We only have the Andrews word to go by regarding the wife's bankruptcies, and that word should be taken with a big grain of salt. The very fact that he chose to keep it out of the book should raise eyebrows.

Sounds like a classic case of keeping up with the Joneses. I worked in mortgage banking during the height of the subprime fiasco. There were several seedy loan officers just out to make a quick buck and clients who truly were misled, but there were always those who were well-aware that they were taking out loans that didn't make financial sense for houses they truly could not afford, yet they chose to get them anyway.

I also learned that neither age, education, or income was any indication either of the types of people who fell into the latter category. (Indeed, most of the clients I encountered who were getting these mortgages were people who earned six figures a year and were professionals. In one memorable case, I had a BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY who took out one of these loans who was nearly $1 million in debt not counting his mortgage.)

I was in college when Prozac Nation was published and Ms. Wurtzel was the It Girl for the confessional memoir genre. I read it and was not too impressed. I also read Bitch which by her own admission she wrote while strung out on speed and still was not impressed. Then there was her memoir on addiction and her articles for the UK-based The Guardian.

I came to the conclusion awhile back that the buzz around Ms. Wurtzel was more about hype than anything of substance.

Frankly, her Elle article just struck me as pathetic rationalization, and coming from a woman who apparently got into an Ivy League school on a combo of her looks and media fame, and then couldn't cut it professionally as an attorney (after presumably spending many thousands of dollars).

In all fairness, Wurtzel was already a Harvard graduate when she wrote Prozac Nation. She went to Yale Law School in her late 30s.

I have no idea if her fame played a role in her admission to Yale Law School, but she got into Harvard on her own merits. (IIRC, she was not a legacy and she grew up in public housing in NYC with her divorced mother.)

With that said, though, I have known more than enough people who attended Ivy League schools to know that that in and of itself means nothing. A lot of people are good at the game of passing tests and making good grades, but have no common sense at all.

Yes, the growing up in public housing is a fact. I no longer have a copy of Prozac Nation, but I clearly remember her mother was not a Harvard alumnus. Can't recall if her father was, as he appears on and off in the memoir, but I do not believe he was. (Wurtzel did attend good private schools but as a scholarship kid.)

I actually am a bit surprised by the number of people on here who seem to automatically assume Wurtzel was some kind of pampered princess a la Katie Rophie when in fact, her up-bringing was anything but. In fact, when you take into account all she claims to have overcome it makes the squandering of her life all the more sad.

Wronged parties have always vented to friends and family about how unfairly they were treated. In fact, I would argue it is very common for people who find out that their partner has cheated on them to try and get their mutual friends to side with them. I would even argue that it appears to be human nature to do so.

The thing that has changed is the technology available to air those feelings. Gone are the days when one would write or call two or three close friends. Why do that when you can announce it to the world on Facebook? You don't even have to be a celebrity or have access to People magazine to let the world know how you feel anymore.

I am sure O'Reilly will publicly say that he "condemns" this sort of violence while all the time knowing full well that his campaign against Dr. Tiller, specifically calling him a "Nazi" and claiming he protected child abusers is just the sort of thing that makes these nutters feel justified in commiting acts of violence.

I often wonder if O'Reilly truly is nuts enough to believe the stuff he rants about or is it the case that he just knows how to draw in ratings.

Question: Would anyone be applauding this decision if this was someone had a chronic illness like diabetes,and the judge sentenced him or her to a longer than usual sentence because it was decided that it would be in their best interest and that they could receive Rx meds and care that they otherwise could not get?

Prison is not a fun place to be and is stressful.

Couldn't an NGO or AIDS charity based in Cameroon see to it that this woman received the drugs and care she needed? Somehow, it seems like there had to be better options than sending this woman to prison.

I have always been in favor of regulating the porn industry or at least having rules which regulate that the workers are getting health checks and working decent hours. I saw a documentary a few years ago about the industry and was amazed to learn how long some of these performers work on these productions. Legally, the producers aren't even required to feed them. The majority of these performers are very young and have no idea how they are being exploited both in front of and behind the camera.