Little Ruthie's Wild Ride

Much as I might want to say that I am not one to follow tabloid news and fallen royalty, I must admit a particular fascination with the fate of Ruth Madoff and consider the above photo the most iconic image thus far this year. Okay, the Madoffs are probably more the stuff of hard news, but Ruth being kicked out of that two story penthouse and being allowed to take only the stuff of tabloids and trash TV/movies. Who would be the ideal woman to play her? Glenn Close? Please not Meryl! Too bad Farrah didn't live to tackle such a role.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there was talk of the Garbo interview being the Holy Grail of celebrity grilling. It was Rex Reed, if I recall correctly, who said that would probably be one of the most boring interviews ever since all she would talk about would be her yoga routine, diet and bowel movements. Others have said the same of hearing J.D. Salinger spill his guts about all the books he didn't write over the past 50 plus years.

So who wouldn't love to hear Ruth Madoff interview? A couple of friends have said that they are perplexed about what to think about Ruth since unlike Anna Nicole Smith or even Ivana Trump, her opulence was always so subdued and tasteful.

Even the Times can't resist being a being a bit like the Post with articles like this, and the various paparazzi shots of Ruth slumming by having to actually by her groceries at Food Emporium are hard to resist. Ruth is supposedly down to one friend in Connecticut. She's yet to appear on Facebook but has her MySpace profile where she has lowered her age by three years and only seven people ("Tom" doesn't count) have dared to befriend her. Even fake Adolf Hitlers and Atila the Huns do better than that. Or is that just a testament to the death of MySpace. Whatever the case, this "Ruth" who claims that Thieves Like Us is her favorite movie does have a mildly amusing introduction:

I guess you could call me the original shopaholic. My husband's away on a business-related sojourn, which leaves me some extra time to surf the web and find new friends. Maybe we can even go shopping together! I have more fun things to do on my blog. See you!

It will be interesting to see where she goes from here with the clothes on her back and $2.5 million to start from scratch. Even in "this economy" that's barely enough to start a lower middle class lifestyle in Manhattan or San Francisco, and there probably won't be many visits to the high end salons and eateries. Will there be a reality TV show or book deal in the future?

Indeed, 99 cents does more.