LIKE so many people in New York, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum cared deeply about Brooke Astor, and Mrs. A loved her right back, in spite of Gotbaum being a Democrat.
Yet these two fabulous women are far more forgiving than I’ll ever be, in this life or the next.
“I certainly don’t want to see Anthony Marshall go to jail,” Betsy told me, a pained look overcoming her face. It was minutes after she testified against Marshall in the sad and raucous trial that has captured downtown — the People vs. Anthony Marshall, alleged robber of the rich and elderly.
But then, Betsy looked sternly into my eyes.
ASTOR’S SHOCKER IN SON’S OWN NOTES
“She” — she meant the beautiful, abused and neglected Brooke Astor — “wouldn’t want him to go to jail, Andrea.”
Would she?
Betsy walked a slim line as she testified in the trial that pits the memory of the glorious Mrs. Astor against her geriatric son, who is charged with ripping her off to feed his unspeakably greedy wife, Charlene.
Mrs. Astor’s friends are in a bind. Tell the truth, and risk putting Marshall in jail. But Mrs. Astor, whose spirit is alive in the courtroom, would just abhor all this fuss and bother, now wouldn’t she?
On the stand, Betsy told about her last, painful meeting with Mrs. Astor in April 2003. Mrs. A, in the throes of Alzheimer’s, could barely connect with the people at the table. Then, Betsy testified, “I made a decision not to visit Mrs. Astor.”
That was hardly the whole story, which the judge forbade Betsy from telling.
In the hall, Betsy admitted to me that she was banned from seeing her friend during the last four years of her life.
Astor pal Annette de la Renta told Betsy, “We wouldn’t be allowed to go and see her, I would have to call first.” Even then, she would not get permission to visit.
Marshall kept a very short list of people he deemed worthy of seeing his mother. The list is presented in Meryl Gordon’s book, “Mrs. Astor Regrets.”
Betsy was not on the list, as Marshall limited access to his cash cow.
And yet, Mrs. Astor would defend her boy, even past the grave.
He doesn’t deserve her. Even now.