Former New York Governor's wife back in public eye after hooker scandal

New York, May 22 : Silda Spitzer, wife of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, shedding the shame of her husband's downfall emerged from self-imposed exile looking stunning in an orange evening dress to attend a charity event.

The former First Lady of New York held her head high; greeting friends with hugs and kisses at a midtown benefit for the Children for Children charity she founded, the Daily News reported.

Eliot Spitzer, whose weakness for call girls drove him from the Governor's office in March, did not show his face at the swanky benefit at Christie's auction house in Rockefeller Centre.

"I hope your spring has been less eventful than mine," Silda Spitzer told the crowd, who gave her a standing ovation.

While some political watchers predicted the ex-governor's sordid downfall would taint his wife's most passionate cause, 350 well-heeled people paid 2,500 dollars apiece to attend the gala dinner.

Organizers said the event, which included an after-party and silent auction, was poised to raise well over one million dollars and would likely surpass last year's fund-raiser.

"She is one strong woman," a friend, who attended Wednesday night's soiree, said of Spitzer.

ANI