Politics was less bruising then. In 2005, Ms. Conway teamed up with Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, to write a book about how American women were erasing political lines. By reputation, Ms. Conway was smart and empathetic, the type who remembered birthdays and weddings.
The Conways now have four children: the twins, George IV and Claudia, 15; Charlotte, 11; and Vanessa, 10; and a pair of Corgis, Skipper and Bonnie, which Mr. Conway nicknamed Concerned and Troubled after the terms that Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, has used to describe her reaction to Mr. Trump’s behavior.
Friends say the Conways are staying together for their children, although the couple is not always in the same city. Mr. Conway spent chunks of time last year in New York before leaving his firm, while Ms. Conway remained in Washington, where the Trump crowd has largely blackballed her husband.
In November, Mr. Conway attended a “Resistance” party at the New York apartment of Molly Jong-Fast, an author and daughter of Erica Jong. The comedian Kathy Griffin posted a photograph on Instagram of Mr. Conway hiding coyly behind the liberal journalist Soledad O’Brien. Nearby were E. Jean Carroll, a writer who has accused Mr. Trump of rape, and the Hillary Clinton stalwart Philippe Reines.
In Washington, Mr. Conway tends to hole up in his home office, writing opinion pieces and firing away on Twitter. In a July piece titled “Trump Is a Racist President,” he wrote about the first time he heard someone tell his mother, who emigrated from the Philippines, “‘Go back to your country.’”
The gulf between the Conways developed slowly before turning into a chasm. After Mr. Trump’s victory, the Conways jumped into Washington with both feet, buying a 15,000-square foot house with eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. “Kellyanne Conway Just Bought This $8 Million D.C. Mansion,” blared Town & Country magazine, through Mr. Conway’s legal partnership accounts for most of the couple’s net worth of about $40 million.