Haggard says he suggested divorce after scandal

DENVER - Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard says he wanted his wife to divorce him after a sex scandal involving another man, but she refused.

Haggard made the comments in a two-part episode of the syndicated television show "Divorce Court" to be broadcast April 1-2. The show released a partial transcript Tuesday.

Haggard resigned as pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after a male prostitute from Denver alleged a cash-for-sex relationship with him in November 2006.

Haggard confessed to "sexual immorality."

Both Haggard and his wife, Gayle, appear on "Divorce Court," but her comments about the possibility of a divorce weren't released.

Ted Haggard said he wasn't rejecting his wife but thought he had become so "toxic" that divorce was best for her and their children. He said she replied, "No way. I'm not going to do that."

Ted Haggard told the show's "presiding judge," Lynn Toler, that when he consulted with pastors about his sexual struggle, they advised him to pray about it, but that didn't help.

Since then, he said, he has consulted Christian counselors in secular counseling centers and now no longer has sexual desire for men.

He said the counselors used a relatively new process to deal with "trauma-based compulsion." Haggard has said that when he was 7, a co-worker of his father's molested him.

The Haggards were to be paid an undisclosed amount for the "Divorce Court" appearance. It is the latest in a series of public appearances that started in January. He also has appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Larry King Live."