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Silda Wall Spitzer, Suffering Spouse in the Spotlight
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 11, 2008
Modified Mar 11, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 11, 2008
Modified Mar 11, 2008
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Photographs of Silda Wall Spitzer and Eliot Spitzer after the governor's apology yesterday by Louis Lanzano/AP
Last year, in the middle of his woes with the State GOP (right before Troopergate exploded), Governor Eliot Spitzer revealed his wife said to him, "What was wrong with going into the family business? That wouldn’t have been so bad." Now, people are probably wondering the same thing, as her husband apologized (sort of) for using a prostitute the night before Valentine's Day.
One friend of Silda Wall Spitzer, an accomplished lawyer who met Spitzer while at Harvard Law, told the Daily News, "If I were her, I would call my mother or my best friend and pack my bags and go someplace far away for six months and take my daughters with me." The Post implies that Wall Spitzer gave her career up for Spitzer (see this November 2006 NY Times feature).
Debate has surrounded her appearance next to her husband, during his apology. Dana Goldstein at The American Prospect wrote, "When politicians are caught cheating, I wish they'd leave their wives in the green room while they address the press. You're in the dog house, and it should look that way. Those "stand by your man" visuals are tired and demeaning." However, former first lady of New Jersey, Dina Matos, ex-wife of ex-NJ Governor James McGreevey, said on the Today Show:
"She’s doing what’s right for her. We have to remember that this is a real person. Her husband is a politician, but this is a real woman who’s experiencing some very, very, very painful times and having to deal with three teenage daughters.
It’s a very personal matter. For me, I thought about my daughter. This was a man that I loved, whom I had taken a vow to stand by in good times and in bad, and that was the right decision for me at the time. It was very personal. It was not about the politics.
I don’t know what’s going through her mind. But I’m sure that her family certainly played a role in the decision, her role as a mom to protect her daughters, to do whatever it takes to try to keep the family together, at least to have some semblance of normalcy."
Matos added that she "ached" for Wall Spitzer "when I was watching her."
Update: Watch this video to see "expert" Dr. Laura Schlessinger explain that it's Silda's fault Spitzer strayed.
Tagged
Dina Matos
eliot spitzer
Governor Spitzer
hookergate
james mcgreevey
silda wall spitzer
suffering spouse
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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