tonight on "nightline" -- breaking her silence. in an exclusive tv interview, one of presidential hopeful newt gingrich's wives speaks out, questioning his moral fitness to be president. >> he was asking to have an open marriage. >> reporter: as controversy swirls around our interview, his daughters tell us they don't believe the allegations. >> he says it's simply not true. on the rocks. the mystery woman seen with the captain of the italian cruise ship the night it crashed. plus, the shocking call between the ship's crew and shore, as the boat went down. and a star is born. siri, shiloh, and now baby blue. all famous before they were even born. we look at what life is like for

the youngest paparazzi fodder. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," january 19th, 2012. good evening. i'm terry moran. and we begin tonight with a story at the hit-hot intersection of presidential politics, private lives and character. newt gingrich is surging in south carolina, where voters go to the polls on saturday. gingrich has been in the public eye for decades. and he's had a complicated private life. he's spoken openly about that private life on the campaign trail. admitted wrongdoing. and said he sought forgiveness and reconciliation. his two ex-wives have stayed quiet on the sidelines. tonight, abc's brian ross investigates. brian? >> reporter: terry, tonight, one of them is breaking his silence. his second wife, marianne, who says she does not believe

gingrich has the morals necessary to be president. marianne gingrich was married to newt for 18 years when he asked her for a divorce. >> it started with a phone call at my mother's house. and he asked for a divorce. >> reporter: on the phone? >> on the phone. and he said, i want a divorce. i said, is there somebody else? and it was quiet. and i knew. >> reporter: now, 12 years later, marianne gingrich is talking on television for the first time. a kind of january surprise for her ex-husband, as he faces a crucial presidential primary in south carolina this saturday. >> if he's running for president, he has answers to give. >> reporter: you know his secrets? you know his skeletons. >> i know some of them. >> reporter: gingrich is now married to that somebody else, the other woman, callista, a devout catholic, who claims she was newt's mistress for some six years when he was still married

to marianne. >> i found out through our conversation, that it was occurring in my bedroom in our apartment in washington. he always would call me at night. he always ended with i love you. well, she was there listening. >> reporter: right next to him? >> in my home. >> reporter: washington is a place full of two-timing politicians. with a long trail of sordid affairs, ugly divorces and hypocrisy. as speaker of the house, in the middle of his own secret affair with callista, gingrich was calling for the impeachment of bill clinton for lying about his affair with monica lewinsky. >> there's no administration in the american history with less moral authority than the clinton/gore administration. >> reporter: and now, as a candidate for president, gingrich regularly expounds on family values and the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. >> it's something worth protecting and upholding. >> reporter: but he's admitted to his moral face. >> i said openly.

i've made mistakes at times. i had to go to god forforgiveness. i had to seek reconciliation. >> reporter: marianne says he never asked her for her for giveness. and when seeking a divorce, newt asked for her an arrangement where he could have a wife and a mistress. >> i said to him, we've been married a long time. and he said, yes. but you want me all to yourself. callista doesn't care what i do. >> reporter: what was he saying to you, do you think? >> he was asking to have an open marriage. and i refused. >> reporter: he wanted an open marriage? >> yes. that i accept the fact that he has somebody else in his life. >> reporter: and you said? >> no. no. that is not a marriage. >> reporter: gingrich asked for a divorce from his first wife, jackie, while she was being treated for cancer. he sought to divorce marianne,

she says, months after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, m.s. did he know you had m.s.? >> yes. >> reporter: when he asked you for the divorce? >> yes. and he also was advised by the doctor while i was sitting there that i was not to be under stress. he knew. >> reporter: during tonight's th carolina, the first question of the evening was about the open marriage allegations. gingrich angrily denies it. >> you chose to start the debate with it. don't try to blame somebody else. you and your staff chose to start the debate with it. now, let me be quite clear. let me be quite clear. this story is false. every personal friend i had who knew us says that story was false. >> reporter: earlier, the campaign also made available, his two daughters from his first marriage. >> the truth is, that our father

