Reading the Sunday paper this morning, this little news clip caught my eye:
“The former fashion writer convicted of sexually tormenting a co-worker while dressed as a firefighter says he’d go on a homicidal rampage if released from an Ohio prison.
“Peter Braunstein told the New York Daily News in a jailhouse interview that he has ‘no desire’ for rehabilitation.”
Back in 2005, Peter Braunstein stalked a woman who worked for the same company as he once did (although he didn’t know her), set off a smoke bomb in the hallway of her New York City apartment, banged on her door dressed as a firefighter, and held her prisoner and molested her for 13 hours. He then fled and police launched a multi-state manhunt. He robbed a psychiatrist in the Cincinnati area, and was eventually caught in Memphis.
Columnist for WWD
The news ignited a media frenzy at the time, although not being in New York, I missed it. What added so much fuel to the fire was that Braunstein had once been a columnist for Women’s Wear Daily, a publication at the epicenter of the fashion world, passing judgment on the editors of the country’s biggest fashion magazines. He was, at one point, considered an intellectual and arbiter of pop culture.
How far he has fallen. Friday’s article in the New York Post was headlined, Fake fireman sicko Braunstein likes prison, warns of ‘rampage’ if released. The article called him a psychopath.
Braunstein was already convicted in the New York crime, and was sentenced to 18 years to life. He’s currently in Cincinnati, where, according to an article entitled N.Y. tabloid villain charged here in the Enquirer, he faces another 28 years for aggravated robbery, robbery and kidnapping.
Profile of a psychopath
Vanity Fair magazine published an in-depth article about Peter Braunstein, The Devil and W.W.D., on April 2, 2007. It described his upbringing, early career, family and self-destruction. Several former friends were quoted trying to explain what happened to Braunstein.
Reading the article, it seemed pretty clear to me that Braunstein was always a psychopath. He got involved with women who financially supported him. He sent vile e-mails to his father (who may have had his own issues). He considered himself superior to the rest of the world. When his last girlfriend left him, he launched a virulent, public smear campaign.
It seems that for many years Braunstein was able to keep a lid on his disorder, until a series of career and relationship failures left him with no more claims to grandiose superiority. At that point, the mask slipped, and he stopped pretending to be a human being.
Cover is blown
It’s something many of us who have been entangled with psychopaths have experienced. The cover is blown, and the evil is released. I suspect that some psychopaths may actually feel exhilarated—finally, they can be who they really are.
Braunstein does not want to get out of jail. “I would have no desire to try to rehabilitate myself and go back to being a guy with a job and meeting girls and having friends. I’m not interested in that whatsoever.”
Those might be the most authentic and honest words this psychopath has ever spoken.
Hi, Gang, thanks for the good wishes. The JUDGE didn’t show up today so it is postponed until August 20th. The Trojan Horse sent a proof that he was incarcerated and “couldn’t come” –which actually is only partly true, he is incarcerated, but if the judge writes and order he could come, but he did not request one.
The court clerk is a friend of mine and she suggested that I write a letter to the judge telling him what is going on. So, I am going to do so.
I’m not sure if the judge will order him brought up for the August hearing or what, but should be able to find out something before the next day.
I am SO FRUSTRATED mostly, I JUST WANT IT OVER.
Slept all afternoon after I got back, as had a bee sting (I’m allergic) and have been on enough benadryl to knock and elephant out!
Sooner or later this will be over one way or another. LOL Thanks again.
BIRD you may not be familiar with my situation, but please read about BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER, I am convinced my X (P), has this disorder as well, which explains his suicide threat’s, attempt’s and the scar’s on his wrist… they define these two personality disorder’s combined as (cluster B) get richard skerrit’s book (learning from madness) it all makes so much sense,
Interesting concept about the mask slipping. I have seen my ex P’s mask removed, and it is not pretty. However, he still manages to cover up for others, still lies blatantly, and manages to project himself as EXTRA decent etc. Even with countless warnings and evidence of his wrongdoing and double dealing, mutual friends still insist that he “meant well”, etc.He is just that cool and smooth a liar. BUT, aging is taking it’s toll as he cannot always REMEMBER what he said to who and so on. What a useless grind of a life, and what a waste of a clever mind.
