As I often do when I eat breakfast, I watched the Today Show this morning. I tuned in right as Ann Curry interviewed a lady from Court TV about the late Leona Helmsley bequeathing $12 million to her Maltese, Trouble.
I guess the big hoopla has to do with the fact that not only did she specifically not leave anything to two of her four grandchildren, but she either didn’t leave a dime to her 12 great-grandchildren or what she did leave was ridiculously small compared to the largest bequest she made –the $12 million to Trouble, who at eight-years-old is getting up there in years. (Or that’s how the media tried to slant it. If she was a bigger dog, eight might seem elderly, but she’s just a little thing. If she’s in good health she could easily live another eight –-or more– years.)
Anyway, during the interview the Court TV lady (I didn’t think to note her name) did point out that Leona Helmsley, despite her reputation as the “Queen of Mean” for stiffing people she owed money to and treating employees badly, was quite the philanthropist. (Apparently her will was set up in such a way that most of her fortune will survive her via the Leona Helmsley Charitable Trust, and some of that will see its way to animal causes.)
New York Times reporter Sewell Chan noted that Helmsley had donated roughly $35 million to charities in the not-so-distant past, but that would be nothing compared to what her will would shell out.
In his article on MSNBC’s website, “Countdown” anchor Keith Olbermann told of Trouble’s fate when her time to cross the Rainbow Bridge comes: She will be reunited with her owner by way of the mausoleum Helmsley was laid to rest in. (Apparently Helmsley reserved the space right beside her for Trouble.)
Okay, so everyone’s had their fun at Helmsley’s expense, it’s a shame she wasn’t more generous with her grandkids and great-grandkids, yadda, yadda, yadda. But I hadn’t heard anyone answer the questions on my mind:
(a) Who’s going to take care of Trouble now?
(b) How is she holding up?
Well, Sewell Chan’s article had a link to Helmsley’s will (which was kind of creepy and felt extremely voyeuristic to feast my own eyes on) that answered one of my questions: Helmsley left Trouble to her brother, Alvin Rosenthal.
But so far I still haven’t heard anything about Trouble’s state of mind since her owner’s passing. No matter how any of us might have perceived Helmsley, to that little dog she was “Mom” and I’m sure she loved her unconditionally, forgave any of her trespasses, and misses her dearly.
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