Mum spent decades living complete lie and only told family her secret after 27 years
A mum kept a secret from her family for 27 years before revealing the truth to them in dramatic fashion.
Ann Butler's husband of 37 years, a man named Joe, knew what his wife did for a living, but their five children had no idea what their mum's job really was.
They thought she was a diplomat at the US State Department which allowed them to travel throughout the world, but that was a lie designed to cover for her actual occupation as a CIA spy.
She'd started working for the CIA in 1986, and could hardly keep her working life a secret from her husband, but he knew not to ask questions and to help cover for her to their children.
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"He never questioned where I was, who I spoke with, what we were talking about," Ann explained.
"I would be gone for days and he wouldn't know where I was."
The rest of their family had no idea what Ann actually did for a living, with her daughter Alexis telling Today she'd never have imagined 'in a million years' that her mother was a spy, as she 'was just my mom'.
Within the CIA, Ann was tasked with 'seeking out and turning agents who could get her close to foreign governments and terrorist groups'.
It was dangerous stuff, with Ann fearing every day would be the one she was finally caught. At one point, she was even travelling for hours under a false identity while almost nine months pregnant.
However, she's since come clean about her double life with the release of her book Wife, Mother, Spy, whose contents the CIA approved.
The woman had always wanted a career where she could work overseas and applied to plenty of places; the CIA was just one of them.
She revealed to IngramSpark that juggling a family life and what she did for a living, which she had to keep secret from them, was a tough task, though she 'never had to choose between career and family' even though she missed her son's first birthday when she was stuck in Sarajevo.
She said: "It was difficult at times. I had to stay focused and on task. I had very little time to myself.
"All my time was devoted to either my job or my family. I had to make lists and stick with my plan. I had to think ahead, prepare.
"I was able to do both... work my job, look for people to recruit, handle my agents, grocery shop, attend my kids' performances, make dinner, then start all over again."
Her eldest daughter did learn that her mum worked for the CIA from a school friend who was the daughter of her boss, but their other four children were only let in on the secret the evening before her retirement party, so she could actually bring them into the building for it.
Joe Harker