For starters, Sharon Bialek isn't his fiancee, said Mark Harwood in an exclusive interview on Wednesday night.
"We were engaged last year in June but I think there have been some assumptions that Sharon still lives here in Mundelein with me" Harwood told the I-Team. "Sharon and her son moved out in February of this year and now live in their own home ... so effectively we're no longer engaged."
On Monday, when Ms. Bialek was the first of Cain's alleged groping victim's to go public, Harwood was contacted by news organizations trying to find out information about her. He did numerous interviews during which he was referred to as her fiancé. "I made reference to the fact that we were engaged and got engaged last June, 2010 and I think the assumption then-we were still engaged. I think most people seemed to be under the belief that Sharon lived [in my house] but she's not here."
Even though photos of Bialek still hang on his walls, Harwood says that she and her son live in a Glenview townhome-one that he does not own.
"I've never supported her financially in the four years that we were together" he said on Wednesday night, attempting to set the record straight after some reports had him supporting Ms. Bialek. The I-Team first reported on Monday that Bialek had serious financial problems and had filed for personal bankruptcy on two occasions.
One news report elsewhere stated that Harwood was also planning to file a bankruptcy claim. He contends that is not true. "I've not filed for bankruptcy" although he admits having lost money on a $1.2 million suburban home when the economy tanked and on a "long, tortuous and complicated divorce."
"I've never supported her financially and I never filed for bankruptcy. It's ludicrous" said Harwood, who added emphatically that he is "not a deadbeat dad" as has been suggested.
All of the negative comments and innuendo have been aimed at dirtying up Ms. Bialek according to Harwood, who says he sees her "from time to time." He told the I-Team that Bialek isn't out to make money off of the Cain accusation and that "I'm certainly not about any gain from any of this. I don't want to be really part of it."
Mr. Harwood is unemployed, but says he received a sizable severance from his last job with a Chicago pharmaceutical company and is now looking for work as a business consultant.
As for his support of Bialek's public campaign to convince candidate Cain "to come clean," Harwood is unwavering. "I've not changed my stance on that. I still have great affection for her and her son" he said. "The reason I want to clarify some of these things - particularly living arrangements for example - is there have been some things that have come out in the last 24 hours have been totally inaccurate...to be drawn into this whole equation is wrong."
