Brooke Astor is turning in her grave and her "friends" along with her grandsons will face her as well as god at some point.  The charities of course will come out the winner because the previous will be most likely be declared valid now. Leaving Anthony Marshall only the income from part of the estate and then passing on to the charities instead of his wife or his sons. Who sort of chopped off their bank account to spite their nose.  They will get a pittance and nothing more from the previous will.  The charities, as they say, will get it all. And all Brooke’s "friends" look like heroes in this for ensuring the charities got the money "as Brooke intended" which may not be what Brooke intended. For many people who saw through this "charade of friendship" not long after it began they are zeroes. 

For those who don’t know, time was when Brooke Astor worried about what she had left. Years of parties and her own philanthropy apart from the foundation and wise investments that turned out not to be so wise. It wasn’t her "friends" who came to the rescue and turned things around for her. It was her son. A little detail the prosecutors, and several gossip columnists, have left out along the way. 

That of course paints a different picture, doesn’t it? One no one wanted anyone to see.

Oh and let’s not forget patronage. Not to be nasty but quite a few already have been in this, had Charlene decided she like Oscar de la Renta and had started dropping enough money, Annette de la Renta would have hung up on the grandson. Instead she called David Rockefeller and then as soon as she could she made a beeline to Park Avenue to rescue the jewels. Someone hopefully will ask what happened to the jewels. As for her "friends" and their concern for her welfare, Dominick Dunne dropped a little hint about them when he wrote about the situation. An interesting read. Then and now. 

None of the allegations of abuse were ever proven. If anything they were disproven.  Most of the subsequent allegations were based on the testimony of a nurse who apparently didn’t like the Marshalls. 

Anthony Marshall was just waiting for his mother to go tumbling down stairs she never used. And Leona Helmsley slapped waiters with lettuce leaves.  Apparently PT Barnum is the patron saint of prosecutors in Manhattan.

"Endless money forms the sinews of war". - Cicero

It has been reported that Brooke Astor’s grandson is a practicing Buddhist.  I do not believe can be true.  For if it were he would not have unleashed the lions to tear out his father’s and stepmother’s throats.  Where is his mercy, compassion or kindness? 

"I think she’d have moved heaven and earth to keep this sordid story out of the courts and the newspapers"  - Women continue to hide the shame of the actions of the men in their lives.  WHY?  We didn’t do it.  Let’s stop this stupidity and let their shame be theirs. 

This old fashioned idea that a man can do whatever he wants and the women have to suffer in poverty and filth in order to hide the shame of the mans actions is so disgusting and backwards.  SHAME ON YOU LIZ SMITH for reinforcing this mentality.  You could at least have ended with the opinion that women shouldn’t act like Brooke Astor.  We need to stand up for ourselves and stop babying criminals, rapists and peodophiles.

Thank God Brooke Astor’s grandson had the backbone to stand up to his father and refuse to let his grandmother live in squalor. After everything she has done for others, she did not deserve to be left to rot so her son could get his hands on her money. And the fact that her grandson will only get a pittance now from her estate shows he did what he did because he cared about her, not her money. That’s a lesson her son could stand to learn.  Maybe he’ll have the time to learn it now.

What’s really bothersome is how many of these rich people are estranged or not close to their children. Brooke Astor was never close to her only son Anthony and Anthony is not close either of his sons.

Did Anthony’s son Phillip know his grandmother well, or did he just know of her squallor? Seems whether he knew her or not, after reading Dominick Dunne’s article from 2006, all Brooke’s friends knew, but only Phillip came to his grandmother’s rescue.

Even though Philip didn’t know he and his brother would get a guaranteed portion of their father’s estate, the father seemed to be putting things in his wife’s name. So the point is moot that Philip eliminated his inheritance. First, Philip didn’t know about it. Second, his father was giving it to his wife. Third, his grandmother wanted it to go to charities. So the inheritance wasn’t Philip’s and his brother’s in the first place, the father seemed to make sure they weren’t going to get it, and Philip has said it would have been blood money anyway.

Our family problems seem so much smaller than this…we don’t betray each other like this. Of course, we don’t have this kind of money either.

My parents had the same will for years for 5 children. Years later they had a 6th child, and many more years later, that 6th child read the will and noticed it still only had 5 children. It was an amusing oversight in our family and my parents rewrote the will. But I’m sure the 5 children would still have split the money, which wasn’t Astor type money, into 6 equal portions without the need of lawyers. What would an Astor type of family done? Or an MLK family?

Seems whether he knew her or not, after reading Dominick Dunne’s article from 2006, all Brooke’s friends knew, but only Phillip came to his grandmother’s rescue.

______________

Nice to know someone can read. And read between the lines. They didn’t care. They thought she would die soon and everything would eventually go to the charities. After all, how long could Anthony live?  Then they found out she had changed her will. Then, suddenly, they all cared. 

The only thing Anthony Marshall put in Charlene Marshall’s name was the property in Maine. I don’t believe they could prove that was fraudulent although they attempted ot.  They just didn’t and don’t like it.

The one grandson really didn’t like it. One of the houses on the property was supposed to go to him. That’s when he became concerned about her "well-being" interestingly. When the matter of the property came up. 

The other grandson isn’t much better. Has never said anything. Silence often is merely an indication of complicity.

Familes get unhinged over money. Don’t assume that your children will be generous with each other. Assume that anyone with a key will be in your house grabbing the good stuff before anyone else gets a chance, that more than one executor will mean way too much of your estate will be spent on lawyers, and that the responsible kids will not "understand" when you leave more money to your needier loser kids. Everyone should find a good lawyer, take the good legal advice you are paying for, and get an effective will that reflects your values and wishes. 

I certainly do not have the inside scoop on who the players are and what their motivations were.   Thier world is not one of my experience.   All I know is what I have read, which is Brooke came from a family with high aspirations but low cash, married a lush and abuser who fathered her son and had high aspirations but lackluster success, and then married into the Astor money after wresting him from his first wife.  And, as Astor was a very difficult man she paid the price for her fortune.  

I don’t know, but strongly suspect that Tony Marshall accomplished nothing worthwhile in his life other than riding on his mother’s coattails and using her money to gain some fame on the charity circuit.  But, be that as it may…IF she was not being properly cared for and they were looting her estate before her death, then I have no sympathy for her son and his wife.  I’m sure, as anyone would be, whether they have a vast fortune or not, she would be ashamed to have the world know what a lowlife her son was.  On the other hand, if I had the choice of lying in my own urine day after day without proper care and nourishment and exposing my caretakers for abusing me….I think, no matter how proud I was, I would rather die on clean sheets and let the abusers pay the price.