Patrick Clancy’s wife, Rachel Danis, is expecting the couple’s first child, the 60 Minutes journalist who interviewed them last week has confirmed.
Ross Douthat shared the news Monday morning during an appearance on CBS Mornings. Responding to host Nate Burleson, he said simply: “They are having a child.”
Douthat was answering Burleson’s question about his experience handling his first assignment for the CBS newsmagazine.
The interview aired Sunday night.
Patrick’s former wife, Lindsay Clancy, killed the couple’s three young children at their $650,000 home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023. Her triple-homicide trial ended earlier this month with an 11-1 jury deadlock and a mistrial.
Clancy, 38, testified about his former wife’s mental state and gave 60 Minutes his first interview since the trial.
Danis, a New York fertility doctor, was revealed to be part of the interview late last week. Recent photographs of her with Clancy appear to show a slight baby bump.
Patrick Clancy is pictured with his wife, Rachel Danis, in New York City earlier this month. A 60 Minutes journalist who interviewed the couple confirmed Monday that Danis is pregnant.
Patrick Clancy and Rachel Danis appear on 60 Minutes on Sunday evening. Clancy moved to New York after his former wife, Lindsay Clancy, killed their three children at the family’s Massachusetts home in 2023.
Ross Douthat said he had been “too coy” when asking the couple during Sunday’s exclusive interview about whether they planned to start a family.
Clancy filed for divorce in February 2024, a year after Lindsay killed their five-year-old daughter, three-year-old son and eight-month-old baby at the family’s Massachusetts home.
He spent two days testifying about his former wife’s state of mind before the January 2023 killings.
Lindsay Clancy could still face a retrial. One juror refused to find her not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, the defense strategy commonly described as an insanity defense.
The former labor and delivery nurse admitted to fatally strangling the children before attempting suicide at the Massachusetts home she once shared with her husband. Her attorneys argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they intend to try the 36-year-old again.
While testifying, Clancy described Lindsay as a “very dedicated” mother who would do anything for their children. He repeated that view during his 60 Minutes interview.
His attorney, Howard Cooper, released a statement after last week’s mistrial, warning that there would be “consequences” for true-crime creators who have drawn Clancy into conspiracy theories.
In the interview, Clancy recalled how multiple combinations of prescription medications from several doctors failed to halt what he called his wife’s “big spiral.”
Patrick Clancy’s former wife, Lindsay, is seen in a Massachusetts courtroom earlier this month. The jury could not reach a unanimous decision on whether she murdered her children, resulting in a mistrial.
The Clancys’ three children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, are pictured before their deaths.
He claimed his wife began to tell him about ‘intrusive thoughts’ she was having about harming the children around early December 2022.
‘She described thoughts of hurting the kids or them having some sort of ailment,’ he said on the stand.
Clancy testified that he did not feel concerned for his kids’ safety because his wife did not express ‘any intention’ to act on those thoughts.
A multi-day stay in the psychiatric ward of a local hospital the following month left him thinking his wife’s mental health was set to improve.
‘I was hopeful,’ Clancy said. ‘She seemed much better.’
However, later that month, on January 24, 2023, Lindsay strangled their three children while Clancy left the house to pick up medicine for their eldest and a takeout order she herself placed.
Clancy testified that he kissed his daughter on the head, rocked his infant son and told his family he’d ‘be right back.’
When he returned home, he testified, ‘The door was locked.’
The three-bedroom home in the suburb of Duxbury, where the Clancy family lived before the murders
‘And that’s when I knew something was wrong.’
He walked in to a bloody crime scene and saw a window open after Lindsay attempted to take her life.
After rushing outside to her aid, Clancy asked his wife what happened, he testified.
She responded, ‘I tried to kill myself,’ before telling Clancy their kids were in the basement.
Under the impression they were still alive, Clancy frantically dialed 911 and waited for first-responders.
When they arrived, he rushed into the house to find all of his children lying still with exercise resistance bands wrapped around their necks.
‘He looked up and he screamed, “She killed the f**king kids!”‘ Duxbury police officer Brian Josephine testified. Duxbury is the Boston suburb where the family lived.
Douthat, a former conservative columnist, was brought on by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss back in July, as part of a wider overhaul of the long-running program.
Weiss is the founder of the center-right Free Press, and was brought on by then-new Paramount CEO David Ellison back in October.
Within months as chief, Weiss saw 60 Minutes ‘as calcified and resistant to change,’ sources told CNN in late May.
Bari Weiss – the founder of the center-right Free Press – took the reins in October. Within months as chief, Weiss saw 60 Minutes ‘as calcified and resistant to change,’ sources told CNN in May
Days later, Weiss handpicked former Times tech columnist Nick Bilton to replace longtime producer Tanya Simon. An array of firings were also carried out.
Scott Pelley, one of the show’s longest-serving journalists, was fired the following week after speaking out about those changes.
He accused Weiss of ‘murdering’ 60 Minutes. The show has long enjoyed a high degree of autonomy.
A recording of the June 1 meeting was leaked to the press.
Ellison, 43, the son of conservative billionaire Larry Ellison, a known Donald Trump acquaintance, on-boarded Weiss just weeks after Paramount completed a merger with his former company, Skydance Media.
The merger did not receive federal approval for more than a year beforehand, but was approved shortly after CBS settled a $16 million lawsuit filed against the network by Trump.
Anderson Cooper left the show after more than two decades last May as well, fueling concerns the show would look and feel different in its 59th season.
‘The verdict is in: it’s still “60 Minutes!”‘ New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin celebrated Sunday on X after the airing of the season’s first episode.
A piece in the Times framed it as the beginnings of ‘The Bari Weiss Era.’
Clancy told Douthat he still dreams about his children during the interview.
The segments for next week’s 60 Minutes have yet to be announced.