I am reading A New Earth by Eckhart Toll, which discusses the role of EGO in all of us, and the roles we play to protect the ego and so on. Makes fascinating and comforting reading, and I highly recommend it. As for the P, he devotes his life and manipulates the lives of those around him ONLY in service of the EGO. Perhaps the frequent stories of financial ruin that P’s devolve into (bankruptcy) is ultimately a reflection of the bankrupt nature at their core.
As much as we all have healing to do, and many of us messes to clean up and lives to restore, at least we are not them.
Peace to all.
To all who are here,
If any of you ever had a normal relationship, were any of them traditionalists? I’m a traditionalist by nature, but I’ve met very few men who are and none with whom I’d want to start traditions. My husband was with his real family, but as far as me and the children were concerned, he was there, but his heart and mind were elsewhere. I sometimes feel I have to reprogram myself to become accustomed to the man, and I rebel. I don’t mind some changes, but to throw out everything that is me, just to satisfy the man to keep him around, is something I just won’t do.
I don’t think I’ll ever adjust my thinking to adhere to their convoluted thinking, just to stay together. I think, too, because I’ve had so many years prior to this web site and being able to share with a few others, it’s going to take me an inordinate amount of time to fully come to grips with it all. As each one here shares bits and pieces of their lives, I see my disordered life. It makes sense now, but I have to have closure and it sure takes time. And I’m still trapped, legally, until we can sell the house and I can finally be free. The housing market is in a slump right now, and I could scream with frustration. I just want my own place. I don’t want to ever have my name on a piece of legal paper with another man, unless it’s his life insurance policy and I’m the main beneficiary! Maybe if I had a lobotomy to remove that portion of my memory, I could breathe a sigh of relief! But that’s too risky, so I’ll suffer along with so many more. At least I have the sense to run. Finally. And if any of them want to call me crazy, I say have at it. I’ll just bide my time and we’ll see.
omg…while I was still in it with the S, I, too, considered a lobotomy.
It just came to me out of the blue while watching a movie with him at the theater.
I instinctively knew that this break up – and recovery – was going to be different than any other. I felt like it would be going through a cold-turkey withdrawal and I’ve never been an addict of anything. Now, of course, I know how an addict is so trapped by his addiction.
A lobotomy was the one painless way I knew that would, in one stroke, eliminate all trace of this relationship, but even then, I knew it was a fantasy, not a viable option.
For me to learn the inherent lessons (just as much about myself as the sociopaths to whom I’m apparently vulnerable) I couldn’t take the easy way out with a lobotomy. I’d have to do it the hard way and start looking at my past and the way it has influenced the way I interact now.
Thanks for mentioning this commonality, Apt/Mgr. I’ve said it before, but you all are my “peeps.” We share such a common and profound link. Even though I’ve pretty much recovered, I like to come here to this site. It’s like continuing education.
I wished at times, too, that I could have instant, selective, amnesia. That way I wouldn’t remember the good or the bad about them. What makes all this so difficult for me, is that I committed my heart for all time. We have to be somewhere in life, and I had no problem being where I was. I still can’t grasp the thinking of so many of these people and just what they are looking for and hoping to gain, by jumping from person to person and playing their games. I know they get a buzz from it but I wish they would talk and say why they do it. It wouldn’t even be so bad if they didn’t charm and seduce. But if they were their real self, they’d never get a girl.
I was thinking, too, of how they could be eulogized. Not to think them dead, but when that time comes. When you know the truth of who they are, how could one speak kindly when they die? If what they do is who they are, then there’s not much to speak of. I guess it would have to be done in generic terms. He lived then he died! Forget the in-between. I sometimes wish I didn’t see so much. What couldn’t I be one of those ditzy women, who just flit? I can’t. My heart is founded on Godly principles and I always wanted what He wanted. I thought the man did too. I think that’s what has disillusioned me the most. To hear him speak the words, but do the totally opposite. Whatever. I’ll end up why-ing this to death. I have to quit. If only my thinking would.
It feels lonely when you think you’re in a relationship with someone only to find out you’re the only one in it and you’re the one left holding the bag.
