by Shanna Riley

Created on: April 25, 2008

As hard as I try, it's difficult for me to dredge up much-if any-sympathy for the "plight" of Tricia Walsh Smith. She is, as you may have heard by now, the misaligned soon-to-be ex-wife of Shubert Organization's president Philip Smith.

The wealthy, Broadway maven Smith, twenty-five years his wife's senior, has opted to enact a clause in their prenuptial agreement stating he can "evict" his wife from their home after thirty days if there are grounds for divorce. Tricia Smith claims no such grounds exist. She insists her husband of nine years has-without explanation or warning-decided to kick her out of their ritzy nine-room Park Avenue apartment in New York with no help or money.

There's always more to the story and key elements appear to be missing from this one. Surely there is a reason that Mr. Smith is not only divorcing his wife but kicking her out without so much as a "thank you, here's the tip". In the video Tricia claimed she had never been unfaithful, but cried about her husband leaving her to foot $80,000 in debt on her own. Perhaps it wasn't infidelity that angered Mr. Smith, but his wife's obvious penchant for spending his hard-earned money?

It's interesting to think that Tricia Smith, living in her posh socialite bubble, honestly believes the people of the world-who have to earn their money by working rather than marrying wealthy old men-really would be sympathetic to her gold digging cries of injustice. She claims, in an interview I saw with her, that-to her-this is a matter "of life and death" and the video was made in sheer desperation for the sake of her own survival. She states, repeatedly, that she will be left with "nothing".

This is hard to believe. Even if Tricia is divorced and not given a dime hereafter from her ex-husband's considerable coffers, it is ridiculous to believe that the woman will have nothing at all to live off of or call her own. "Nothing", in Tricia's world, isn't the Ramen Noodles-til-next-paycheck "nothing" of the average person's reality; it's the idea of living less than the means she has become accustomed to. Tricia's "nothing" amounts to living somewhere under the $1,000,000/year bracket yet-*gasp!*-above the $60,000/year bracket. Will she struggle and suffer? Likely her new and less-rich lifestyle will take some getting used to; will she be spending this Christmas warming her hands over a free meal at a local soup kitchen before heading back to her cardboard box? Sources point to no.

In a world where people-indeed, children-are

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