Patrick Clancy, the former husband of US woman Lindsay Clancy, has explained his decision to forgive her after she was accused of killing their three children, saying he feared he would remain consumed by the tragedy if he did not reach a point of forgiveness.

Patrick made the disclosure during an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, where he said he believed Lindsay’s severe mental illness contributed to the deaths of their children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months.

Lindsay, 36, has not disputed that she killed the children, while her defence team argued that she was experiencing severe postpartum psychosis at the time and should not be held criminally responsible.

Her murder trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek a retrial.

Patrick said his decision to forgive Lindsay was influenced partly by the way she was portrayed publicly following the deaths.

“I saw headlines that said, you know, ‘Killer Mom’, ‘Baby Murderer’ and ‘Monster’. And none of them were accurate,” he said.

He said he believed Lindsay’s mental illness was responsible for what happened and that holding on to unforgiveness would have continued to consume him.

“I believe that it was her mental illness that caused that. So I shared those words. And I think when it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn’t get there, I would be eaten up inside forever,” Patrick said.

He said Lindsay had never asked him to forgive her, but he decided to extend forgiveness on his own.

Asked whether she had sought his forgiveness, Patrick replied, “No. But I gave it to her.”

The three children died in January 2023 after prosecutors alleged that Lindsay strangled them at the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, before jumping from a second-floor window in what was described as an apparent suicide attempt.

Patrick said he had noticed a deterioration in his wife’s mental health in the months preceding the tragedy but lacked the knowledge to properly respond to postpartum illness.

“I didn’t know how to manage a postpartum illness. I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive. So I’m sure there are things that I didn’t see,” he said.

He also rejected suggestions that he had failed his family before the deaths, saying he had done what he could with the information and circumstances available to him at the time.

“I think I did the best I could with what I had at the time. And I live with the outcome. I live with it every day,” Patrick said.

Recalling the aftermath, Patrick spoke about the death of his youngest child, Callan, who remained alive for four days after being taken to hospital.

“I got to hold him. I got to lie down next to him. And he died in my arms,” he recalled.

The loss, he said, became so overwhelming that he experienced suicidal thoughts.

“There was a time when I didn’t think I would live to see my 35th birthday. And I was completely fine with it,” Patrick said.

Patrick later relocated from Duxbury to New York City, saying he wanted anonymity and a place where he could process his grief away from the intense public attention surrounding the case.

He has also faced online speculation and accusations that he was somehow responsible for the deaths of his children.

Patrick said such claims had been particularly damaging and had diverted attention from what he considered the central issue in the case: perinatal mental health.

“It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health. And it’s done real harm to real people, myself included but also others,” he said.

He added that the online attacks had made it difficult for him to move around publicly.

“It’s painful to see. And it makes it difficult to be in public,” Patrick said.

During the trial, Lindsay’s defence maintained that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis when the children died. The case remains unresolved following the mistrial, and Lindsay remains in a psychiatric hospital while prosecutors consider whether to pursue another trial.

Patrick has since remarried Dr Rachel Danis, and the couple are expecting to start a family.

He said he plans to tell his future children about their late siblings, stressing that each child holds a unique place in a parent’s life.

“I think every parent can agree, you have different relationships with your kids, but they’re all your kids. And I can’t wait to tell them about their brothers and sister,” he said.