Tipper Gore was the wife of the 45th U.S. Vice President.
Though the two were married for four decades, they eventually split, and Tipper’s life
has taken a surprising turn since.
Keep watching to find out how!
After being the second lady of the U.S. for eight years, Tipper Gore was close to becoming
the first lady as well.
In the 2000 presidential election, her husband, Vice President Al Gore, was running against
George W. Bush.
It was a highly contested race that prompted a controversial recount in Florida.
In the end, Bush won the election by a small margin, dashing the Gores' White House dreams.
"Just moments ago I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd
President of the United States."
Since his loss, Al Gore has gone on to become a leading face in environmental activism — an
issue he's been vocal about since becoming a politician.
He's advocated and educated about climate change and continues to be part of that conversation.
But what about his wife, Tipper?
In 2010, the couple announced that they were separating after 40 years of marriage, per
ABC News.
Though she doesn't grab as many headlines as her now-ex-husband, Tipper was also in
the public eye in years past.
Tipper Gore was born Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson in Washington D.C. in 1948.
Her parents divorced when she was a very young child, and she spent most of her life growing
up in nearby Arlington, Virginia.
Her childhood nickname was Tipper — a name that her mother affectionately called her,
which originated from a nursery song, per CNN.
The name stuck and would eventually take the place of her given name.
No one really called her Mary after that.
She attended a private school where she played a variety of sports.
During a high school graduation dance, she met a guy named Albert Gore Jr., and they
became inseparable.
The two of them decided to attend college in Massachusetts; Tipper went to Boston University,
and Al went to Harvard.
They got married on May 19, 1970 — the same year Tipper completed her studies at Boston
University.
They would have four children together.
While raising her children, Tipper found herself with a growing concern over the content of
music in the '80s.
From that point on, she would become recognized for her leadership in a movement that focused
on the music industry.
But before she was the wife of a vice president, Tipper Gore was the wife of a Tennessee senator.
Al Gore held a senate seat for the southern state from 1985 to 1993.
The same year Gore started office as a senator, his wife was a member of a group that she
co-founded called Parents Music Resource Center, or PMRC.
The group was composed of wives of men who were in Washington D.C. politics or business,
and the goal was to bring to light explicit lyrics in music to concerned parents.
The end result was the parental advisory warnings that were eventually applied to songs and
albums.
Tipper was one of the group's most famous members.
She advocated for parents to know the content of the lyrics their children were listening
to.
But her membership was highly criticized because of her own past with her high school band
called the Wildcats, in which she played the drums.
While her crusade against rock music raised calls about her hypocrisy, she took her passion
a step further and wrote a book on the subject titled Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society,
which was published in 1987.
Her husband became Vice President after Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993.
As a result, she left the PMRC and became second lady — a role she held for the eight
years her husband served in the Clinton administration.
As for the PMRC, the group called it quits later in the ‘90s.
A few years after the Gores separated, Tipper moved to Santa Barbara, California, and the
two began dating other people.
Today, Tipper Gore is a big advocate for mental health.
She recently wrote an opinion piece about mental health issues in the age of COVID-19
for USA Today and she's published several books.
Not only that, but she's returned to her rock band days.
The drumsticks she put down when she became a politician's wife are back in her hands,
per a 2019 article in Tom Tom Magazine.
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