Her background

Cindy McCain was born Dec. 31, 1954, the only child of James Hensley, who went on to be a well-off beer distributor in Phoenix, and his wife, Marguerite. After high school, where she was a cheerleader and rodeo queen, she attended the University of Southern California. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in education. She returned to Arizona, where she became a teacher of special-needs children — an interest she continues to have today.

AP (ENLARGE)

Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), says, 'I've never been a political person. ... But what I do is just as important.'

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How they met

The often-told story is that McCain met her future husband when she was 25 and vacationing in Hawaii and, in her words, he began "kind of chasing me around the table" at a cocktail party. Though she said she was a bit disconcerted by the Navy captain's approach, and he was 17 years her senior, she thought he was "cute" in his dress-white uniform and that there was "instant chemistry" between them. For his part, John McCain thought she was " lovely, intelligent and charming" he wrote in his book "Worth Fighting For."

Their life together

John McCain was still married — though separated — when he met Cindy McCain. He was divorced the following year, in 1980, and he and Cindy Hensley were married a month later. At the time, McCain was a Navy liaison in Washington. He retired from the service and moved to Arizona, where he was briefly employed by his father-in-law before being elected to Congress and, in 1986, to the Senate. While he spent much time in Washington, she wanted a large family and did not want to raise children there, so she remained in Arizona. After suffering several miscarriages, she gave birth to Meghan in 1984; John IV, called "Jack," in 1986; and Jimmy in 1988. In 1991, she visited Bangladesh and brought home a girl to have surgery for a cleft palate. The couple adopted her and named her Bridget.

Her challenges

In 1994, Cindy McCain publicly admitted she had been addicted to the prescription drugs Percocet and Vicodin. She said she had begun taking the powerful painkillers after two back surgeries for ruptured discs in 1989 and that she had stolen drugs from a charity she founded, the American Voluntary Medical Team. She said her husband didn't know about her problem until she admitted it to him and that she had sought help, including a stay in a rehab center, after an intervention by her parents.

"That was the darkest period of my life," she later told Harper's Bazaar. "I was in pain, took too many pills, and, like many women, just fell into it."

She remibursed the charity for the drugs and no charges were filed.

In 2004, she had another health crisis when she suffered a minor stroke. She recovered, but in 2007 told More magazine that she suffers some lingering effects.

Her role in his career

Though she continued to work with charities, Cindy McCain generally stayed in the background during her husband's political rise. She was more vocal during his 2000 presidential campaign, and she has been visible in this campaign, as well. She even got involved in the fray herself when, in a lightly veiled criticism, she declared that she, too, was "proud" of her country after a comment by Barack Obama's wife, Michelle.

In her own words

"I've never been a political person. I would not attend Cabinet meetings. I would not be a part of that process. That's my husband's job. But what I do is just as important. It's just different."

— Staff writer Bob Deans in Washington

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