Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich unloaded on CNN Anchor John King for asking about allegations made by Gingrich’s ex-wife that the former Georgia Congressman had proposed to make their marriage an “open marriage.”

“To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine,” Gingrichtold King in the January 19 South Carolina debate. “I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.” The South Carolina presidential primary is scheduled for Saturday, January 21.

“He said the problem with me was I wanted him all to myself,” Gingrich’s ex-wife Marianne told theWashington Post in a story published earlier that day. “I said, ‘That’s what marriage is.’ ” The former Marianne Gingrich concluded: “He was asking me for an open marriage, and I wouldn’t do it.”