EXCLUSIVE: Jesse Jackson's Greatest Shame — Civil Rights Icon Was Also Deadbeat Dad to Lovechild Daughter
Jesse Jackson's greatest shame has centered on claims the civil rights icon was a deadbeat dad to his lovechild daughter.
March 7 2026, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson took a shameful secret to his grave – he fathered a love child during a long-term extramarital affair.
In a bombshell world exclusive in 2001, RadarOnline.com can reveal the late Rev. Jackson's mistress, Karin Stanford, gave birth to their daughter, Ashley, on May 18, 1999.
Jackson’s Oval Office Baby Bombshell
Karin Stanford gave birth to Jesse Jackson's daughter, Ashley in 1999 during the civil rights leader's affair.
What's more, Jackson took his mistress to the Oval Office to meet President Bill Clinton when she was four months pregnant – and the baby arrived while he was serving as spiritual advisor to Clinton during his Monica Lewinsky adultery scandal.
We also reported Jackson – who died Feb. 17 at the age of 84 – was quietly paying Stanford nearly $10,000 a month to support their daughter after secret DNA tests proved he was the baby's father.
Stanford, then 39 and a top aide at Jackson's famed Rainbow Coalition, also stood between him and his wife, Jacqueline, at an event in Washington, D.C., to promote the book she wrote about his foreign policy.
When Jacqueline – who married Jackson in 1962 and was raising their five children – found out about the pregnancy, she angrily confronted Stanford at her office.
While advising President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Jackson reportedly brought pregnant mistress, Stanford, to the Oval Office.
Eventually, as RadarOnline.com reported, the two women mended fences and the couple remained married while Stanford raised Ashley in California, where Jackson regularly visited his daughter.
But in 2012, RadarOnline.com also revealed the former two-time Democratic presidential candidate was a deadbeat dad!
In official court documents filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, Stanford charged Jackson had welched on $11,694.50 to support their daughter.
Love Child Support Battle Ends
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Court filings in Los Angeles Superior Court showed Stanford accused Jackson of failing to pay full child support for daughter Ashley.
At the time, a source told RadarOnline.com: "Karin tried many times to work with Jesse on their financial agreement. But he only paid when he felt like it, so she went to court."
But in December 2017, we reported that when Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the then 75-year-old decided to settle his accounts and finally coughed up the back child support money.
"Yes, he finally did make good on those payments," Stanford – mother of the couple's then 17-year-old daughter – said.
