[4] Her father, originally from Caerau near Maesteg, Wales,[5] was a self-made businessman who in 1946[6] co-founded Jered Industries, a maker of heavy machinery for marine use located in Troy, Michigan.

[4][7] Raised in the Welsh Congregationalists, he had become strongly opposed to all organized religion,[4] although on her request the family very occasionally attended church, and she nominally identified as an Episcopalian.

[16] She spent the second semester of her freshman year abroad, at the University of Grenoble in France, and was there during the 1968 Winter Olympics and met athletes such as skiing star Jean-Claude Killy.

[21] Among the 250–300 guests were U.S. House Minority Leader Gerald Ford and automotive executives such as Semon Knudsen and Edward Cole, and President Richard Nixon sent congratulations.

[17] Slowed down by parenthood, she later finished her undergraduate work by gaining a semester and half's worth of credits via taking night courses at Harvard University Extension School.

[25][26] A stay-at-home mother,[27] Romney raised the family's five sons: Taggart (known as "Tagg", born in 1970), Matthew ("Matt", 1971), Joshua ("Josh", 1975), Benjamin ("Ben", 1978), and Craig (1981).

[15] It was partly due to her urging that her husband entered politics and ran in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts against incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy.

[26] Romney is an avid equestrian, crediting her renewed involvement in it while in Park City, Utah (where the couple had built a vacation home and where they lived when he was in charge of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games), for much of her recovery after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis[29][38] and for her continued ability to deal with the disease.

[45] Ann Romney has been involved in a number of children's charities, including having been a director of the inner city-oriented Best Friends, which seeks to assist inner-city adolescent girls.

[50] Romney was president of the Doric Docents, the volunteer tour directors who inform visitors to the State House about its architecture and history and the Massachusetts legislative process.

[55] In this unpaid Governor's Liaison position,[26][54] Ann Romney was termed a "dynamo" by Jim Towey, director of the White House office.

"[56] Her health was still a primary factor in family decisions about her husband's career, and Mitt said in 2005 that if her multiple sclerosis flared up, "I wouldn't be involved in politics anymore; that would be over.

[59] She said she did not remember the contribution; her own public stance on abortion has evolved in a similar manner to his, and by this time she was co-chair of the capital campaign for Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

[27] Regarding having to witness criticism of her husband, she later acknowledged that she sometimes wanted to "come out of my seat and clock somebody [but] you learn to just take a deep breath.

[33] In late 2008, Romney was diagnosed with mammary ductal carcinoma in situ, a non-invasive type of breast cancer, and had the lump removed via lumpectomy;[64] she subsequently underwent radiation therapy.

[71] Regarding another possible run for office by her husband in the 2012 presidential election, Romney said in March 2010 that this time the process would hold no surprises, and that if he decided in favor of doing it, "I'm up to saying, go storm the castle, sweetie.

[33] By December 2011, Romney assumed an even more prominent role in the campaign, as she tried to offer a more rounded and compelling portrait of her husband while he fell behind Newt Gingrich for a stretch in polls.

[33][76] Her emphasis on their 42 years of marriage and his steadfastness following the onset of her disease offered an implicit but clear contrast with Gingrich's own personal history.

[77] Regarding the couple's net worth, she alluded to her health problems and said, "Look, I don't even consider myself wealthy, which is an interesting thing, it can be here today and gone tomorrow.

[79] Like all presidential candidates' wives, her fashion choices came under scrutiny, with some critics praising her for a contemporary look that avoided standard campaign appearance clichés, while others said she lacked consistency and did not seem to be using the services of a stylist.

[81] On August 28, Romney gave a prime-time speech before the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, in which she stressed her own background and her family experiences, in an appeal to women voters.

[82][83] By early October, she and son Tagg had convinced the campaign to spend more time emphasizing her husband's personal nature and character, rather than simply present issue and record arguments against Obama.

[85] Following the election, Ann Romney received an offer to appear on the spring 2013 season of Dancing with the Stars, but although she was a fan of the show, she declined: "I would've loved to have done it, and I am turning 64, and I started thinking about it.

"[100] Overall, she sees the center as helping to connect researchers working in different areas and to provide monies for experimental approaches and treatments that are too new or unproven for the National Institute of Health to fund.

[103] In March 2015, her book Whatever You Choose to Be: 8 Tips for the Road Ahead was published, based upon a commencement address she gave the year before at Southern Utah University.

[107] Two years later Romney hit the campaign trail again, this time to support her husband in the 2018 United States Senate election in Utah.

[13] During campaign appearances she spoke critically of the political climate in the United States, saying that civility and kindness had been lost, and she noted that she never read comments to her posts on social media due to the anonymous negativity found there.

[112] They continued to host an annual family get-together at their expanded summer compound on Lake Winnipesaukee, an event that by this point brought forty people to it.

[115] In May 2008, she shared with her husband the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during that year's presidential campaign.

[116] In 2014, Romney received an honorary degree in public service from Southern Utah University, for "her contributions of time, funding and support on behalf of children and families.