Ginger White poses for a photo near Dunwoody, Ga. on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. In an explosive allegation, White said Monday she and Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain had a 13-year extramarital affair that lasted nearly until the former businessman announced his candidacy for the White House several months ago. (AP Photo/Greg Bluestein)
Ginger White poses for a photo near Dunwoody, Ga. on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. In an explosive allegation, White said Monday she and Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain had a 13-year extramarital affair that lasted nearly until the former businessman announced his candidacy for the White House several months ago. (AP Photo/Greg Bluestein)
Republican presidential candidate, Herman Cain speaks during a campaign rally, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
ATLANTA (AP) ? The woman who says she had a long-running extramarital affair with Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is a single mother and Atlanta-area businesswoman who has faced repeated financial trouble and once lost a lawsuit accusing her of spreading damaging lies about an ex-business partner.
Ginger White, 46, stepped into the national spotlight Monday when she disclosed what she said was a consensual sexual affair that lasted more than a decade and ended just before Cain, who is married, started running for president this year.
Cain has denied wrongdoing, calling White a "troubled Atlanta businesswoman" whom he was trying to help get through financial troubles.
White stood by her allegations Wednesday, telling ABC's "Good Morning America" that she was disappointed with Cain's characterization of her and that she was coming forward "to state the truth."
In her first interview Monday on Fox 5 in Atlanta, White said she expected to be scrutinized.
A review of public records shows years of money woes for the woman who lives with her children at a Dunwoody apartment complex north of Atlanta. Court records show her landlord has repeatedly sued White for failing to pay rent.
"I don't think that makes me out to be a bad person," White told Fox 5 when asked about her financial problems. "It makes me out to be one of the millions of people right now trying to keep a roof over their head."
At one point, White also lost a libel lawsuit claiming that she spread career-damaging lies during an acrimonious breakup with her business partner, Kimberly Vay. They both worked as managers and coaches at No Limit Cycling, which operated inside a recreation center owned by Atlanta's government.
White moved in November 2010 to end her association with Vay, who reluctantly agreed, according to a lawsuit that Vay later filed. The following month, White incorporated her business and listed herself as the sole manager, state records show. The company dissolved six months later.
Shortly after leaving the business, Vay asked a state judge to sign a temporary protective order prohibiting White from contacting Vay and her family. Vay accused White of sending her repeated emails and texts in which White threatened to file lawsuits and relay false accusations to her employers.
Vay filed a libel lawsuit against White and asked the judge to withdraw her earlier request for a protective order. In the suit, Vay accused White of sending a defamatory email to business clients, fitness center managers, Mayor Kasim Reed's office and other city officials.
White said in her email that her business had "come tumbling down" on "the day I invited Kim Vay into my life and my business," according to Vay's lawsuit. The suit also alleged that White accused Vay in the email of using veterinary drugs prior to bodybuilding shows, an allegation Vay denied.
A judge ruled in favor of Vay because White never responded to the lawsuit. A jury must still decide how much she must pay Vay in damages. White's attorney, Edward Buckley, said White did not know about the lawsuit and thought the dispute had been settled with negotiations.
Court records show a state official hand-delivered paperwork notifying White about the case to her brother-in-law at the address where White lives now.
Vay, through her attorney, declined to comment.
"My client is not interested in throwing any more dirt on the other," Vay's lawyer, Kurt Martin, said.
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Ray Henry can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/rhenryAP.
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Associated Press writers Christina Almeida in Decatur and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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