Tulsi Gabbard’s life has always been in the spotlight. From her time in Congress to her military service and her controversial political stances, she’s never been a quiet figure. But while the world knows plenty about her career, her personal life has always been more private. Who is the man she married, and what kind of family shaped the person she is today?
Two Marriages, Two Different Stories
Gabbard’s first marriage wasn’t built for the long haul. In 2002, at just 21 years old, she married Eduardo Tamayo. It wasn’t a high-profile relationship, and most people didn’t even know much about him. The only real detail that became public was how it ended.
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By 2004, Gabbard was deployed to Iraq with the Hawaii Army National Guard, and the time apart put pressure on their relationship. When she returned home, the marriage had fallen apart. In 2006, they divorced. Gabbard later admitted that the stress of war made it difficult to hold a relationship together, and that was that.
Nearly a decade later, she found love again, but this time with someone completely outside the political world. Abraham Williams was a freelance cinematographer who volunteered to shoot Gabbard’s campaign ads. They met through work, but it was surfing and film that brought them closer.
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In 2015, they got married in a traditional Hindu ceremony in Hawaii. Unlike her first marriage, this one has been much more private. Williams rarely appears in the political spotlight. He’s never tried to make a name for himself off his wife’s success, and that seems to be exactly how they both prefer it.
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In 2024, Gabbard opened up about something she had never talked about publicly before. She and Williams had been trying to start a family, going through multiple rounds of IVF treatments. So far, they haven’t been successful. It was a rare glimpse into their personal life, a side of Gabbard she usually keeps out of the public eye.
The Gabbard Family: A Mixed Cultural Background
Gabbard’s family is just as unique as her career. She was born in American Samoa, but she spent most of her life in Hawaii. Her father, Mike Gabbard, is a longtime politician in the state. He’s been in the Hawaii Senate since 2006 and has built his career on socially conservative views, though his political affiliations have shifted over the years.
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Her mother, Carol Porter Gabbard, comes from a European-American background and has spent much of her life working in education and community service. Together, they raised Tulsi and her four siblings in a home that blended different cultural and religious influences.
Gabbard’s father is of Samoan and European descent, and her upbringing was deeply tied to island culture. But religion also played a major role in shaping her beliefs.
Hindu Faith and Its Influence on Her Life
While her family wasn’t originally Hindu, Gabbard made the decision to embrace the faith when she was a teenager. She follows Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a tradition within Hinduism that focuses on devotion to Krishna.
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Her commitment to the faith isn’t just personal—it’s been a defining part of her public identity. She became the first Hindu member of Congress and has made a point of weaving her religious beliefs into her political career.
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Her wedding to Williams reflected those beliefs. It wasn’t a typical Western ceremony—it was a full Vedic Hindu wedding, complete with Sanskrit chants and sacred fire rituals. It was a strong statement about who she is and what she values.
Gabbard’s connection to Hinduism has also shaped her foreign policy positions. She has built close ties with Indian leaders and has been vocal about religious freedom issues. But not everyone has supported her stance. Critics have accused her of being too aligned with India’s ruling party, while others see her as a rare American politician who actually understands the complexities of the region.
A Private Life, By Design
Unlike many politicians, Gabbard doesn’t parade her family around for the cameras. While she’s been open about certain struggles, like her infertility journey, most of her personal life is kept out of the public eye.
Williams, despite being married to a high-profile figure, has remained in the background. He works in film, not politics, and that’s how he seems to like it. You won’t find him giving interviews about his wife or trying to become a political personality himself.
Even with her family background, Gabbard doesn’t talk much about her parents in relation to her career. Her father’s conservative politics could have created a complicated dynamic, given her own shifts in ideology, but she’s never made a big deal about it.
More Than Just a Politician
Tulsi Gabbard’s life isn’t easy to put into a single category. She’s been a soldier, a lawmaker, a presidential candidate, and a media commentator. But her personal life, in many ways, is just as layered.
She’s had a marriage that didn’t survive the pressures of war and one that seems to thrive in privacy. She was raised in a home influenced by multiple cultures and religions, yet she chose to fully embrace Hinduism on her own terms. She’s built a career in the spotlight while keeping her personal world mostly in the shadows.
Through it all, Gabbard has made one thing clear—she controls the narrative of her life, and she decides what the public gets to see.
