Staffers allege a regression in Sen. John Fetterman’s recovery, tension with wife Gisele in NYMag report

Former and current staffers are expressing concerns about Sen. John Fetterman’s well-being, with his former chief of staff painting the mental health of the senator, who previously underwent treatment for clinical depression, as more dire than previously reported.

Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s former chief of staff, penned an email to the medical director of the traumatic brain injury and neuropsychiatry unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last year, worried about the trajectory of Fetterman’s behavior, according to a profile published Friday in New York Magazine. The revelations have raised questions about Fetterman’s fitness for office.

In February 2023, a month after he was sworn in, the Pennsylvania Democrat was admitted to Walter Reed for his mental health and discharged a month later with a recovery plan — blood work, staying on his medication, exercise — that appeared to be working. But his erratic behavior, New York Magazine reported, has appeared to create tense dynamics with his wife, Gisele, and his colleagues on Capitol Hill.

Fetterman, who was interviewed by New York Magazine last month, insisted that nothing was wrong. He said any former staffers would not know information about his personal health and those who commented on it are “disgruntled employees.” He didn’t have any comment when asked if there was truth to staffers’ concerns about a potential relapse and whether he was taking necessary medication. Representatives for Fetterman did not immediately respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment.

The senator, who assumed office in January 2023, experienced other health struggles during the 2022 election when he suffered a stroke in the homestretch of his campaign against Republican Mehmet Oz.

Fetterman is often willing to cross party lines, which often draws the ire of his own constituents. At one point, he had to fend off rumors that he was switching to the Republican Party. According to the New York Magazine interview, staffers were unsure as to whether some of his divisive decisions, like visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago, were the result of his mental health.

The May 2024 email from Jentleson to David Williamson, the Walter Reed physician who oversaw Fetterman’s care while the senator was seeking treatment for depression in 2023, detailed several concerns about the Democrat’s well-being.

The 1,600-word email, according to the magazine, showed Jentleson outlining to Williamson “the kind of warning signs we discussed,” including “Conspiratorial thinking; megalomania (for example, he claims to be the most knowledgeable source on Israel and Gaza around but his sources are just what he reads in the news — he declines most briefings and never reads memos).”

After the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023, Fetterman’s support for Israel became one of his top issues. He has exchanged gifts with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and last year received the “Defender of Israel” award from the Zionist Organization of America.

The senator’s defense of Israel, however, coincided with an apparent retrogression in his recovery, New York Magazine reported. At that time, he had been behind on blood work — a key part of his recovery plan.

Another part of that recovery plan was the suggestion for Fetterman to avoid social media, but the war with Gaza beckoned the senator back to X. At one point, according to the magazine article, a meme posted to the senator’s social media account forced a push-and-pull between Fetterman and his staffers, who begged to take it down.

But reportedly, a staffer said, Fetterman didn’t want to concede to the “woke mob.”

One of the most stunning statements Fetterman made about the war and his opposition to a ceasefire was: “Let’s get back to killing,” according to the magazine article.

He denied this recollection of events and said to New York Magazine: “Any reference to killing was solely about Hamas, and I do support the destruction of that organization, down to its last member.”

Fetterman’s support for Israel — and other issues — was also reportedly a point of contention between him and his wife, Gisele, a philanthropist and nonprofit leader who is a former undocumented immigrant from Brazil.

According to the New York Magazine article, Gisele arrived at Fetterman’s Senate office and, according to a staffer, got into an argument regarding Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

“They are bombing refugee camps. How can you support this?” the staffer recalled her saying, the magazine reported.

He assured her it was all propaganda. And eventually, according to the magazine, Gisele, who is a key part of his political brand, asked for assistance in separating herself from her husband’s position on Israel.

There have been other moments of frustration and tension in their relationship, the magazine reported, including Fetterman pushing her to travel with him to Mar-a-Lago (which she eventually did), taking a seemingly random trip that made him miss one of his children’s birthdays, and Gisele refusing to speak with Fetterman until his blood was tested.

Gisele told New York Magazine: “I would talk to John’s doctors about what Adam [Jentleson] was telling me and they would be confused. Those doctors would tell me that their concerns were not with John, but with Adam. Any alleged ‘concerns’ heard from me came straight from those lies, not from John’s doctors or my own eyes.”

She was also with Fetterman during a particularly scary moment in June 2024 when he was driving at 70 mph — a “high rate of speed, well over the posted speed limit,” according to a police report — on Interstate 70 in Hancock, Md., and his Chevrolet Traverse struck a Chevrolet Impala being driven by a 62-year-old woman from Pennsylvania.

» READ MORE: Sen. John Fetterman got two speeding tickets before Sunday’s crash, Pa. records show

As previously reported by The Inquirer at the time, Gisele and her husband were taken to the hospital out of an abundance of caution. But more details were revealed when New York Magazine reported that Gisele suffered pulmonary contusion and spinal fractures and that Fetterman, who has a history of reckless driving behaviors and was found “at fault” for the accident, called a staffer and said he fell asleep at the wheel.

Fetterman’s openness to the GOP has taken various forms. For example, he’s created an account on Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, and expressed a willingness to support several of the president’s cabinet picks during Senate confirmations earlier this year.

But one impending confirmation in particular, seemed to bother Fetterman immensely, New York Magazine reported, as he was torn on whether to vote for then-Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who faced allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse.

According to the article, Fetterman suggested he should flee Washington for his parents’ house in York, Pa. The pressure Fetterman felt about Hegseth’s confirmation, as well as rumors about him leaving the Democratic Party, reportedly resulted in the senator locking himself in his office, fighting with his wife, and crying as he FaceTimed with staff.

Ultimately, Fetterman voted no on Hegseth.

Fetterman is largely isolated, New York Magazine reported. He removed himself from the Democratic-caucus group chat, rarely attends hearings, has missed more votes the first quarter of 2025 than any other senator, and has had verbal altercations with fellow senators. There were days where staff had to shield him from anyone outside the office in case he acted impolitely toward constituents.

Shortly before Fetterman was admitted to Walter Reed in 2023, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) went to visit Fetterman in his new Capitol Hill office and, despite Brown’s best efforts, Fetterman was “catatonic.”

But it does appear that he has a few friends, namely Sen. Peter Welch (D., Vt.) and Sen. Katie Britt (R., Ala.), who have occasionally dined together and shared stories about their families.

Welch said when he visited Fetterman at Walter Reed it was like “seeing a friend who was in really rough shape suddenly being his old self.”