and marianne had a difficult marriage. they had a difficult divorce. she's unhappy. this has been over for over a decade. >> he's a much different person than he was there. he's grown. he's gotten closer to god. his faith in god has grown. and people need to remember, this happened a very long time ago. you know, we wish marianne no ill will. we wish her the very best. but it happened a long time ago. >> reporter: marianne gingrich says she does have fond memories of newt. walking in the mall. hiking in the mountains. dressing up for halloween. a time when she says they did not have much power or money. did that create a desire to get rich? >> i think we would talk that money would come when he left congress. >> would the gentleman from georgia raise his right hand. >> reporter: but while still in congress, when gingrich became speaker of the house, they traveled the world, even as he and she were caught up in several ethics investigations. on this issue, marianne defends

her ex-husband. is he an ethical man? >> at the time, i believed him to be ethical. >> reporter: marianne herself became the subject of an fbi sting investigation, after meeting in paris with a notorious arms dealer, who was working as an undercover government source. the investigation was ultimately dropped. but a 1997 fbi document, obtained by abc news says, gingrich told the source that she was in a position to get things done in congress. and asked for $500,000 for herself, up front, as part of an alleged $10 million bribe to buy influence with her husband, the speaker of the house. >> this is all made up, fabricated hogwash. this is a convicted felon talking with people who have nothing to do with me. >> reporter: but you met with him? >> i did meet with him. >> reporter: it would cost $10 million to get the job done. did you ever try to sell your husband's position?

>> heavens no. >> reporter: newt gingrich lost his power as speaker of the house and resigned from congress in 1998. a year later, he asked for a divorce. and, says marianne, began to plan his campaign to run for president with callista by his side, who is probably best-known in this campaign for the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry gingrich bought for her at tiffany's. >> he did tell me once that she was going to help him become president. >> reporter: what was your reaction to that? >> didn't look like help to me. >> reporter: we asked the gingrich campaign if he would appear tonight in our report. but they declined to make him available. following gingrich's strong denial tonight at the open marriage allegations, i checked back with his ex-wife, marianne, who told me by phone, she stands by her story. my story is the truth, she told me. if he had really changed, he could have stepped up tonight

and said he was sorry. but he never has. that is her reaction tonight, terry. >> and a tough one it is, brian. as you know, this story has sparked a lot of controversy. tonight at that cnn debate in south carolina, newt gingrich spoke out passionately about it, about the whole subject, after moderator, john king, made it the first question. >> i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country. harder to attract decent people to run for public office. and i'm appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like this. to take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary, a significant question in a presidential campaign, is as close to despicable as anything i can imagine. >> so, you have the story, newt gingrich's reaction and the debate and campaign continue. brian ross, thanks very much for

that. we're going to take a break. still ahead, passengers on that doomed italian cruise ship, told to return to their cabins as it sunk. we go inside the moment of crisis. ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! what were you looking for when you bought your edge? um, i was definitely looking for fuel economy. that's the whole reason we, we wanted to look at the ecoboost. can you talk a little bit about the style of the edge? um, well, i think it's very hip. i even have several guys were like "whoa, do have twenties on those". like, don't even know what that means, but i guess it's cool. (laugh) it just wouldn't go away. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia -- thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city, with terry moran. tonight, more questions about what the crew on that stricken cruise liner off the coast of italy did in the moments after the crash. one crew member told the shore operator, there was a blackout onboard. but didn't say anything about the accident. and new video tonight captures a chilling message of calm, as this ship was starting to go down. abc's lama hasan has the very latest from italy. >> reporter: as the damaged

"costa concordia" cruise ship was taking on water, revealing amateur video emerged today on an italian newspaper's website, showing a crew member urging passengers in life vests not to evacuate. she urges them to return to their cabins. to, quote, stay calm and seated. saying, everything is under control. six treacherous days later, with eight bodies identified and 21 still missing, we now know things were not under control. and critics of the video, today, said it reveals a massive failure in safety training. >> nobody knew what they were doing. it was chaos. unfortunately, i think it's been 100 years since the "titanic." and there were shades of the "titanic" there. >> reporter: why did it take more than an hour after impact for the crew to call an evacuation order? today, a mystery witness emerged. she was employed as an international hostess were

