiana, also said that the online relationship left her feeling badly hurt. She says that not only did Weiner promise to buy her a condo in Chicago and romp with her there, but he also told her he loved her. She felt the same way. “I cared about him a lot," Leathers said. "He was very important to me."
According to Leathers, Weiner sent her a grand total of two cockshots and no other photos. This all went on for several months starting in June 2012, a year after Weiner resigned in disgrace and around the time he did his first image-rehabilitation magazine feature in People. But as he was posing for photos with wife Huma Abedin and baby boy Jordan, Weiner was also again with the sexting, with at least three other women, Weiner admitted yesterday.
"I am an argumentative, perpetually horny middle-age man," Weiner admitted, according to Leathers. But as he prepared to enter the mayoral race, it was time to tie up loose ends. A screenshot of texts shows him essentially offering to get Leathers on a Politico blogger panel as a way to get her to do "a solid" for him and "hard delete" all of their sexually-charged exchanges.
Asked if Weiner perceived his relationship with Leathers as a threat, Leathers said, "Of course... He suspected that this could happen but he didn't do a lot to protect himself from it. He was making these campaign promises that he had totally changed and he was a better man now and he had learned from his mistakes, and I am proof that that is not true." Oof.
Leathers also apologized to Abedin "for my part in the hurt and pain that she’s obviously feeling right now." But an anonymous former friend of Leathers tells the Daily News, "She knew exactly what she was doing. Sydney plays victim best. She is not the victim here... He is obviously weak and she has nothing to lose by this, but he does. They are both morons."
Inside Edition paid Leathers an undisclosed sum for the exclusive. And there's more where that came from. Freakshow entertainment manager Gina Rodriguez, who manages “Tan Mom” Patricia Krentcil and once managed Nadya Suleman, better known as “Octomom," is now representing Leathers for her inevitable career as a reality TV trainwreck.
Tagged
anthony weiner
sydney leathers
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Man shot and killed on Midtown subway platform Saturday afternoon, NYPD says
Police said they're searching for a person of interest.
By
Ryan Kost
and
Elizabeth Kim
Published Oct 17, 2026 at 1:16 p.m. ET
Modified Oct 17, 2026 at 4:10 p.m. ET
Have you seen this Yorkie? NYPD looking for adorable pup dognapped from her Queens home
Suspects were driving a Subaru Forester, police said.
By
Ryan Kost
News
Have you seen this Yorkie? NYPD looking for adorable pup dognapped from her Queens home
Suspects were driving a Subaru Forester, police said.
By
Ryan Kost
Being reigning champions is weird for Knicks fans, but we could get used to this.
By
Catalina Gonella
Tompkins Square Park is getting a makeover. Some say it's too much.
By
Willow Higgins
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
By
Rosemary Misdary
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .