Thursday, 4:30 PM
A warm but guarded Diane Patrick steps back onto the public stage
(Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
Diane Patrick made her first public appearance today in more than seven weeks.
By Michael Levenson and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
A smiling but guarded Diane Patrick returned to the public stage today, appearing at a conference for crime victims' rights seven weeks after the governor's office announced she was being treated for exhaustion and depression.
Greeted by a standing ovation in a State House auditorium, Diane Patrick did not make any formal remarks to the crowd of victim advocates and state officials. A crush of media surrounded the first lady and Governor Deval Patrick after the conference, and she stepped up to the bank of microphones after her husband when she was questioned by reporters.
"I hope that by the governor and my speaking out about depression and not feeling embarrassed about it -- because it is a disease like any other disease and it's treatable, thankfully -- that we can perhaps help remove the stigma attached to it," Diane Patrick said.
Though gracious and warm, she deflected several specific questions about her struggle and declined to say if it was the first time she had been depressed or describe her recovery over the last seven weeks. She did speak fondly about the mountain of mail she received from well-wishers, about half of whom she said had suffered from depression themselves.
"It really made me feel like I wasn’t alone," Diane Patrick said.
The first lady said she planned to continue working as a partner in the labor and employment department of Boston law firm Ropes & Gray and would keep a narrow public schedule, focusing on domestic violence and early education.
The governor's office announced on March 10 that Diane Patrick, 55, was being treated for exhaustion and depression and that the governor would scale back his work schedule to spend more time with her. She was a strong presence in her husband's campaign for governor. After he won, she said she planned to be an active first lady, but was then rarely seen at public events.
After announcing his wife's illness, the governor protected her privacy and told reporters that his wife was the "center of my world." The governor seemed buoyed today by her presence.
"There is a bounce in my step," Deval Patrick told reporters. "It is great that she is feeling better. We both feel blessed by that."
In a letter released earlier this month, Diane Patrick described herself as a "deeply private person" who had been hit with the "exhilarating highs and stomach-churning lows" of the contentious two-year campaign that saw her husband rise from political obscurity to a landslide victory.
"When the campaign was over, I expected life to settle down, at least a bit, and to regain some sense of normalcy," she wrote. "To my surprise, however, soon after the inauguration, I found myself aboard a new and different roller coaster. I was trying to balance my return to a full-time law practice with the unfamiliar demands of serving as first lady, all while living in a fishbowl.
"I now appreciate that I needed some time to rest and repair, to stand back and take full stock of what lay ahead for me, and to put it all in context. I now have had some time to do just that."
Neither she nor the governor's office has provided any details about her illness.
Diane Patrick returned to work at Ropes & Gray the week of April 9.
This evening, Diane Patrick is scheduled to address a fund-raising dinner at the Epiphany School, a tuition-free private school in Dorchester for disadvantaged children. She serves on the school's board of overseers. The event is closed to the news media.
