Who

DeWoody is a socialite, art collector and scion of the Rudin family, the NYC real estate clan that owns dozens of office and apartment buildings in Manhattan.

Backstory

Beth Rudin's great-grandfather founded the family real estate empire at the end of the 19th century; it was her father, though, Lew Rudin, who turned Rudin Management into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate during the middle part of the 20th century, before handing over the reins to her brother, Bill Rudin. Raised on the Upper East Side, Beth headed off to college at UC Santa Barbara before returning to take a job at the family business. She's held a title there ever since—she's an executive vice president—but she's hardly expected to turn up at the office. She's spent most of her time over the years devoting herself to various philanthropic causes and tending to her legendarily extensive collection of contemporary art. Over the years, she's been on the board of the Whitney, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New School, NYC Police Foundation, Phoenix House, Creative Time, and New Yorkers for Children, among others.

Personal

DeWoody has been married and divorced twice. Her first husband was artist Jim DeWoody; they had a son and a daughter, Carlton and Kyle, before splitting up. In 1996, she married investment banker Paolo Pellegrini. When the marriage dissolved, she dated Howard Blum before getting engaged to cosmetic surgeon Stephen Bosniak in late 2006. Alas, her third wedding never took place: Bosniak unexpectedly passed away in February 2007. DeWoody lives at 10 Gracie Square; pieces on display at her apartment include a colossal pink dildo on display in her foyer, a Swarovski crystal-encrusted skeleton next to her grand piano, and Tom Sachs's rat, made of Balthazar boxes, in her living room. She spends vacations at her homes in Palm Beach and Southampton.

True story

A character featured on a 2001 episode of Absolutely Fabulous was named Beth DeWoody. Unfortunately, the character was a decrepit woman who goes to a workshop for menopausal women and screams: "The sands of time are trickling through my hourglass!"