Silda Wall Spitzer, Suffering Spouse in the Spotlight

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.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on March 11, 2008 3:01 PM

Comments [rss]

schizofriendly

Sad but true: Any woman who marrys a politician (politicians of course being egomaniacs and narcissists of the highest order) better have a firm grasp on reality and know what she's in for. Hopefully the perks she got in return were worth it.

schizofriendly

Sad but true: Any woman who marrys a politician (politicians of course being egomaniacs and narcissists of the highest order) better have a firm grasp on reality and know what she's in for. Hopefully the perks she got in return were worth it.

Kevin Bracken

I think the fact that she stood by him during the address is pretty good evidence that

1) she already knew or

2) it's not the first time something like this has happened.

cucarachita

damn that was an expensive hooker! I thought he was a man of the people! He couldn't just get a medium-priced hooker like the rest of those sex-starved, hypocritical middle american men?

did you read how he's a "difficult customer"? I guess nothing but a two thousand dollar hooker will do for his special-needs penis!

Goomba

She should divorce the gavone. Him and his daddy will pay out. Ka-ching!

babyhitler

doesn't she kinda look like Bill Pullman's first lady in Independence day?

cool

maybe Silda will make the "grand bargain" and run for governor in 10 years.

Amanda Harletsch

these type of spectacle (the scandals) is even worse than the hiring hookers...WHy do people are so willing to eat and ask for more of this public humiliation of the whole family?

I'd leave her alone...sad spectacle where most are accomplices

JacqueMehoff

Wealth is relative all right,

that's where most get theirs, from their relative.

Rocknrope

Boy Snoopy, hopefully your sons got the intelligence from your wife's side of the family.

"Do they gets inheritance monies in the divorce?"

White power indeed.

ed_Extinct

wealth is relative

as for snoopy's comment: inheritance is granted when someone dies, not when they get divorced. idiot.

zodak

Jen S your new avatar rawks! lol

brooklyn and i

ARTICLE 9 to shot down Client 9

ARTICLE 9

New York State

Constitution

Powers and duties of legislature; home rule powers of local governments; statute of local governments

CD

I bet you'd get a better cut in the inevitable divorce settlement if you stand by your man at the press conference.

zodak

Matos added that she "ached" for Wall Spitzer "when I was watching her."

so did i

(yeah, you know what i mean)

jpeditor

NYT - By ERIC KONIGSBERG

Published: November 10, 2006

"In January 2005, when she found herself pondering how best to come to terms with the job of political spouse, Silda Wall Spitzer sought the advice of a woman who was once best known for not fitting so comfortably into that role herself, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Can't make this up... Hope she chews him up and "spitz" him out in divorce.

What a scuzzball hypocrite. Hey Elliot, RESIGN NOW and take your years of whore-mastery with you.

booberry

the teens go to one of the most elite private schools in manhattan. like, what gossip girl is based on.

JacqueMehoff

meh, she's rich too.

they'll be OK, the children are not children but in their teens. I would be more concerned about them with a webcam and a stickam account.

matty

she's hot. what an idiot.

Jen S

I just hope that she's standing with him because SHE wants to, not because she feels it's proper or he's making her.

JDSX

Snoopy, are you a pedophile, kidnapper, or just unable to distinguish what's relevant?

Snoopy

Quick question. Do all three go to Albany high school and what grades are they in? I have two late teenage sons and if the Spitzers get divorced are they or will they be in line for a huge inheritance?