An Offensive Attempted Suicide

Stephanie Madoff Mack: Ruth's 60 Minutes Interview Offends Me

By Rennie Dyball

Wednesday November 02, 2011 -- 02:45 PM EDT


Ruth Madoff's 60 Minutes interview – in which she revealed that she and husband Bernie Maddoff considered killing themselves during his Ponzi scheme fallout – continues to make waves.

Stephanie Madoff Mack, the widow of their son Mark who committed suicide last December (on the second anniversary of his father's arrest), says she's put off by what her mother-in-law said on the CBS news program.

"I have no idea what went on in that penthouse that night, but for Ruth to talk about trying to kill herself so flippantly like that is so offensive to me, because that's how my husband died," Madoff Mack, 37, tells Anderson Cooper on Wednesday's episode of his syndicated talk show, Anderson.

"Ruth says she was happy that she woke up. I'm happy for Ruth that she woke up, but I just wish that my husband had, and he didn't."

Cooper notes that during Ruth's interview, she describes her husband Bernie's affair as the worst thing that ever happened to her – not her son Mark's taking his own life. "I found that stunning," says the host.

"I do, too," adds Madoff Mack. "I'm a mother. I can't even imagine the pain Ruth must feel about losing a son, but to say that the affair was worse? It doesn't make sense to me. She doesn't make sense to me."

Neither does Ruth's manner when she discusses her suicide attempt. "She sort of causally talks about it and then chuckles," says Madoff Mack. "I don't think that's a way you talk about suicide or an attempt at suicide. It's not a laughing matter. It's what killed my husband."