Who is Mary Brinkmeyer? Blake Bailey's private life with wife under scrutiny amid sexual assault allegations
The highly anticipated authorized biography of late writer Philip Roth was pulled by its publishers recently after its author, Blake Bailey, was accused of rape and three of his former students said he was sexually inappropriate. The biography by the Pulitzer-nominated author was published on April 6 but it was pulled by publishers WW Norton on Wednesday, April 21.
The book was heralded pre-publication as one of the books of the year and had already received widespread media coverage and rave reviews. It also found its way to the New York Times bestseller list but that didn't stop WW Norton from making the announcement that shipments of the book had been halted and its promotional schedule was canceled.
"These allegations are serious," the publisher said in a statement. "In light of them, we have decided to pause the shipping and promotion of 'Philip Roth: The Biography' pending any further information that may emerge," the statement read. Bailey was also dropped by his literary agency, The Story Factory. Bailey's professional life has been covered widely, however, his private life has never made it to the headlines.
He is married to Mary Brinkmeyer; however their relationship as partners and as parents to a daughter has never been written about. As a couple, Brinkmeyer, a psychologist at Naval Medical Center, and Bailey have maintained a low profile.
Who is Mary Brinkmeyer?
Details about Mary Brinkmeyer's personal life remain scarce but there is quite a bit of information about her career online. Brinkmeyer graduated from the University of Florida and was named Navy Psychology Civilian Psychologist of the Year in 2016. She was Associate Training Director for the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) Psychology Training Programs, which includes the Navy’s largest psychology internship training program as well as the only accredited clinical psychology postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Defense.
Prior to being selected and hired for her current position, Dr Brinkmeyer served four years as the embedded health/pain psychologist in the NMCP Orthopedic Clinic and was then selected for the Center for Deployment Psychology position at NMCP, where she served from 2012 to 2014. Brinkmeyer is a nationally recognized expert in general clinical psychology, pain management and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). As a subject matter expert in health psychology, as well as child/family psychology, she is a much sought-after consultant by multiple medical specialty clinics at NMCP. Brinkmeyer and Bailey lost their house and most of their possessions in the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. He wrote about this experience in a series of articles for Slate.
Allegations against Blake Bailey
WW Norton made the announcements of pulling Bailey's book after two women detailed their experience of being raped by the writer. Valentina Rice, 47, claimed the alleged incident happened at a friend's house in New Jersey in 2015. Another woman, Eve Peyton, 40, claimed he allegedly raped her in a hotel room in New Orleans in 2003. Several other women who have been his students in the past have come forward to speak about their experience of sexually inappropriate behavior meted out to them by Bailey.
He is also accused of grooming students as young as 12 and 13 years old while working at Lusher High School, offering to "mentor" students as writers. Bailey is said to have done so while studying Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel 'Lolita' with his students, which tells the story of a middle-aged professor's infatuation with a 10-year-old girl. He is then said to have had sex with them -- or attempted to have sex with them -- when they were young adults.
Bailey's ex-student at Lusher, Jessie Wightkin Gelini, alleged that he 'groomed' her and other girls by giving them nicknames like "class pets". She also alleged he used to get close to them and touch them. Another student Amelia Ward alleged Bailey used to go out of his way to compliment and pay attention to her, even asking her to stay back after school hours. After her time in his class was over, Ward alleged that Bailey tried to pursue a personal relationship with her which made her feel uncomfortable and she ended all communication with him.
Former student Elisha Diamond alleged that during freshman year in college, Bailey had invited her to meet him for drinks and insisted she drink alcohol which she refused. During the outing, he allegedly asked her about her sex life and then ran his hand up her skirt and pulled her close; Diamond said she walked out when it happened.
Rice reached out to WW Norton president Julia A Reidhead via email in which she detailed her experience with Bailey. Reidhead didn't respond, but forwarded the note to Bailey and in a couple of days Rice heard from him. "I can assure you I have never had non-consensual sex of any kind, with anybody, ever, and if it comes to a point I shall vigorously defend my reputation and livelihood," he wrote in the email. "Meanwhile, I appeal to your decency: I have a wife and young daughter who adore and depend on me, and such a rumor, even untrue, would destroy them," he added.