Ald. Jackson Says Husband “Getting Better”

Sandi Jackson denies Jesse Jackson Jr is suffering from any sort of addiction

The wife of embattled congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. on Thursday said she believes her husband's medical issues are related to the gastric bypass surgery he had several years ago.

"He was depressed, plus he was extremely exhausted. And he was malabsorbed from not getting enough nutrients," Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) said at her first public appearance in two months: the renaming of a street for Henry English.

The alderman initially avoided mentioning her husband during the event, but in a meeting with reporters shortly after reported that "he’s getting better."

"I have every confidence in the doctors at Mayo that they will come up with the right combination of medications," she said. "We’re very hopeful he will get better."

She denied her husband is suffering from any sort of addiction.

The Jackson family and his spokespeople have avoided media communication since the questionable hospitalization last month.

The alderman said it’s up to the doctors to decide when the congressman will return to office and dodged answering if earlier rumors of a September release were true.

Earlier this week, the New York Post reported that Rev. Jesse Jackson was looking to dump his son from Congress and replace him with younger brother Jonathan. Rep. Jackson’s spokesman Rick Bryant said the story was categorically false. The reverend called it a "total fabrication."

Jackson Jr’s staff is reassuring officials in his district that he will be back on the job soon. 

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