(VIDEO) Mrs. Cain on Harassment Allegations: 'This Isn't Herman'

Herman Cain's wife, Gloria Cain, went "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren Monday night to discuss the harassment allegations against her husband for the first time. She discusses the character of Herman Cain, explaining that the man the accusers are talking about cannot be Herman. "There was such ugly things said. And I kept thinking, who are these people talking about? This — this isn’t Herman." See below for video interview and transcript.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Mrs. Cain, thank you for doing this.

GLORIA CAIN, WIFE OF HERMAN CAIN: Thank you for having me.

VAN SUSTEREN: You’re not nervous, are you?

G. CAIN: Very.

VAN SUSTEREN: You are. Well, don’t be. Don’t be. All right, let’s — let’s do this.

G. CAIN: OK.

VAN SUSTEREN: Let’s start with the — some of the painful stuff —

G. CAIN: OK.

VAN SUSTEREN: And then let’s move to the fun stuff.

G. CAIN: OK.

VAN SUSTEREN: OK?

G. CAIN: Let’s do it.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. I assume, in the past two weeks, you’ve seen all the accusations.

G. CAIN: Yes. Yes. Yes I’ve — the first week -and-a-half, I think I was in shock because I didn’t see it coming. And there was such ugly things said. And I kept thinking, who are these people talking about? This — this isn’t Herman.

After about a week and a half of watching the news and everybody has an opinion, I decided not to watch any more news. And at that point, I could tell my spirit started to lift. And I know the person that he is. And I know that the person that they were talking about, I don’t know who that person is. We’ve been married for 43 years. And if I haven’t seen parts of that person in 43 years, I don’t think I’m that simple that I would miss something that significant.

So after about a week and-a-half of listening, I decided, OK, enough is enough. Everybody has an opinion. But they don’t know Herman.

VAN SUSTEREN: How did you first hear about this? Did Mr. Cain sort of give you a tip-off that this stuff was coming?

G. CAIN: I think — when was that — that Sunday night he mentioned something in passing, there may be a news story coming out, I’m not sure, and it deals with sexual harassment. And I’m thinking, well, it’s just hearsay or whatever. And then on the news that night I started seeing the actual story. And it started to snowball.

So at that point — I really didn’t know what hit me at that point. But it started that Sunday night, when the news story first hit the media. That was my first knowing about it.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did you, at any point in the — the week or two weeks that followed after that, did you pull him aside and cross-examined him and say, OK, you know, Herman, what’s the story or what’s the real story? Did you do this or not do this?

G. CAIN: Yes, of course, because I wanted to know, are there any accusations — do you remember any of these people? Do you remember anything happening that — that was considered sexual harassment or what?

And he kept saying no. He told me about the first lady who made the accusation through the National Restaurant Association. And for some reason, that rang a bell, because years ago, I think when he first mentioned something about there were some accusations of harassment.

And I said, oh, well, is there anything to it? He said, no. And from that point on, I think the next thing he said was the accusations were deemed not reliable or unfounded. They were unfounded. And that was the end of that. That was, what, 15 years ago.

And from that point on, we had never even said anything else about it. So it was totally a shock and to think that I couldn’t understand, even with that, if a person is so hurt or traumatized because of something you allege happened to you, why would you wait 15 years to say something about it?

I think if it were me, I would have to say something right away. I couldn’t live with something that hurt me to that extent. So when he said it was unfounded and we didn’t speak anything else about it, it was said and done. It was just done.

VAN SUSTEREN: Then there was the second one, which is a much more graphic allegation, essentially of a — of a woman coming to Washington.

G. CAIN: Now that one — I totally don’t believe. I watched her on the news that day because I wanted to hear her specific allegations.

And the things that she was saying, I’m sitting there thinking, you weren’t in the car with Herman. I don’t know where you have been, but I know Herman Cain. And I know he has — he has always had too much respect for women to treat them in any type of — type of negative way. That wasn’t a part of his being.

We — we dated for a year. We were engaged for a year. We’ve been married for 43 years. He is so — I guess if — if you understand what old school is, of that generation where men still wanted to open the doors for women. And if you’re walking along the street, he wants me to walk on the outside, next to the curb. It’s not just me. It’s any woman he’s walking with, because old school people think they’re — they’re supposed to be women protectors. So there’s — if anything is going to happen, if mud is going to get thrown on him, if a car is going to go out of control, he’s the type of person who would rather be there and get hit first rather than have the woman walking on the outside.

He’s always been that type of person. So to hear such graphic allegations and know that that would have been something that was totally disrespectful of her as a woman, and I know that’s not the person he is. He totally respects women.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is there any chance — and I’ve got to ask you the question. I mean women always think their husbands — the very public thing with their wives of many years of whom they, you know, love and have a family, that there’s another little side of them off to the side with the — where they have some extra-curricular activity.

G. CAIN: No, because his conscience would bother him. His conscience would bother him. And he couldn’t look you straight in the eye. And I can usually tell if there — if there is something wrong, it’s like, well, I was supposed to go such and such a place or whatever. His conscience bothers him to the point where he would say something to me.

So, yes, I know the type of women that you’re thinking about that the little woman at home is the last to know. But I never see myself as being the little woman at home. And I’ve always said, when I’ve seen stories like that, I will not be one of those people who will stand up on stage with a smile and knowing that you were wrong. I’m not going to do that. So you know not to do anything wrong because you will be there by yourself.

