Revenge By Billboard: David Loftus

People have a “right” to spend as much money as they care to in an effort to be stupid and tasteless in public, and Ms. Wilkins is no exception. What makes her different from the typical jilted mistress is that she was not particularly young (42), she had reportedly been involved with Phillips a full eight and a half years (longer, statistically, than the average marriage), they are both black, and most interestingly, she had been living in an $11 million home in Hillsborough, California (a seven-bedroom chateau on a two-acre lot with swimming pool, tennis court, and hot tub; not bad work for a “journalist” who was in school at San Francisco State University as recently as six years ago) until the end of 2009, and apparently had $250,000 to blow on the giant billboards in New York City, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Evidently a dame with a lot more money than brains.

The Web site advertised on the billboards has been taken down, sad to say, but as recently as a couple days ago, visitors could see ticket stubs from shows Wilkins and Phillips had seen together (Tom Jones! Hall and Oates!), enjoy(?) sound files of karaoke songs they had sung together, read personal letters, notes, and greeting cards, and view photographs of everything from their trips around the world (for example, Syndey, Australia) and her topless and in lingerie, to videos of the mansion. There were even photos of her with his 10-year-old son by wife Karen, who has been variously reported as having filed for divorce in June 2008, been fully divorced in 2003, and recently reconciled with Charles Phillips. A former Marine captain, he is on the boards of Morgan Stanley, Viacom, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the New York Museum of Natural History (where he and Karen Phillips attended an annual benefit as recently as November), and is a member of President Obama’s Economic Advisory Board.

Clearly, there is a lot more to this story, and we’re going to be treated to every bloody morsel of it. Think of all the good that woman could have done with the reputed $250,000 it may have cost her to put up the billboards -- in New Orleans, in Haiti, for any number of overseas care and charity programs. Heck, she could even have taken terrific vacation with a girlfriend or three on that money, or gone hunting for another man. But no, she apparently thought she could shame her married (or once-married) lover into sticking by her if everyone else deserted him. There are no words for a person that stupid. I had not heard of Wilkins and her billboards until “American Currents” asked me to comment, and I hope I can avoid hearing about her ever again, once I’ve uploaded this commentary. Let’s talk about something that matters. Please!