Right Pundits

Meet Leisha Pickering, wife of Chip Pickering who is a Congressman from Mississippi. The couple has announced they are divorcing shortly after Pickering announced he was retiring from Congress in order to spend more time with his family. Read her biography and see photos and a video of her below.

It seems like less than a year ago that Mississippi Congressman Chip Pickering announced he’d not be running for re-election so that he could spend more time with his beloved family. Actually, it was, in fact, just last August. Now it appears that spending more time with his family might not have been exactly the best option for him as he’s now announced he has filed for divorce from his wife of 20 years. Maybe he should have stay in Congress.

The court papers, filed on June 27, cite ‘irreconcilable differences’.

“My decision to initiate a divorce proceeding has been difficult and not one that I have entered into lightly,” he said. “This decision is both personal and painful for me and my family.

“I hope people will understand that this is a private matter and, for the sake of our boys, will respect our privacy during this difficult time. I will not have any further public comments concerning these proceedings,” Pickering said.

Leisha Jane Prather is from Memphis, Tennessee and is the daughter of a prominent Memphis thoracic surgeon. She graduated from Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis in 1977. She graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in Communicative Disorders. She was a cheerleader while there. After she graduated from college, she did missions work in China, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic.

Leisha Pickering is an accomplished pastry chef. She has been featured on the Food Network. She owns an event planning business. She has coordinated events for Presidential Inaugurations as well as the 9-11 Widows’ Baby Show in New York. She has also coordinated the First Lady’s Luncheon and catered dinners for some of the most prominent players in Washington, D.C.

Following the catastrophic events created by Hurricane Katrina, she founded a non-profit called HANDS (Helping Americans Needing Disaster Support) which assisted thousands of Mississippians affected by the hurricane. She serves on numerous boards, including the Board of Trustees for Belhaven College, the Board of Directors for the Palmer Home for Children. She has been active in organizations and committees for to spouses of Congressional members.

She met Chip Pickering while they were both students at the University of Mississippi and they married in 1988. They live near Flora, Mississippi in rural Madison County on a 13-acre farm. The couple has five sons; Will, Ross, Jackson, Asher, and Harper.