So he knows how I feel. I seriously, in my soul, don’t think he’s that type of person.

VAN SUSTEREN: How has it been on the family? You’ve got kids, grandchildren.

G. CAIN: My daughter was angry, but she knows her dad, also. He’s an outgoing person, but he’s always been very respectful to people. So everybody who knows him knows he’s outgoing. That’s different from being disrespectful or having any type of harassing natures.

G. CAIN: Yes. Well, my son, it was Monday night before he even saw the story. And he text me to this is ridiculous. This is just very ridiculous. And he says to me, when do you get your chance to tell your side of the story so that you can shut this down?

They know him, also. People who have been around him know him.

VAN SUSTEREN: You’ve been married a long time. Troubles in your marriage — and I hate to ask this but that’s a, you know, it’s a long marriage. And it’s a good thing it’s a long marriage.

G. CAIN: Yes. Yes. Yes, there have been troubles. There have been times when — and when people always say I’ve been happily married for 43 years, I usually tell them, that’s not true. We have loved each other for 43 years. He’s happy sometimes. I’m happy sometimes. There’s times when he makes me angry. I’ll go to another room. The times when he makes — when I make him angry, he’ll go to another room.

So we have the times when we don’t agree. But we eventually talk about what the situation is and at that point, we still may not agree, but we leave it alone. It’s like, OK, you have your opinion and I have mine. And we move on.

VAN SUSTEREN: But you’ve never split up in the 43, separated, or anything like that?

G. CAIN: No. No. No.

VAN SUSTEREN: In terms of watching all this unfold, does it make you dislike the process?

G. CAIN: Extremely. Extremely, because it made me realize you can live your whole life trying to be respectful, trying to be faithful, trying to have faith, just trying to treat people right and anyone can come from anyplace and say whatever they want to say about you.

The problem with that is there are people who will believe that person over you. And to know that you’re being honest and you’re telling the truth and then you have to try to prove that you’re telling the truth, that’s probably one of the worst feelings that a person can have, to be telling the truth and then have to try to prove you’re telling the truth, all because someone can come and say anything they want to about you.

And that can happen. If it happened to us, it can happen to anyone. And that’s sad.

VAN SUSTEREN: How do voters know whether to believe the women or Mr. Cain on any of this?

G. CAIN: I think they have to look within themselves. And you have to get to a point of relying on your own instincts and just coming to a decision on your own, I don’t know if those people will ever be able to be 100 percent sure.

Since all of this has happened — I’ve been out around in my neighborhood. And people who know me and who know Herman, you can still get this little feeling that they’re even wondering, well, could this be true?

And that’s a very hurtful thing. And people don’t realize that when — when you thrown — when you — when those people threw mud on Herman, they didn’t think about the fact that you’re throwing mud on the wife or the spouse, you’re throwing mud on the children. And we all have to endure what you’re doing. And it’s worse when you know that some of the things that these people are saying, no.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is there any part of you at all that wonders whether maybe there’s a little piece whether this could be true?

G. CAIN: No. Because I keep going back through it. Now, in the beginning, I started thinking in my mind, could I have missed something?

But then I always go back to the beginning. No, I’m not missing anything. I know Herman. I know him. Now that was one other thing — and I’m one of those people and I have this thing of putting the pieces together. So it’s like power of – what — deduction. I look at especially this last lady and the things that she said. And I’m thinking, he would have to have a split personality to do the things that she said.

And I — I hadn’t even mentioned it to Herman. I said, has anyone mentioned the fact that — and I know to some people, it won’t make a difference, but it makes a difference to me. No one has mentioned the fact that during that time when Herman was working with the National Restaurant Association, he had a little lady who was his assistant. And she loved Mr. Cain. She just loved Mr. Cain.

This lady was an ordained minister. And they used to get into discussions concerning scripture. And they just had this way of just being able to connect with each other on a spiritual level, along with the business level. And see, this is another thing about when people throw allegations around, with me saying this, there will be some people who will take very innocent comments and if your mind is going toward that gutter mentality, they will always be able to try and put some type of gutter meaning to whatever you say, no matter what you’re saying. Their minds will always go back to that type of mentality.

But this little lady was a true Christian. Like I said, she was an ordained minister. And it’s like, OK, you’d have to have a split personality. You would have to not feel any guilt whatsoever to be able to do the things that this woman accused him of doing and then have this lady, who you knew was an ordained minister. It’s like those two things just — I — I don’t think the average person — I don’t think anyone would be able to function on a playing field like that.

This type of mentality on this side and this type of — no, I don’t believe it.

VAN SUSTEREN: After the first woman — but after the second woman, rather, when the more graphic descriptions came out — did you confront him about that one and say, what’s up with that, or not?

G. CAIN: No.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did he say anything to you?

G. CAIN: No. I heard his comments with his news conference.

VAN SUSTEREN: You didn’t ask him — you didn’t, the two of you when you were together you didn’t ask him?

G. CAIN: No, because I listened to what she said. And I’m thinking, no, I’m sorry. That’s — some of the things that you’re saying about him, that’s not Herman. So, no, I didn’t ask him about that. And I’m not being naive.