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Standing by your man suddenly seems to be going out of fashion for some American women in the public eye.
This month, the wives of at least two famous men caught cheating -- sexually and financially -- very openly declared that their spouses' behavior was actually quite scandalous.
Ruth Madoff, reacting to her husband Bernard being sentenced to 150 years in prison for bilking investors with a massive Ponzi scheme, said she felt "embarrassed," "ashamed" and "betrayed" by a man she had known for half a century.
"The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years," she said in a statement shortly after her husband's sentencing on Monday.
Last week, after South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford tearfully admitted to an affair with a woman in Argentina, his wife Jenny -- who was not by his side at his public confession -- left little doubt about her feelings.
"His career is not a concern of mine," she told reporters at a vacation home. "He's going to have to worry about that. I'm worried about my family and the character of my children."
Political analysts said the new attitude reflects generational and social change -- at least for some women in the United States.
"The old model didn't work," said Karlyn Bowman, an analyst of US public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute.
The image of the tearful wife, hiding behind sunglasses, next to her husband while he unloaded his sins to the world, was "intensely embarrassing" and some women are deciding they do not have to follow that path, she said.
"It may be that women just feel that they can do whatever they want," Bowman said.
Of course, the quiet, supportive wife remains a public pillar for many scandal-hit men -- just look at former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's wife Silda, whose wordless turn at his side last year when he admitted visiting prostitutes drew some sharp commentary.
And it wasn't that long ago when Hillary Clinton, then first lady, weathered the storm beside her husband, President Bill Clinton, over his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky in the White House in the late 1990s.
More recently, Elizabeth Edwards, whose husband John Edwards ran for president as a Democrat last year, publicly spoke out about his infidelity while promoting her memoir "Resilience."
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(Agencies)
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对美国一些公众女性来说，支持丈夫看起来已经过时了。
至少有两位妻子在本月公开声称丈夫的行为实际上非常可耻。她们的两位“名人”丈夫分别身陷性丑闻和经济诈骗。
露丝•麦道夫回应称，自己感到“尴尬、丢脸”，被认识了50年的男人“背叛”。她的丈夫伯纳德•麦道夫因设计了巨大的“庞氏骗局”欺骗投资者而被判入狱150年。
露丝的丈夫于本周一被判入狱。她随后在一份声明中称：“设计了这一可怕骗局的人不是这些年来我所认识的那个男人。”
美国南卡罗来纳州州长马克•山福德上周含泪坦承自己和一位阿根廷女子有染。在这之后，他的妻子珍妮毫不掩饰自己的情绪。在马克向公众告白时，珍妮并没有站在他的一边。
珍妮在度假别墅接受记者采访时说：“他的事业跟我无关。他的事情由他自己操心。我所担心的是我的家庭，以及孩子们的性格。”
政治分析家认为，这种新的态度反映出不同时代和社会的变化，至少对一部分美国人来说是这样。
美国企业研究所美国公众舆论分析家卡尔林•鲍曼说：“旧的思维模式已经过时了。”
她表示，在丈夫向全世界忏悔罪行时，妻子戴着墨镜站在一旁流泪的形象“非常难堪”，一些女性决定她们不要这样做。
鲍曼说：“也可能是女性们觉得她们可以做任何自己想做的事情。”
当然，对许多身陷丑闻的丈夫们来说，默默支持自己的妻子仍旧是重要的公众支持者。例如前纽约州州长艾略特•斯皮策在去年因承认召妓而招致尖锐批评后，妻子希尔达无言地伴他左右。
不久之前，美国前第一夫人希拉里•克林顿和丈夫、美国前总统比尔•克林顿一同度过了丑闻风波。在上世纪90年代末期，克林顿与前白宫实习生莫妮卡•莱温斯基发生婚外情。
而最近，伊丽莎白•爱德华兹在宣传回忆录《坚韧》时，公开曝料自己的丈夫出轨。她的丈夫约翰·爱德华兹在去年美国总统大选中曾参选民主党候选人。
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（英语点津 实习生许雅宁编辑）
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