Jezebel: Dina Matos McGreevey

Not surprisingly, Dina Matos is denying allegations ...

Jessica — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:45:00 EDT

Not surprisingly, Dina Matos is denying allegations that she had a threeway with ex-husband Jim McGreevey and his former aide, Theodore Pederson. Matos released the following statement to MSNBC earlier today: "This all has to do with the publicity I have received since Governor Spitzer resigned. Jim has enlisted one of his cronies in trying to distinguish that situation from his own, and to discredit me in the media. He cannot stand it when I am receiving attention in the media rather than him." Oh man, the custody battle over little Jacqueline is going to be even sloppier than the Mills/McCartney mess. [MSNBC]

Did Former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey And Wife Have Threesomes With A Male Aide?

Jessica — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:30:00 EDT

Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey may have officially one-upped Eliot Spitzer in terms of "goobernatorial" sex scandal sordidness. McGreevey, who left office in disgrace in November 2004 after admitting to an affair with a male colleague, is now being accused by another former male employee of having with the then-Governor and his wife, Dina Matos. Theodore Pedersen, who was McGreevey's driver and traveling aide, has told the Newark Star-Ledger that from 1999 to 2001, he had "weekly romps" with Dina and Jim "that typically began with dinner at T.G.I. Friday's and ended with a threesome at McGreevey's condo in Woodbridge." Jesus, Jim. Fridays? Are those Southwestern egg roll tequila shooters really a turn on?

Anyway — Pederson says he's coming forward now because of the custody battle for the McGreeveys' daughter Jacqueline is scheduled to go to trial in May. He also says he is especially offended by the interviews Dina Matos gave to reporters last week as the Spitzer scandal broke. "I wanted to get this out now because it was so offensive to me that [Dina Matos] goes on television playing the victim," Pedersen said in the Star-Ledger. "She's trying to make this a payday for herself. She should have told the truth about the three of us." (Matos has also written a book and given interviews to Oprah and O, the Oprah Magazine about about her failed marriage.)

Matos has asked for more than $600,000 in "damages" as compensation for Jim's alleged lies about his sexual orientation. (Matos' fortunes are more tethered to her ex-husband than those of Silda Wall Spitzer will ever be: Matos never graduated from college, while Silda's Harvard Law degree is a far more stable contingency plan. ) She also seeks full custody of Jacqueline along with alimony. According to the Star-Ledger, "McGreevey has denied any fraud and, in court filings, countered that he fulfilled his duties as husband because he gave his wife a child and companionship." He's asked for joint-custody of Jacqueline. Pederson could be one of the first witnesses to testify for Jim McGreevey on behalf of the prosecution.

McGreevey Aide Says He Had Sexual Trysts With Ex-governor, Wife [Newark Star-Ledger]
Matos McGreevey Says She Feels Pain Of Silda Spitzer, Thinks NY Gov Should Resign [Newark Star-Ledger]
How Could She Not Have Known? [O: The Oprah Magazine]
Ex-N.J. Gov. Had 3-Way Sex, Aide Claims [CBS News]

Related: Public Infidelity, Private Debate: Not My Husband (Right?) [New York Times]

Lauer On Spitzer: Some Political Wives "Become Almost An Appendage Of Their Spouse"

Anna — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Okay kids, we've got another clip from the Today Show featuring more critique of New York governor Eliot Spitzer's indiscretions. This one features Dina Matos, the aggrieved former first lady from New Jersey whose onetime hubby famously cheated on her with another man. Ms. Matos was thoughtful and sensitive during her interview with Today's Matt Lauer, but we can't say the same for the show itself. First off: What was up with the show's split-screen of footage of Ms. Matos and her ex-husband during his public declaration of infidelity, and that of Governor Spitzer and his wife Silda? (Tasteful blue suits on the women! Red striped ties on the men!) It was creepy and unnecessary. Secondly: What the fuck is Matt Lauer talking about? As explanation as to why Silda Wall Spitzer stood by her man, he said, "Some of these political spouses create their own identity based on their spouse's identity...and perhaps they're worried that if they don't stand by that person at that time they somehow lose their own identity." You sort it out. Clip above.

Why Wives Stand By Scandal-Stained Husbands [MSNBC]

Paris Hilton's "It's All An Act" Turns Out To Be An Act Itself

Moe — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:25:50 EDT

We are loathe to believe anything we read in OK magazine, but we thought you should know: This week they're saying Paris Hilton's remorse is not actually genuine. [MSNBC]
Barbara Walters seemed ready to sign on Paris Hilton to co-host The View but even we think having her and Elisabeth Hasselbeck on the same show is unfair to blonde women. [People]
Paris comes and goes from prison cells more often than we come and go from our house. [ABC News]
We forgot to tell you about Lindsay Lohan's bodyguard, but yesterday in Star we read this: "One night, Lindsay and Nicole were making trip after trip to the bathroom... But the more wasted they got, the less [Lindsay] cared. In the end they carried in a mirror from the bedroom, laid it on the coffee table and emptied a mountain of coke onto it... After 10 hours, I'd had enough."
Following Dina Matos McGreevey's accusation that her ex-husband's "badmouthing in the gay community" sabotaged her book sales, the ex-New Jersey governor disses her in the gayest way possible. [USAToday]
Gigi Levangie Grazer, who wrote The Starter Wife and one of the more obnoxious articles ever to appear in Vogue magazine (more on that later!) splits with her Da Vinci Code and Beautiful Mind- producing starter husband. [Page Six]
Posh Spice reality show has been downgraded to a one-hour special. They're not saying why, but we're going with the whole "she might be big in the UK, but she lacks the immense watchability of American celebreality giants like Brooke Hogan and Donnie Bonaduce" theory. [Reuters]