Logo
Print this page

Music Mogul Widow Is Being 'Terrorized'

Image Longtime friends of Mica Ertegun — widow of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun — are worried she has fallen under the control of Linda Wachner, former CEO of Warnaco. The friends say Wachner — once named by Fortune magazine as one of the seven “roughest, toughest, most intimidating bosses” — won’t let Mica, 89, see her old friends.

“Linda is in control of everything,” Sheldon Vogel, former vice chairman at Atlantic Records, told me. “She controls Mica’s life.” While Ahmet was working with the likes of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Mica was a top interior decorator.

Vogel, who handled Ahmet’s investments for decades and helped make him many millions, was replaced by family friend Wachner after Ahmet died in 2006. Vogel recalls Ahmet’s last month, as he lay in a coma in the hospital. “Every day, Linda was there, holding Mica’s hand. That’s the way she worked her way in.”

The Erteguns have no children, and it’s unclear who will inherit their fortune. Another old friend of Mica’s, who hasn’t been able to see her in more than a year, said, “What I saw was very troubling — a classy woman of advantage being terrorized in her own home.”

Lawyer Stanley Arkin, who was on the Warnaco board, admits, “Linda is not a timid human.” “She has no children,” Arkin said. “She develops strong friendships with interesting and powerful women.” Pamela Harriman and Barbara Walters, for example. “She never made profit off her friends,” Arkin said. “Linda doesn’t need anybody else’s money.”

Wachner herself says the Mica allegations are “totally untrue. I don’t forbid [Mica] to see anybody.” (By Richard Johnson / http://pagesix.com)
Last modified onSaturday, 06 May 2017 10:07
Template designed by ANDROMEDA