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Home › Politics

Question of the Day | 06/24/2009 11:00 pm

What thoughts do you have about Ruth Madoff as we near her husband's sentencing?

Ostracized, alone and who knows what color her roots are … Ruth Madoff’s florist, salon and her own two sons won’t talk to her. What are your thoughts about her as we near Bernie’s scheduled June 29 sentencing? Join Candice Bergen, Liz Smith and Joan Ganz Cooney in the discussion …
© AP
Joan Ganz Cooney

Joan Ganz Cooney | 06/25/2009 6:45 am

Joan Ganz Cooney on Pitying Ruth Madoff

Frankly, I don’t think about her. But now that you ask, I guess I feel a little sorry for her, particularly if she didn’t know that he was a crook.

comments11 Comments
Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen | 06/25/2009 12:20 pm

The Irony of Ruth Madoff, by Candice Bergen

Ruthie. We saw her in the Post this morning, riding the subway, complaining to the photog to stop embarrassing her and ruining her life. The expression on her face said it all. Pissed, no, seething with rage at this guy and who else?? But let’s be fair, she and Bernie are masters of their own (and many others’) fate. " Stop ruining my life"!!?? Aaargh. The irony.

And her roots, without a doubt, are gray, honey. Just like mine. Interesting that her hairdresser has barred her from the salon. And won’t it be interesting on Monday, to see Bernie again and what the sentence will be? How isolated is Ruth? Does she have any friends? Does she speak to her sons? Has she visited Bernie? The Vanity Fair piece recently interviewing his ex-assistant was fascinating because it gave a few needed wisps of texture to the characters in the play. Bernie’s narcissism. His enormous personal vanity. His hookers. His fawning/belittling of his sons. Until then, it was all inference. But, I do go on …

comments23 Comments
Liz Smith

Liz Smith | 06/26/2009 11:15 am

Liz Smith on Mrs. Madoff, Everywoman

Well, it was interesting to see the New York Post photo of Mrs. M. on the subway but they described her jacket, jeans and loafers as not being comme il faut, when actually I thought she looked pretty good and much like every other informally dressed New York matron trying to get somewhere.
    
Mrs. Madoff being hounded by the paparazzi is not an ethical question I’d bother to even worry about. Being photographed isn’t going to kill her and maybe her current “plight” gives some comfort to the people her husband defrauded.

comments6 Comments
Read more about: Bernie Madoff, Financial, Madoff, Money, News, Ruth Madoff, Scandal, Trial

42 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Barbara B
Dear Ruthie your SPA days are over.
By Barbara B on 06/25/2009 7:57 am
Jeannot Kensinger

The whole family should go on trial! It was a family run business. Of course they had to know. I ache for the people who trusted and lost all.

In my small town, some "investor" did the same trick. I met a couple who were not wealthy but comfortable. They lost all thei savings. Now at 76 he is a cashier at Walmart. He simply said: we had to re-invent ourselves.

By Jeannot Kensinger on 06/25/2009 8:33 am
Babette dYveine
I don’t feel even remotely sorry for her.  She didn’t think about the people she and her family robbed while she was ostentatiously spending their life savings.  I hope they take every nickel away from her and relegate her to working as a cashier in Wal-Mart and living in "affordable housing."
By Babette dYveine on 06/25/2009 9:57 am
Andrea Brandon
Wal-Mart would be too good for her. But serving soup at the LA Mission for homeless people………..  Nah, I don’t even want her with the homeless. Put her in jail with a Bubba.    :-)
By Andrea Brandon on 06/25/2009 2:25 pm
John G
Lock her up and throw away the key…
By John G on 06/25/2009 10:28 am
LuckyLady n/a
Who can bother.  She appears to be a woman whose hair salon perks are more important than her children! Maybe that is the ultimate punishment for her participation.
By LuckyLady n/a on 06/25/2009 10:56 am
Jackie Blue
We reap what we sow…. and there’s alot more reaping to do with the connections on this deal….
By Jackie Blue on 06/25/2009 1:36 pm
Bethany Christian
Candace - hooray for the roots.  When someone can prove she had absolutely nothing to do with any of this and didn’t know he was bilking poor people out of their life savings well, maybe I’ll shed one tear.  Did she or did she not transfer tons of money before he turned himself in?  It will take a lot to prove to me she shouldn’t be in a cell with him.  I want the walls of their cells covered with the pictures of all the people they robbed! 
By Bethany Christian on 06/25/2009 1:54 pm
Dorothy K
I think you’re all being a little hard on her. I know a lot of women of her generation who have absolutely no idea of what their husband does for a living. I don’t condone it-nor do I understand it-but it is not uncommon.  As to her children, from what I’ve read the courts have forbidden them to be in contact with her until the situation has been resolved. I don’t say people should admire her but I think the vindictiveness should be held off until it has been proven that she was aware and complicit with her husband’s really foul deeds.
By Dorothy K on 06/25/2009 1:55 pm
Andrea Brandon

Dorothy,

It’s not so uncommon that women don’t know what their husbands do for a living? Say WHAT?

You think we should hold off on vindictiveness?  Tell you what, Dorothy, tell it to the Elie Wiesel Foundation.

By Andrea Brandon on 06/25/2009 2:31 pm
kermie b
What I find amazing about this piece is Candice said Ruth was riding the subway.  She cannot get her hands on the hidden cash and take a cab or a limo?  She would know the people on the subway will recognize her—there is no reason to put oneself through that unless you cannot afford other transportation.  The woman must be broke.  Seriously. 
By kermie b on 06/25/2009 2:14 pm
Andrea Brandon

Kermie,

I’ll bet you a thousand lily pads that her lawyer told her to play the pauper.

By Andrea Brandon on 06/25/2009 2:33 pm
Harriet Shoebridge
Ruth Madoff, testament to a life of extreme privilege unimpinged by accountability, until now … this foreign concept … as evidenced in the photograph that itself is a display of annoyance and certainly nothing more, nothing remotely connected with remorse.  The wife of Bernie Madoff left a moral bankrupt, his investors, financial bankrupts … victims all around.
By Harriet Shoebridge on 06/25/2009 2:34 pm
Patricia Sprofera
Every dog has its day.  Apologies to the four-pawed dogs.
By Patricia Sprofera on 06/25/2009 2:40 pm
kermie b
No one person could do this much damage all alone.  Madoff had someone manufacturing false quarterly statements—where is that person?  His secretary knew nothing?  Pul-lease.  His wife knew nothing?  That would imply she is a moron.  Evil, yes, moron, no.
By kermie b on 06/25/2009 2:48 pm
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