I think I wouldn’t have the satisfaction of enjoying the eulogy you will. The S with whom I was involved was really loved by everyone even his ex-wife. His friends are completely loyal to him, and not just because he was a big fish in a little pond. That was definitely honey to women, but his friends really did like him and excused any naughty behavior of his. I did, too; it was easy. He was funny and easygoing and adventurous.
It is a lonely existence when you think you are both on the same page, to only find out he never left the starting gate. I think that’s what saddens me the most. We can’t reminisce about much of anything. My husband had the audacity to say that the day he got married was the happiest day of his life. What about all the 38 years after? I had lots and lots of happy days. But they were with our children. I guess it was all pretense with him. I tried to shake his tree when I wrote him a letter. He’s not someone to reason with by talking. So the pen is mightier than the sword, so they say. I wrote this big long letter trying to get him to see what the kids and I did. He just said I must have convinced myself of it all. I gave up trying.
But as for his friends and family. They all like him. But he’s nice to all of them. He will joke around with them, and the kids and I got nil. No wonder I’m so down at times. It’s so hard to stay on top, when I get inundated with memories or something will trigger one and there is a domino effect. One leads to another and before I know it, I’m missing my kids and am bawling myself to sleep. I could have gone on pretending had it not been for his incredible anger. The constant love/hate was taking it’s toll on me. My health was suffering from the stress of living that way. Truth had to come out and when it did, his anger dissolved, immediately. And, I, too, was left holding the bag. He just went his merry way and is now having the time of this life, living the way he did before he got saddled with responsibility. But I can’t honestly say he was a great husband and father. He complained bitterly about anything and everything he ever did for me. He would whistle while he worked for and with his friends and family. All I ever did for him was in vain. All those years of my life, thinking I was securing my future, too, to come to this stage in my life, at 58, and am alone. But I have peace. No more screaming and complaining. I miss intimacy and sex, but not the price I had to pay for it. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to trust another man, to enjoy the pleasures of life I thought were mine.
I saw my X-P’s mask slip the day I found out about his duplicity. I’m so grateful he was in prison and behind a glass barrier at the time.
He didn’t see me at first and I remember how it hurt my heart to see the eager loving look he gave his wife (the woman he had conned into marrying him while he was with me). He’d always looked at me that way and just the week before I’d received an email from him saying he loved me.
Then he looked up and saw me. I could see all his emotions and thoughts flit across his face – shock, anger, calculation – I swear I could see the exact instant when he decided how to react. He went on the attack, shouting at me to get out. Then he concentrated on his wife. He knew she was the softer target because by then I was shouting back at him in anger (and a little fear).
He stared into her eyes as if trying to hypnotise her and kept telling her to call a guard to “get this woman out of here”.
For months I had been the love of his life, the reason he worked so hard, the best thing that had ever happened to him and the most amazing person he knew. Suddenly now I was “this woman”.
He was so convincing that for a moment I actually felt guilty, like I wasn’t supposed to be there and I was the one in the wrong. It was only by reminding myself that I hadn’t imagined our relationship that I could regain my anger.
His wife’s sister contacted me via email this week and she is spitting mad. Her sister is struggling to cope so she’s handling as much of the practical stuff as she can. The sister asked me to give her whatever information I have, which I will gladly do. He’s left a trail of angry, hurt and baffled people in his wake.
I intend writing to the parole board to tell them what I know and oppose any parole applications as strenuously as I can. Even though I am exhausted all the time and as recently as last night I felt so beaten down that I didn’t know how I was going to continue, I know that I have to persevere. I cannot ever give him the satisfaction of breaking me.
This site has helped more than I ever dreamt it could. I can come here and offload and no one judges me or even worse, pities me. Thank you, all of you, for being the amazing, brave, kind, generous people you are.
Gosh! The more I read from all of you, the more I realize that I was married to a sociopath on STEROIDS! I think he had a 24-hr. operation going. Do they really experience that much boredom? And what does “boredom” mean to you and me verses a sociopath?
My ex would get up every morning to get into work an hour early (only he and a female office clerk were at the family business that early in the day). He had to be constantly on the go. Never time spent at home. He would even wait until he thought I was asleep and get out of bed to get on the computer. I found out later that he was on lots of different dating websites.
