9/11 Widow Blows 5 Million

Give me a flippin break! I do not feeel sorry for her, infact, I'm outraged. I hope she didn't go public witht this to get more money. What an idiot and now she can't even send her kids to college. Booo flippin hoooo.

I wanna know who her friends and family are that have an extra 3 million to give out

aolsvc.news.aol.com...

I have posted what the article says because if you are not an aol member you cannot see this article.

From AOL News
***********************************
Updated: 11:42 AM EDT
Grieving 9/11 Widow Spends Almost $5 Million
Kathy Trant Says She Wanted to Rid Herself of 'Blood Money'


(June 13) - When her husband died in the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, relatives, friends and strangers opened their hearts and their wallets to Kathy Trant, donating millions of dollars to Trant and her three children.

The money was meant to compensate for the income Dan Trant would have used to support his family for years to come. But to Trant it represented blood money, money that couldn't make up for what she had lost.

Fewer than four years after the attacks, she has blown through most of the money, and is coming out with her story now to warn others against the trappings of chronic spending, a major problem among Americans.

"It's blood money that I don't want," Trant said. "I want my husband back."

After her husband's funeral, Kathy Trant spiraled into deeper and deeper circles of depression. She turned to alcohol and antidepressants to numb the pain, and her weight fluctuated between 90 and 170 pounds.

But as she managed to get one set of problems under control, another problem emerged. Trant started spending out of control.

At the time of his death, Dan Trant, 40, was quickly moving up the ladder as a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, making $130,000 in addition to tens of thousands in bonuses in his final year. Based on his estimated future earnings, the Federal Victim Compensation Fund awarded Kathy Trant $4.2 million, of which she received half. She got another $3 million from friends and family.

"I didn't know how to give back because so many people gave to me when I lost my husband," Trant said.

Trant began lavishing gifts on friends and family. She gave her former housekeeper $15,000 to buy a home in El Salvador, she spent $70,000 to take six friends to the Super Bowl and another $30,000 for a trip for 20 to the Bahamas.

She said Dan would have wanted to help others, and he would have also liked to improve their home as well. So Trant spent $1.5 million to nearly triple the size of her suburban New York home. She spent $350,000 on the back yard, installing a full basketball court also equipped for volleyball, tennis and Rollerblading, a heated pool and a hot tub.

Trant designed a shrine of her husband's mementos, and put it on display in her new red-white-and-blue den. She added sports memorabilia to her walls, including a Boston Celtics ball autographed by players. Dan was drafted last by the Celtics in 1984t, and though he never played for them, he played professionally in Ireland.

Trant also blew millions on frivolous items for herself. Her walk-in closet houses a $500,000 shoe collection, gowns by Versace and Capelli that go for $5,000 each and Fendi and Judith Leiber handbags, also $5,000 per bag.

Experts says overspending is not uncommon among the families of 9/11 victims, nor is it limited to one group of people. A Stanford University study estimates that 8 percent of Americans, or 23.6 million people, suffer from compulsive shopping disorder.

"The issue of survival guilt is a big one," said April Lane Benson, psychologist and author of the book "I Shop Therefore I Am." "People who lost someone on 9/11 feel a total lack of control for a long period of time. That's why they say, 'I might as well blow everything I have. I could be the next one to go.'"

Benson said it is important for shopaholics to recognize the triggers that start the spending sprees, such as certain moods or specific times of the year.

"For [Trant] it might be, 'If I keep shopping, I won't have to feel deeply the loss of my husband,'" Benson said.

Trant is down to her last $500,000. A stay-at-home mom for the last 20 years, she and a friend are opening a hair-removal and cosmetic tattoo shop in East Norwich, Conn.

While Trant worries about her future, she insists it's not about the money. She is concerned now with helping other chronic shoppers, and hopes her children will learn from her mistakes when they receive $800,000 earmarked for them when they turn 18.

"It's a problem people laugh at," Trant said. "When you have alcoholism or drug addiction, it's all a different story."



[edit on 13-6-2005 by MauiStacey]

[edit on 13-6-2005 by MauiStacey]

Originally posted by MauiStacey

..... and now she can't even send her kids to college.

...... and hopes her children will learn from her mistakes when they receive $800,000 earmarked for them when they turn 18.

