Patrick Clancy Forgave Lindsay After Kids' Deaths, He Says

In a 60 Minutes interview, Patrick Clancy says he publicly forgave his ex-wife despite headlines, and describes holding baby Callan as he died.

Patrick Clancy sat down with correspondent Ross Douthat for CBS News' 60 Minutes just weeks after his ex-wife Lindsay Clancy's triple-murder trial ended in a mistrial. According to CBS News, Clancy said his grief was so overwhelming that at one point he did not expect to live to see his 35th birthday. Fox News, which also covered the interview, reports the broadcast aired after the September 4 mistrial, with jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of finding Lindsay not criminally responsible by reason of postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors have not announced whether they will retry her.

The most harrowing detail, reported by both CBS News and Fox News, is Clancy's desperate hope that his 8-month-old son Callan would survive after 5-year-old Cora and 3-year-old Dawson were found dead. Both outlets quote him pleading, 'Just give me one kid, and I would raise him as best I could.' Callan's heart kept beating for four days at Boston Children's Hospital, and both outlets quote Clancy saying, 'I got to hold him. I got to lay down next to him. And he died in my arms.' Fox News adds that Clancy wrote tributes to all three children during the vigil, fearing their memories would fade.

The interview's consensus-breaking element is Clancy's public forgiveness of Lindsay, who never asked for it. According to CBS News, he said tabloid labels like 'killer mom' and 'monster' were inaccurate, and that 'I believe that it was her mental illness that caused that.' Fox News reports he feared anger would consume him if he could not forgive her, saying, 'I felt that if I didn't get there, I would be eaten up inside.' Fox News also reports Lindsay described her memory of the killings as dreamlike, 'much in the way you would remember a dream after waking up.'

Both outlets say the mistrial unleashed what 60 Minutes' Ross Douthat called a 'trial by TikTok,' with online sleuths spreading theories portraying Clancy as uncaring, unfaithful, or even responsible for the children's deaths. Per CBS News, Clancy had a 'massive, traumatic' panic attack on his second day of testimony, refused ambulance medication, and returned to finish. Fox News quotes him saying the attacks are 'deeply harmful to the legacy of my children' and distract from perinatal mental health. His apparent stoicism on the stand had fueled the speculation, both outlets note.

Moving forward, Clancy remarried in April to Dr. Rachel Danis, a New York fertility doctor he met in January 2024 at a run club, according to CBS News and Fox News, which both recount Danis noticing photos of his children on his phone at a coffee shop. The couple is starting a family, and Clancy told CBS News he 'can't wait to tell them about their brothers and sister.' The unresolved question is whether prosecutors will retry Lindsay Clancy after the hung jury. Both Clancy and Lindsay have filed medical malpractice lawsuits against the providers who treated her.