Barely a day after legendary newscaster Walter Cronkite died, a battle has broken out over a nasty planned tell-all book.
Terri Schwab, Cronkite's former chef and manager of his Martha's Vineyard home for 10 years is shopping a tome that charges Cronkite suffered from dementia and was hated by his three children. Schwab said the newsman had a nasty temper and was never around for his three kids, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.
But Cronkite's chief of staff at CBS, Marlene Adler is boiling over the book and told Jose Lambiet of the Palm Beach Post that the former chef has flipped her lid and called Schwab a "disgrace" and "deeply disturbed." Adler added: "Mr. Cronkite's body isn't even cold. What (Schwab) says about Mr. Cronkite's family is false. They're a loving, united family."
RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively that the book is titled “That’s the Way He Was: My Ten Years with Walter Cronkite.”
Schwab charges that Cronkite was supposed to marry his girlfriend Joanna Simon (sister of singer Carly Simon) in July of 2008 but was talked out of it by people close to him who were afraid they would lose part of his fortune, which is estimated at $30 million. She will also charge that his relationship with his children was strained because he was rarely around when they needed him.
Cronkite died July 17 at age 92. He had been married to Betsy Cronkite for nearly 65 years. She died in 2005.
Click here for pics of Walter Cronkite through the years.
The book, which is sure to infuriate people who remember Cronkite as the conscience of a generation, describes him as demanding and abusive with a temper so bad he once threw a phone against a wall. RadarOnline.com has learned the author will try to balance the portrait by saying Cronkite had a fun-loving side that included often pretending to do a strip-tease for guests.
Schwab stopped working for Cronkite in 2006 and RadarOnline.com has learned she will claim he gave her a glowing recommendation and used to refer to her as a “Cronk-ette.”
That claim is unlikely to defuse the anger of Adler, his former chief of staff, who looked after the venerable newsman even after his wife died. Her anger is sure to be shared by others.
Wow. It really is hard to find good help these days. Sounds like the one thing Walter is guilty of is not screening his employees carefully enough.
Click here for a timeline of Cronkite's life and career milestones.
(Photo: WENN)
Comments
Even a First Louie out of West Point could have told you the way to win the war and reduce casualties at the same time; was to drop a division or two on the trail in Laos, fortify them, and B-52 the N.V. if they tried to assault through!
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:49am
Johnson and Mcnamara had no strategical or tactical military knowledge-based on how they ran the war.
Cronkite also had no way to make sense of the war-because he lacked the same.
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:45am
Cronkite was wrong about Vietnam-our troops won it. It was the liberal congress that cut off funds and troops that gave N.V. the victory!
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:43am
some truely sick folks on here...must be "play time" at the hospital...
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:41am
It was great to see Cronkite live long enough to see the man who rushed him into retirement - Rather get
eliminated himself. As rather fell into the gutter he said "Is this the end of Little Ceasar!?" just like an old movie actor!
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:40am
jjv..go take your meds.....you are a true waste of free air
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:39am
He was a Communist Sympathizer who LIED about the results of TET Offensive because he knew it would turn the public and the weak Johnson Administration away from finishing and winning the war.
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:09am
"Let the man rest in peace."
Let him rot in hell for making the deaths of 55,000 of our troops all for nothing. This creep LOST us a war we had won and fought under a Treaty obligation to the S Vietnamese.
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 10:30am
Do a basic search to out this fraud as an American hating Lefty. It was this clown who deemed the Tet Offensive in 1968 a "stunning loss and set back for American troops", when in fact it was a total disaster for the Viet Cong
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 10:27am
I'm not sure anyone would even buy the book. Who cares if he was a cankerous old man. His health was failing and was suffering from dementia.
Posted Mon, 07/20/2009 - 10:16am