Mark Sanford Splits With Former 'Soul Mate'

Mark Sanford's latest Facebook post comes in at 2,346 words, which, for the record, is slightly longer than the 2,180 miles of the Appalachian Trail. In it, the South Carolina congressman explains that he and fiancee Maria Belen Chapur of Argentina are splitting up, reports the Washington Examiner. Chapur, of course, is the "soul mate" for whom Sanford, then governor of his home state, left his wife. When the scandal first began surfacing in 2009, Sanford added a new phrase to the lexicon of infidelity by saying that he had been "hiking the Appalachian Trail" during a five-day absence from the state, recounts the Post and Courier of Charleston.

Why the breakup? Sanford blames the nasty legal battles he's still fighting with ex-wife Jenny Sanford. "No relationship can stand forever this tension of being forced to pick between the one you love and your own son or daughter, and for this reason Belen and I have decided to call off the engagement,” he writes. “Maybe there will be another chapter when waters calm with Jenny, but at this point the environment is not conducive to building anything given no one would want to be caught in the middle of what’s now happening." He does not again call her a soul mate, settling instead for "kindred spirit." (More Mark Sanford stories.)