Tricia Walsh-Smith is a British playwright and actress born in 1956. According to the Mirror, "She has more front than Brighton Pier and self-belief by the truckload."[1] Although "few people had heard of her before"[2], in April 2008 she attracted international attention for posting a YouTube video of herself discussing her divorce from her husband Philip Smith, president of The Shubert Organization.[3][4] In the video she explained that she was going to be unfairly evicted from her house and also described allegedly embarrassing personal details of Smith's life.[5][6][7] While The Telegraph called her "only the latest in a long line of people who have used the web in an attempt to get even"[2], some legal experts consider this the first known case where a spouse has used YouTube in attempt to gain leverage over the other in a divorce case.[8]
Walsh-Smith's case has generated scrutiny and debate by legal and psychology experts on the implications of broadcasting personal issues using media like YouTube.[6] Renowned psychologist Keith Ablow said, “We’re at a critical moment where people are turning to public broadcasts to express private thoughts. But I don’t think it’s connecting people necessarily. I think it’s disconnecting them from their own life stories.”[6] As for the legal implications in Walsh's divorce case, MSNBC's senior legal analyst Susan Filan told the show, "A judge isn’t really going to care. In the end, a divorce, as upsetting and emotional as it is, is just a financial transaction. You’re doing backwards math. You’re trying to make one household go into two. Somebody’s going to have to give something to somebody else.”[6]
Walsh-Smith has appeared on CBS's The Insider numerous times as well as on Good Morning America, ABC Television, Inside Edition, Fox News Channel's Geraldo and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.[3][9]
Fox News named the initial video one of "The Top 5 Viral Videos of 2008."[10]
Contents |
Born in RAF Gütersloh, Germany, Walsh-Smith was part of a military family which traveled the world until her RAF father's death, when she settled briefly in her mother's hometown of Beverley, East Yorkshire. Walsh-Smith attended the Italia Conti Academy and began appearing in commercials, most notably for Hellmann's Mayonnaise. Later she acted in the British horror film, Terror,[11] Kenny Everett Video Show, the sitcom Constant Hot Water, the 1986 drama, The Best Years of Your Life, and the children's television drama, Grange Hill.[3][12]
She met her first husband in 1981, with whom she had a son. She had a brief second marriage to American businessman Jerald Arnold.[12] She met her third husband, Philip Smith, at a Park Avenue wedding reception in 1995. The two married in New York City in 1999. A divorce occurred at Philip Smith's request in July 2008.[3]
Previously, Walsh-Smith appeared in over five hundred commercials on British and European television, most notably for Hellmann's Mayonnaise, on the Dick Emery Show and has written the play Bonkers which premiered in London in 1987.[3][5][13]
In December 2008 Walsh-Smith released the song "I'm Going Bonkers" on iTunes. Its video featured her in bondage gear and dancing around London. The video went viral and quickly became YouTube's number one entertainment video.[14]
Tricia's play, Addictions, has been used at a number of benefit readings to raise awareness and generate charitable giving for addicts. In 2007 she cancelled one production of the play after learning that Smirnoff Vodka had become a sponsor.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many; see the help page She explained: "I was absolutely stunned. I couldn't believe it. The idea of having Smirnoff sponsoring this play, which is about addiction - what were they thinking? ... If we had gone ahead, I would have been looked at as a total hypocrite."Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many; see the help page The reading of her play, The Last Journey, broke box office records at Westport Country Playhouse, Connecticut. She has now teamed up with composer Simon Kay and written two musicals, Change the Day, and Arm Candy, the latter being a musical on the woes of divorce. She has previewed much of the material from Arm Candy at some of London's premier nightclubs and more recently at the O2 Arena. Some of the songs were featured in the 12-part television series "Pineapple Dance Studios", which aired in 2010 on Sky1 in the UK and has been sold globally. In 2011 she appeared in "Louie Spence's Showbusiness", also on Sky1. She claimed in the Mirror that, in fact, she saved the show from poor ratings and was necessary for the show's success despite Spence and the other stars strongly disliking her.[1] For this series she made two music videos: "Stuff Ding Dong Merrily On High!", for the Christmas Special; and "Should I Go In The Jungle?", which was reportedly a tongue in cheek lampooning of the ITV1 series, "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!". She was also followed in the process of putting together a presentation of her musical, Change The Day. As well as her musicals, plays and music videos, she has completed her first novel, The Devil's Hostage. In 2011 she revealed that she wanted her own television show and was pitching a show called The Ex-Wives Club to "help" women who got "screwed" in divorces.[15]
On 21 July 2008 a Manhattan judge awarded Philip Smith a divorce from Tricia Walsh-Smith. The Judge, Harold Beeler, blasted Walsh-Smith for her YouTube video stunt, which he called "a calculated and callous campaign to embarrass and humiliate her husband" and to pressure him into settling the divorce case on more favorable terms than were stated in their prenuptial agreement. "She has attempted to turn the life of her husband into a soap opera by directing, writing, acting in and producing a melodrama," the judge said.[5][7][16]
Judge Beeler also ruled that the prenuptial agreement, signed three weeks before the couple's 1999 wedding, was valid. Per that agreement, Walsh-Smith must leave the Park Avenue apartment the couple shared within 30 days and that Philip Smith, president of the Shubert Organization, the largest theater owner on Broadway, must pay her $750,000.[5][17]
Walsh-Smith left the Manhattan apartment on 6 July, having received the $750,000 payment at the threshold.[18] Her attorneys were granted leave to appeal 11 August 2008, and an appeal was filed 5 June 2009, within the statutory time limit.The "arguments" were heard in Manhattan's Supreme court on 29 September 2009.[18]