Dana Perino Opens Up About Marriage to Peter McMahon, the Older British Seatmate She Fell For on a 1997 Flight (Exclusive)

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14-05-2025

Dana Perino was 25 when she got on a flight that would change her life.
On Aug. 17, 1997, the future White House press secretary and Fox News host met her now-husband, Peter McMahon, on an airplane from Denver to Chicago. She had just secured a great job on Capitol Hill, and starting a long-distance romance with the older British man sitting beside her wasn't part of the plan.
Twenty-eight years later, Perino tells PEOPLE it was one of the best decisions she's ever made.
Perino remembers noticing on the plane that McMahon, then 43, wasn't wearing a wedding ring and, shortly after, she heard his 'great accent.' Not to mention, 'he was a handsome guy,' McMahon chimes in.
But it was his stories — of international business ventures, a Royal Air Force childhood and all the stamps on his passport — that propelled interesting conversation between the two for the duration of the eastbound flight.
'We had polite conversation at first. I asked him about his book, he asked me how my trip was, but we ended up talking for two and a half hours,' Perino tells PEOPLE, adding, 'We call it love at first flight.'
Thus began their long-distance relationship, with its fair share of hurdles. McMahon was based in England, while Perino was building her career in Washington, D.C. Beyond that, Perino was worried about telling her friends and family she'd begun dating a man 18 years her senior, she says.
Despite the obstacles, her loved ones widely supported the relationship. Perino's father admitted he thought an older man was just what she needed — 'because I was [always] a little bit in a hurry in my life,' Perino says.
Perino had her own doubts at first about getting too serious with McMahon, though. Moving to England just as she began making career moves seemed a daunting decision, and she had never pictured spending her life with an older man.
At the time, one of her friends offered her what Perino believes to be the best piece of advice she's ever received: 'Do not pass up the chance to be loved.'
It's a guiding sentiment in her new book, I Wish Someone Had Told Me, as that tidbit 'changed the course of my life dramatically,' she says, insisting that relationships shouldn't be seen as distractions for career-oriented people.
Perino had been working as the press secretary for a Colorado congressman, and when he announced his retirement in 1998, she took the opportunity to move to England and marry McMahon — a year after they met.
Recognizing that the move would be a major adjustment for her, McMahon told his new wife that he would be supportive if she ever changed her mind about living abroad.
Perino tells PEOPLE that her relationship became an important foundation to rely on as she navigated some major career moves in the years that followed. In 1999, the couple relocated to San Diego, where she worked in public relations, and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she returned to D.C. to do communications in the Bush administration.
By 2007, she had risen the ranks to become the nation's second female White House press secretary, serving under President George W. Bush.
McMahon — an international businessman — often helped Perino research foreign policy matters, and as a husband he's supported her as she chases her own goals.
Around the time she landed the press secretary job, Perino recalls, she needed to bolster her knowledge of the Middle East peace process, so McMahon joined her as she watched documentary after documentary, asking critical questions about the information and adding in bits of his own knowledge. That experience helped Perino prepare to brief the press following Bush's first presidential visit to Israel.
The point being, Perino continues, her husband has acted as 'the wizard behind the curtain' in many of her professional endeavors.
'Choosing to be loved is not a career-limiting decision,' Perino tells PEOPLE, adding, 'I truly believe that nothing I have accomplished would have been possible without him. It wouldn't have meant as much.'
As the current co-host of two popular programs on Fox News, The Five and America's Newsroom, Perino is no less busy than in her government days. But she and McMahon — now ages 53 and 70, respectively — continue working to carve out moments for one another.
'There's not enough time to do all I want to do," Perino says, "and I really want to do a lot of things with him.'
Read the original article on People