russian passengers. she was seen dining with captain schettino at 9:00 p.m., just before the accident, according to reports. he did a very good job, she said. he saved over 3,000 lives. despite criticism of the captain, who is facing charges of manslaughter and for abandoning the ship, she says he remained calm and ordered officers to take care of children and disabled people. he was trying to make the ship level, she said. the captain brought the vessel very close to the rocks, to position it in the best way to save lives. the new audio released today, suggests the crew downplayed the crisis onboard. 40 minutes after impact, a call was made to port officials. >> do you have problems onboard? >> yes. affirmative. we have a blackout onboard. >> how long has there been this blackout? >> approximately 20 minutes. 20 minutes. >> reporter: the search and

rescue operation has now turned into a recovery one. when that's done, then, the process of pumping the fuel onboard the ship can begin. a satellite photo now captures the wreckage from outer space. underneath the water, divers are working in difficult and extreme conditions to find the missing. >> it was like, let's say milk inside. they had glass doors on their head. fill it up inside with the furnitures and the souvenirs and all things. the ceiling was on their side. >> reporter: coast guard divers are operating in pairs, connected by ropes to ensure their safety during this treacherous mission. >> yesterday, we suspended the search because of the ship was moving. >> reporter: while nothing this catastrophic has happened in the cruise line industry in decades, legislators say this is a wake-up call to improve safety in a less-than-perfect industry. >> it is a can value line, owned

by carnival. but it's flagged in italy. so, it's international. and the maritime laws are much different. >> get the kids. go, go. >> reporter: despite the negative p.r. for the cruise industry, officials say it hasn't stopped people from booking cruises. but industry experts are taking this disaster seriously. >> there will be lessons learned. and they will be applied throughout the investigative process. people don't have to go on a cruise. they want to have a feeling of security. and we need to provide that to them in order to survive as a business. >> reporter: coast guard officials don't know how much longer efforts will go on. the priority right now is to continue rescuing bodies. with forecasts of a storm looming, the fear is now that the ship may slip off the rocks it is purged on and sink into the sea. for "nightline," i'm lama hasan, in italy.

>> incredible pictures. wall street disney company is the parent company of abc and owns the disney cruise line. tomorrow night, abc's chris cuomo will anchor a special "20/20," "cruise ship confidential," with a look at this tragedy. and what you need to know before you take a cruise. up next, stars as parents. we'll tell you what all their children have in common. and during the four course feast, there's so much to choose from. [ male announcer ] the four course seafood feast is back at red lobster. still just $15. get soup, salad, unlimited cheddar bay biscuits, dessert, and your choice of 7 entrées, like new honey bbq shrimp skewers or shrimp and scallops alfredo. all four courses, just $15. [ jody ] it's really good value. all my guests love it. i'm jody gonzalez, red lobster general manager. and i sea food differently.

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well, in today's celebrity culture, when mom and dad are bold-face names, then, baby may end up on a magazine cover before that first birthday candle is lit. and here's nick watt, with america's tiniest stars,

tonight's "sign of the times." >> reporter: stars are now born before they're even born, if you get what i'm saying. big names with bumps have become paparazzi bold. let's take blue ivory carter. tmz is all over the pictures. day five, she's the youngest person ever to hit the billboard chart, yodelling with her doting daddy on "glory." day ten, and they say jay-z will never be the same again. such is the star wattage of little b.i.c. the poem penned by the hip-hop maestro. before i got into the game, made a change and got rich. i didn't think hard about using the word bitch. i know my accent sounds ridiculous. but i'm soldiering on. now, with my daughter in this

world, i curse those that give it. turns out that poem's a fake. baby b.i.c. spawned her first internet hoax. that's star power. some day soon she'll have her own fake blog, like suri cruise. it's actually written by a grown-up named allie. she paints suri as a sophisticate. 4 is the age when one starts appreciating sushi and nightclubs. soon, sad adults like me will leaf through gossip magazines, comparing her wardrobe with apple, violet. and pretty soon, they'll be embarrassed by their aging, gyrating moms, like the teenage lourdes of madonna. and baby b.i.c. even hasn't been photographed in public. so much exciting voyerism ahead of us. i'm nick watt, for "nightline," in london. >> nick watt, on the babies of stars. thanks for watching abc news. we hope ch