 In 1999, de Klerk and his wife of 38 years, Marike de Klerk, were divorced following the discovery of his affair with Elita Georgiades, then the wife of Tony Georgiades, a Greek shipping tycoon who had allegedly given de Klerk and the NP financial support.Soon after his divorce, de Klerk and Georgiades were married.His divorce and remarriage scandalised conservative South African opinion, especially among the Calvinist Afrikaners.