????can't send the kids to college

shucks, only $800,00.00 in Trust Fund money

???????????claiming shes broke????,
well, 1 solution is; ..........sell that + Million$$ mansion she created!

~~~~~~~...ya know what, I wouldn't have read any of this pop-culture tripe...if i wasn't kinda duped into scanning this stuff...

my hats off to you for luring me into the quicksand garbage...
sorry, no votes tho



caio

[edit on 13-6-2005 by St Udio]

"She's down to her last 500k"................boooooo hoooooo!!!!!

What about all her assets?

MauiStacey, did you get a warning for that thread title??

Peace

[edit on 13-6-2005 by Dr Love]

Yeah, i read about her. Disgusting, and now what? She wants sympathy? Don't think so.

Aww...she's down to her last half million...???

Guess we'll see her at the homeless shelter?

God, this makes me sick beyond belief....

Trant began lavishing gifts on friends and family. She gave her former housekeeper $15,000 to buy a home in El Salvador, she spent $70,000 to take six friends to the Super Bowl and another $30,000 for a trip for 20 to the Bahamas.

She said Dan would have wanted to help others, and he would have also liked to improve their home as well. So Trant spent $1.5 million to nearly triple the size of her suburban New York home. She spent $350,000 on the back yard, installing a full basketball court also equipped for volleyball, tennis and Rollerblading, a heated pool and a hot tub.

Here's a penny....go buy a frickin' clue woman.... Boo the frickin' hoo...."I'm depressed....boo hoo...."

I wish I had a tenth of what she's "down to".... I'd turn it into financial security for my family.... Absolutely sickening......

As for the kids...

????can't send the kids to college

shucks, only $800,00.00 in Trust Fund money

Can't say it any better than that...

[edit on 13-6-2005 by Gazrok]

Trant began lavishing gifts on friends and family. She gave her former housekeeper $15,000 to buy a home in El Salvador, she spent $70,000 to take six friends to the Super Bowl and another $30,000 for a trip for 20 to the Bahamas.


I don't think thats what the money was for.......I hope she never does an appearance in NYC, they'll throw her in the river

moving to US news, no conspiracy here, just plain old stupidity and greed.
There's people who don't any money in their pockets to feed their children tonight and this story is newsworthy to somebody on AOL to make an article over?

Ok folks, step back, take a deep breath and count to 50 and then take another deep breath.

Believe me I am not into feeling sorry for her for this situation and it certainly wasn't the brightest things she has ever done no doubt. But depression is a strange thing and while I am no mental health professional I am sure that this can be - if not caused by depression surely the situation and depression could have exacerbated a chronic spending problem.

I certainly don't understand it because not only do I not have anywhere near that kind of money ($500,000 sounds like financial heaven to me) and I tend to have a really frugal side. But we also own our very small house, have 2 vehicles and a boat that are totally paid off though blood, sweat and tears and savings - I might not have much in the bank or coming in from a pension(in fact we live on for a month what a lot of people make in a week) but all and all we are happy. Going out to dinner is a big thing for us -- not a common occurrence, and buying new appliances (which seems to be happening this year in bulk because everything is 20 or more years old already) is a major project for me as I research what is the best I can get for my money, and if I should save and spend more to get a better product or go with what is cheaper. In fact we didn't have heat and/or hot water for 6 months because it took that long to save for a new furnace -- thank God we have a wood stove to heat the house and I could heat water to clean up with.

But I also live in an area where people would not think twice about going thru that kind of money -- or giving their friends those kinds of gifts, or having those things in their closets and homes. I would imagine these weren't things that were all that unusual for her to have or for them to have done before - although perhaps on a smaller scale.

But I have also know a woman I worked with who's husband was a local cop and we were working in a moving company office so not lots of money there -- but she had a major shopping problem -- had run up all of their credit cards to the max, took out others without her husband knowing and maxed them out, couldn't make minimum payments and had trouble paying their mortgage and utilities and almost lost everything before she got help.

If this woman the article is about is truly worried about her finances she can sell a lot of what she bought, hopefully her new business will bring some financial stability to her and I hope she has really learned a lesson and is getting help for this.

Do I feel sorry for her blowing all the money-- not at all. But I do think it is a good thing to bring to the public eye and maybe will be a help for someone who has a similar problem to get them to recognize the problem and see themselves in her story.

She still has $500,000 to start a business and live on, she has the opportunity to sell things she really doesn't need to pay off some bills etc., her kids will get $800,000 on their 18th birthday so they can still go to a great school. So other than losing her husband which we will all agree is tragic - her life is really good compared to most of us.

And now I am going back to cooking and baking for a funeral we are going to tomorrow -- for the 40 yr old mother of 3 who had a brain aneurysm on Friday at work and died basically before she hit the ground. As her final celebration of life she donated her organs to help others. Her husband is in the same fire company as my husband and the fire department family will do all they can to help that family. They won't get any money to help them other than a possible donation from the benevolent fund to help with the doctor and funeral. And hopefully we will be able to have a cocktail party and raffle later to start college funds for the kids. So, I won't even get into whether or not I feel her life was less valuable than the people who died in 9/11 or if it was any less tragic or sudden because that is another whole sore spot for me today reading this thread.

Sorry for the rant but this pushed my buttons on all sorts of levels today.

[edit on 13-6-2005 by justme1640]

Thankyou for posting that, JustMe.

Is it jealousy that's rattled our anger? Are we yearning for our own hottubs and Manalo Blahniks?

She. Lost. Her. Husband.

Sure, she's not the only one. But everyone copes with grief differently - but to condemn her for the way she tried to cope, seems a little heartless.

A little empathy, people? Please? As she's learned, no amount of spending can ever replace what she really lost.

And I can't help feeling sorry for her, for that.



[edit on 13-6-2005 by Tinkleflower]

Excellent point justme1640...

I think people are a bit to quick to criticize when they're not in someone’s else's shoes...

Like you and no doubt many others here at BTS, I know my fair share of wealthy people who spend extravagantly and the borderline bankrupt who spend extravagantly....And for the most part, they both do it b/c they're missing something else in their lives that they're trying to make up for...

No one can justify what she did and say it was right....But the important thing people should learn from this is that when you loose someone close to you, your immediate reaction may be to seek comfort by the quickest and most effective means possible...

This woman spent money as a form of releasing her pain and suffering....She was immediately satisfied to know that she could buy whatever she wanted, and for those brief moments in between expenditures, she was happy...

You can call it a bunch of tripe, useless news, etc....But many people out there don't have the real-life experience or the self-awareness to step back and view their own lives from another perspective....

The media is already a turd in the toilet bowl ready to be flushed - Why should people get so upset over an article that may actually help people instead of force upon them more misery?