"Sometimes people start screaming at me. He was well brought up. He wasn't rude—he was very polite." Tony Marshall informed her, "No, I don't want to comment." Peterson told him that she found the allegations shocking. Tony's reply, quoted the next day in the Daily News, was, "You said it is shocking, and I agree. It is a matter that is going to be coming up in a court of law and it should be left to the court."
That night Philip Marshall, the instigator of it all, stayed in Queens with Tenzing Chadotsang, a Tibetan friend who worked for the Landmarks Preservation Commission. As they were driving back to the Chadotsang family's modest brick home after dinner at a Korean restaurant, Philip's cell phone rang. The Daily News wanted a comment. Philip was startled, since Salzman had assured him of privacy. As Chadotsang says, "I knew that Philip had filed the suit, but he expected it to be a quiet thing. Philip got off the phone and said, 'Oh my going to be in the newspapers.'" Philip contemplated calling Annette de la Renta but decided not to ruin her evening. "At that point," he said, "I didn't know Annette well enough to call her at ten-thirty or eleven at night."
Annette is an early riser, and at 5:30 the next morning she took her three rambunctious dogs for a walk, strolling down quiet Park Avenue, contemplating the day ahead and a visit to Brooke in the hospital. When she got back to her building, the doorman handed her the Daily News, delivered just minutes before. Annette was horrified by the sight of the huge black words on page one: "DISASTER FOR MRS. ASTOR: Son forces society queen to live on peas and porridge in dilapidated Park Avenue duplex."
The story inside—"Battle of N.Y. Blue Bloods"—made for mesmerizing reading for the city's entire five boroughs, with special double-takes all over the Upper East Side. "The sad and deplorable state of my family's affairs has compelled me to bring the guardianship case," Philip had written in his affidavit requesting that his father be removed as Brooke Astor's legal guardian and replaced by Annette de la Renta. "Her bedroom is so cold in the winter that my grandmother is forced to sleep in the TV room in torn nightgowns on a filthy couch that smells, probably from dog urine." Philip charged that his father "has turned a blind eye to her ... while enriching himself with millions of dollars."
Detailed affidavits about the alleged abuse had been signed by three nurses (Minnette Christie, Pearline Noble, and Beverly Thomson) and by Chris Ely, who had been fired by Tony eighteen months earlier.
"The apartment is shabby and poorly maintained. It always has a foul odor because her two dogs are obliged to live enclosed in the dining room," wrote Annette de la Renta in her affidavit. "Because of the failure of Mrs. Astor's son, Anthony, to spend her money properly, the quality of life of Mrs. Astor has been significantly eroded." David Rockefeller seconded this concern about Brooke's "welfare," and Henry Kissinger attested that Mrs. de la Renta would make an "excellent guardian" for Mrs. Astor.
By the time the Daily News published its story, Justice Stackhouse had already taken action to remedy the situation. The judge named two temporary guardians for Mrs. Astor, Annette de la Renta and JPMorgan Chase, the bank that Rockefeller had headed for decades. With the stroke of a pen, Tony Marshall lost responsibility for his mother's care as well as his hefty salary for managing her money. The judge named a court evaluator, the lawyer Susan Robbins, an outspoken former social worker with expertise in guardianships. All this happened without a hearing, which the judge then scheduled for several weeks in the future. Tony Marshall had been stripped of his powers without the chance to offer his version of events and defend himself.
New York is a city that virtually, under civic charter, requires a summer scandal, and the Astor affair fit the bill. This was not just another
That night Philip Marshall, the instigator of it all, stayed in Queens with Tenzing Chadotsang, a Tibetan friend who worked for the Landmarks Preservation Commission. As they were driving back to the Chadotsang family's modest brick home after dinner at a Korean restaurant, Philip's cell phone rang. The Daily News wanted a comment. Philip was startled, since Salzman had assured him of privacy. As Chadotsang says, "I knew that Philip had filed the suit, but he expected it to be a quiet thing. Philip got off the phone and said, 'Oh my going to be in the newspapers.'" Philip contemplated calling Annette de la Renta but decided not to ruin her evening. "At that point," he said, "I didn't know Annette well enough to call her at ten-thirty or eleven at night."
Annette is an early riser, and at 5:30 the next morning she took her three rambunctious dogs for a walk, strolling down quiet Park Avenue, contemplating the day ahead and a visit to Brooke in the hospital. When she got back to her building, the doorman handed her the Daily News, delivered just minutes before. Annette was horrified by the sight of the huge black words on page one: "DISASTER FOR MRS. ASTOR: Son forces society queen to live on peas and porridge in dilapidated Park Avenue duplex."
The story inside—"Battle of N.Y. Blue Bloods"—made for mesmerizing reading for the city's entire five boroughs, with special double-takes all over the Upper East Side. "The sad and deplorable state of my family's affairs has compelled me to bring the guardianship case," Philip had written in his affidavit requesting that his father be removed as Brooke Astor's legal guardian and replaced by Annette de la Renta. "Her bedroom is so cold in the winter that my grandmother is forced to sleep in the TV room in torn nightgowns on a filthy couch that smells, probably from dog urine." Philip charged that his father "has turned a blind eye to her ... while enriching himself with millions of dollars."
Detailed affidavits about the alleged abuse had been signed by three nurses (Minnette Christie, Pearline Noble, and Beverly Thomson) and by Chris Ely, who had been fired by Tony eighteen months earlier.
"The apartment is shabby and poorly maintained. It always has a foul odor because her two dogs are obliged to live enclosed in the dining room," wrote Annette de la Renta in her affidavit. "Because of the failure of Mrs. Astor's son, Anthony, to spend her money properly, the quality of life of Mrs. Astor has been significantly eroded." David Rockefeller seconded this concern about Brooke's "welfare," and Henry Kissinger attested that Mrs. de la Renta would make an "excellent guardian" for Mrs. Astor.
By the time the Daily News published its story, Justice Stackhouse had already taken action to remedy the situation. The judge named two temporary guardians for Mrs. Astor, Annette de la Renta and JPMorgan Chase, the bank that Rockefeller had headed for decades. With the stroke of a pen, Tony Marshall lost responsibility for his mother's care as well as his hefty salary for managing her money. The judge named a court evaluator, the lawyer Susan Robbins, an outspoken former social worker with expertise in guardianships. All this happened without a hearing, which the judge then scheduled for several weeks in the future. Tony Marshall had been stripped of his powers without the chance to offer his version of events and defend himself.
New York is a city that virtually, under civic charter, requires a summer scandal, and the Astor affair fit the bill. This was not just another
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