‘I Didn’t Think I Would Live’: Patrick Clancy Speaks Out in First Interview Since Lindsay Clancy Mistrial

Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband spoke to CBS News about losing his children, the dangers of TikTok sleuths, and how he's rebuilding his life Patrick Clancy is finally breaking his silence. The 38-year-old is the former husband of Lindsay Clancy, a Duxbury, Massachusetts nurse at the center of a national trial and debate over postpartum mental health. In 2023, Lindsay allegedly asked Patrick to leave the home to pick up takeout for dinner and medication from a local pharmacy. While he was gone, she is accused of taking her three children — Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan — down to the basement in their family home and using exercise bands to strangle them. Clancy then jumped from a second-story window, leaving her paralyzed upon impact. Patrick then returned home to discover Lindsay and his children’s bodies. Earlier this month, Lindsay’s triple murder trial ended in a mistrial (Lindsay did not deny killing the children; the trial was set to determine whether she was legally responsible for her actions). Prosecutors have not announced whether they plan to retry Lindsay. Now, Patrick is speaking out for the first time since the mistrial in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes about the tragic deaths of his children and how he’s rebuilt his life in the years since — including the public scrutiny during the trial that left hundreds of TikTok sleuths accusing him of committing the murders and framing his ex-wife. “I saw headlines that said ‘Killer Mom,’ and ‘Baby Murderer,’ ‘Monster.’ And none of [them] were accurate. I believe that it was her mental illness that caused that,” Patrick said, defending Lindsay. “When it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn’t get there, I would be eaten up inside forever.” @60minutes In the aftermath of the death of Patrick Clancy’s children, many found it inconceivable that he would forgive his wife, Lindsay Clancy. On 60 Minutes, Patrick tells 60 Minutes that Lindsay never asked for his forgiveness after killing their three children. “I think when it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn’t get there, I would be eaten up inside forever,” he says. #patrickclancy #clancy ♬ original sound – 60 Minutes According to Patrick, he only began to notice that Lindsay was struggling with her mental health in the fall of 2022. At the time, Lindsay said she had been struggling to sleep and eventually began trying to seek help for postpartum depression. Lindsay suffered from intense dark periods and intrusive thoughts, and by December 2022, she checked herself into McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Editor’s picks “I could piece together what it was like to be really, really anxious or depressed, but I didn’t know how to manage a postpartum illness,” Patrick said. “I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive. So I’m sure there are things that I didn’t see.” When he returned home that January 2023 day to find his children strangled, Patrick told 60 Minutes he originally believed his youngest would survive. First responders didn’t give him the full details of Callan’s injuries, so when he arrived at the hospital, he thought there might be a chance the infant could recover. “I remember thinking, ‘Just gimme one kid, and I would raise him as best I could, and I would give him the best life I possibly could. I’d tell him about his brother and sister.’ I was holding out hope for that,” he said, through tears. “When I got to the hospital, I saw the doctor. I saw the look on her face, and I knew that it wasn’t gonna be a good prognosis.” @60minutes In an interview on 60 Minutes, Patrick Clancy says he didn’t know how to manage postpartum mental illness when his then-wife Lindsay Clancy was struggling after the birth of their third child. “I could piece together what it was like to be really, really anxious or depressed, but I didn’t know how to manage a postpartum illness,” he says. “I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive. So I’m sure there are things that I didn’t see.” #patrickclancy #clancy #postpartum ♬ original sound – 60 Minutes Patrick didn’t share the exact timeline of when he spoke to Lindsay, both during her hospitalization and incarceration or during the trial, but he noted that when he asked his ex-wife if she remembered the stranglings, she described it “the way you would remember a dream after waking up.” Patrick himself admitted to struggling with intense suicidal ideation after the tragic incident. “There was a time where I didn’t think I would live to see my 35th birthday,” he said. “And I was completely fine with it.” In the years since, Patrick has moved to New York City, where he lives with his wife, Rachel Danis. (The two married in April 2026.) According to Danis, the two met at a run club. Over coffee, one of their first conversations was about Patrick’s kids. “I always try to take some of the weight from Pat. I always wanna strive to do that. I know I can’t fix [it]. I can’t bring his kids back,” Danis said. “But if I can honor them and allow Pat to grieve but also just continue to honor them in the present, I guess that’s all I can do.” The two said they are “starting a family” but did not clarify on any sort of timeline. Related Content While Patrick said that he’s offered Lindsay forgiveness, he had sharper words for TikTok and internet commentators who accused him of framing his ex-wife and committing the murders himself. He called the rumors “deeply harmful” to his children’ s legacy — but more importantly, a distraction to the discussion about “perinatal mental health.” “It’s done real harm to real people, myself included but also others. It’s painful to see,” he said. “It makes it difficult to be in public, and it’s possible that some of those people, after seeing lie after lie after lie, they start to believe it.” Trending Stories Patrick said his apartment in New York City is filled with memories of his children. There’s Cora’s baby sloth figurine — a plush version of the animal she loved best; photos of all of them, and Dawson’s helicopter, sound and scrapes still intact. Patrick has said that he intends to tell any other children he has about them. But when asked whether he failed Lindsay, he answered simply. “I think I did the best I could with what I had at the time,” Patrick said. “And I live with the outcome. I live with it every day.”