He kept “hanging on” to an ex-girlfriend whom he swore was “just a friend”. He would call her during the day. He would ask me to invite her to dinner (I didn’t!). We would “just happen” to show up at the same restaurant she and her husband were at. He even called her from our honeymoon in Maui! She is a veterinarian and he said that he was staying friends with her because he got free care for his dogs. He later admitted to me, after we saw a movie where the actor was “admitting” to his discrepancies, that she was his “booty-call” girlfriend. (I suppose he was thinking I would let it go like the girl in the movie.) This is a woman who clearly doesn’t take care of her body and always appears to “need a shower”. And she just happened to be a friend of his first wife who committed suicide. They worked at the same office.
We would go shopping at the mall and he would flirt with every female behind the counter of every store we visited. He would flirt with gay men. He copied everyone. If some guy he worked with wanted to buy a new car, he also wanted the same car. When we scheduled our honeymoon he decided to take a surfing lesson. He emailed the instructor and (via a bio) discovered that the instructor was a Big Brother. Steve (ex) suddenly announced that he would be a Big Brother too! Of course he never pursued the idea. I thought he was crazy!
When we moved in together he had pictures of other women, clothes, jewelry and just about anything else you can imagine strewn all over the house. It was like he kept it all out for me to see. I got very upset and MADE him get it out of the bedroom. He carried out 5 large black garbage bags from that one room alone. He also had a boat in the basement that he got from an ex-girlfriend. Of course he lied to me about that too until I found the papers on it.
Every time he would introduce me to a family member or a coworker (he really had no male friends), he would tell me some sort of “trash” about them first. One coworker’s wife was a drunk and ran into someone’s house with her car, his brother stole the company business from his siblings, a co-worker stole his friend’s girlfriend, his sister-in-law was a Bitch, his mother was mean and I would find out one day soon (true), his sister stole money from the company business (but don’t tell her daugher!)…on and on!
Can you imagine what I went into this thinking about those people? “My poor husband! What he must have been going through!” Exactly what he wanted me to think. He warned me about everyone but HIM. I’m sure he told them the same stories about me because they didn’t like me at all. They didn’t even know me.
It always seemed that he never had an original idea. I learned that every time he dated someone he took them on a trip. Everyone got a trip.
I kept wondering why he wanted to marry me. The women he was with previously appeared to be women who would be “grateful” to have a date PERIOD. He was handsome, his family had lots of money and the matches just didn’t fit.
I am very settled, quiet and I love to be a homemaker. I’m a great cook. I’m the type of person who is very thoughtful in areas where others aren’t. I’ve always been like that. When we met, I had a great job, had been single for 17 years, new car, great condo and I wasn’t desperate for dates. I had dated lots of great guys and my relationships didn’t end with “someone having to die”.
In hindsight, I”m wondering why, when he already had a 24-hour operation going with another life, he wanted to marry me! Why would he drag me into a life that already appeared to be full (albeit strange)? He has high blood pressure and E.D. He takes some strange RX that he orders from the Internet just to have sex. He didn’t take that after we were married. Why do they cheat when they have ED?
Between MY misunderstandings and all the questions he never bothered to answer, he was perfectly charming, very polite, dressed perfectly and constantly kept the cars washed. Everything was perfect from an outsider’s perspective.
I know sociopaths have no regard for anyone, they don’t plan anything and all the other traits. Apparently their minds must run at 100 mph. He went to a great deal of trouble to get me when he could have satisfied his evil lifestyle in his own backyard.
I’ve read where the older they get, the less successful they are. This guy has been lucky though. His family will always write enough checks to bail him out.
He ruined me financially and I’m starting over again in an apartment and a cheap automobile but I think the part that makes me so angry is that I saw what the first wife endured, I know why she committed suicide and I’m very angry that he wanted me to die too.
You get a different perspective when you realize something like that. It’s a very bad feeling that you don’t forget. Kind of like the moments just before a bad accident. You go from a feeling of safe and calm one minute to intense pain, injury and shock the next. Every day you awake asking yourself “how could this have happened?”
I want to move one and forget this but it is the hardest thing I have ever done.