After hubby bad Bernie Madoff was hit with 150 years in the slammer, wife Ruth Madoff is finally breaking her silence.

Mrs. Madoff has largely kept mum since her family’s world was turned upside down when Bernie turned himself in for operating a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. He was sentenced yesterday in New York, and punished with the maximum sentence. His victims cheered the sentencing. It was then that Ruth Madoff released a statement, saying she, too, was a victim. She been ostracized, she lost her life as she knew it, she had to give up $80 million in property and other assets. In addition to all of this, Ruth says she realizes the man she was married to was a completely different person than the one who ruined so many lives. And her drama isn’t over. It’s likely she and her sons, among others, will still face scrutiny for what — if any — roles they played in the scam. Reuters has her statement, in its entirety.

Here’s a snippet:

From the moment I learned from my husband that he had committed an enormous fraud, I have had two thoughts — first, that so many people who trusted him would be ruined financially and emotionally, and second, that my life with the man I have known for over 50 years was over … My husband was the one we (and I include myself) respected and trusted with our lives and our livelihoods, often for many, many years, and who was respected in the securities industry as well. Then there is the other man who stunned us all with his confession and is responsible for this terrible situation in which so many now find themselves. Lives have been upended and futures have been taken away. All those touched by this fraud feel betrayed; disbelieving the nightmare they woke to. I am embarrassed and ashamed. Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused. The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years.