Michigan's First Gentleman says he retired from dental practice early due to threats at time of kidnap trial

LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - Governor Gretchen Whitmer and husband, First Gentleman Dr. Marc Mallory have this all worked out.

The governor stays in her political lane - and he stays out her lane and tends to his retirement from behind the dental chair in Lansing. And the two of them are just fine with that.

So needless to say, the good doctor does not do a lot of TV interviews. In fact, he's done only five in the last five years with all of them on this Michigan Public TV broadcast.

Tim Skubick: "This is the highlight of your year?"

Mallory: "Yeah. this is the highlight right now."

Skubick: "Governor am I to believe that?"

"No," said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Skubick: "Not even close."

Whitmer: "He's stressed, yes."

The real highlight of his year was watching his son graduate from dental school and watching the governor's daughter graduate from college.

But the loss of his father, however, was just the opposite.

"Unfortunately my dad passed this year," Mallory said. "He lived to be 91, and he was a great guy. Tons of people loved him."

His mother is still alive and he reports she got her law degree after the kids were out of the nest - something he shares in common with his spouse.

Mallory: "Our mothers had parallel lives."

Whitmer: "She went to law school after she had kids."

Both mothers were fiercely independent and led the way for other women to follow.

While the governor and first gentleman stay in their own lanes, when the plot to kidnap the governor was exposed, Dr. Mallory's dental office became the target of threats - which moved him to retire earlier than expected.

"We were getting crank calls and stuff," he said. "It was just one extra layer I didn't want to deal with."

"He was worried that maybe a patient would get hurt or staff, so he moved up the date," Whitmer said. "He was going to work for another seven or eight years, but decided to retire."

Speaking of retiring, while thousands of folks whooped it up on New Year's Eve, the first couple took a different approach.

Skubick: "So what are your plans for New Year's Eve?"

Mallory: "Very little."

Whitmer: "Probably go to bed around 9 p.m."

Mallory: "We'll record the new year."

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and husband Marc Mallory.