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Mrs. DSK

The mystery of Anne Sinclair and her steadfast support of her husband

by
Stephanie Butnick
August 03, 2011
Anne Sinclair at a July bail hearing for her husband. (Todd Heisler-Pool/Getty Images)
Anne Sinclair at a July bail hearing for her husband. (Todd Heisler-Pool/Getty Images)

Where was Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s wife, Anne Sinclair, during his now infamous May 14 stay at the Sofitel hotel in New York City, you ask? According to Madame DSK, a new biography out (in French), the poised 63-year-old, who expected her husband to return to Paris the following day, was shoe shopping in the 16th Arrondissement before a surprise birthday party for one of her many high profile friends.

The glamorous former television journalist and prolific writer has since been thrust into the spotlight—a position she abdicated to plan a political career for her husband—as the international gaze focuses on her marriage and her unusually active support of her husband amidst accusations of rape.

Sinclair, who in April was France’s preferred choice for first lady, is the granddaughter of Paul Rosenberg, Picasso’s art dealer. A New York Magazine feature offers a thorough look at the couple’s lives since May and sheds some light on Sinclair, though probably not enough to quiet the interest in her as the DSK case continues to command attention. Some highlights: Strauss-Kahn, we learn, “was happiest at their ryad in the palm-grove district of Marrakech, to the north of the port city where he grew up as a French Jew.” Also, Sinclair named a son from an earlier marriage after Elie Wiesel, who is apparently a close friend.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.