Candy Carson

A former concert violinist, Carson performed the National Anthem during her husband’s campaign kick-off. She has been a conductor for the University of Maryland Medical Center Chamber Players.

She was portrayed by Leslie Jones on the Saturday March 10, 2018 episode of Saturday Night Live.

Carson received criticism for reportedly pressuring her husband's staff to spend up to $31,000 on a dining set in his Housing and Urban Development office in late 2017. This was discovered after Helen Foster, a career HUD official, filed a complaint alleging that she was demoted from her position because she refused to spend more than the legal $5,000 limit for office redecoration.

Alongside her husband, Carson has co-authored four books, including One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future, which made The New York Times Best Seller list, including five weeks at #1. Her memoir A Doctor in the House: My Life with Ben Carson was released at the beginning of 2016.

Carson was portrayed by Aunjanue Ellis in the TNT made-for-TV movie Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (first airdate February 7, 2009), starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. She starred as herself in the 1991 biographical documentary about her husband, Gifted Hands.

In 1994, Carson and her husband started the Carson Scholars Fund, designed to provide scholarships to students in grades 4–11 for "academic excellence and humanitarian qualities". The foundation was started after the Carsons read that U.S. students ranked second to last in terms of math and science testing among 22 countries, feeling that their efforts could assist in encouraging academic efforts as they noted schools award athletes with trophies whereas honor students received only "a pin or certificate." Recipients of the Carson Scholars Fund receive a $1,000 scholarship towards their college education and has awarded upward of 6,700 scholarships.

In 1981 Carson became pregnant with twins before miscarrying in the fifth month of her pregnancy. After this experience, when she became pregnant again in the following year, Carson was placed on bed rest by her doctor after the fourth month. She left her job and took this time to focus on self-care for the remainder of her pregnancy.

Carson and her husband married in 1975. Together, they have three sons: Murray, Benjamin Jr., and Rhoeyce, as well as several grandchildren. Until 2013, the couple lived in West Friendship, Maryland and then relocated to Florida. Both she and her husband are long-time members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In line with her religious beliefs, Carson is a vegetarian.

Lacena "Candy" Carson (née Rustin; born August 19, 1953) is an American author and businesswoman. She is married to current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson and co-founded the Carson Scholars Fund. Alongside her husband, she is the co-author of four books. During her husband's run for the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States, Carson was active on the campaign trail doing TV appearances and solo live campaign appearances.

Born Lacena Rustin on August 19, 1953 in Royal Oak Township, Michigan. She graduated from Ferndale High School. Carson met her future husband, also a Detroit native, in the 1970s when both were students at Yale University in Connecticut.