I'm Assuming He Didn't Want John Edwards To Be The Only One
Friday, May 22, 2009 at 1:00PM 
Model/philanthropist MacDella Cooper and Chairman Richard Parsons.He's the chairman of Citigroup and he's married (with kids) and knocked up a former fashion model. You know? Just because.
From New York Daily News:
It's no secret that Citigroup board Chairman Richard Parsons has been working for months to repair the financial giant.
But, until now, even his closest associates didn't know he also was wrestling with a personal crisis - how to tell his wife and three children he has fathered a child with another woman.
Parsons and model-philanthropist MacDella Cooper are the parents of a baby girl named Ella.
The 61-year-old former Time Warner chairman said only: "This is a private matter, and I prefer not to talk about it at this time."
Cooper, 32, also declined to discuss the circumstances of her daughter's birth.
"My private life is private," the striking beauty said. "I'm sure you can draw your own conclusions."
Cooper gave birth last August, according to a source, who said Parsons will support the child and has set up a trust fund for her education.
Update after jump.
Danielle Belton
I made some points about this affair in the comments section that I'd like to also share with the masses:
Considering the fact that he's been married since 1968 I'm going to gather that he wanted to be married, he just wanted some booty on the side and the booty on the side got ALL KINDS OF PREGNANT.
Idiot. A 61-year-old idiot.
In other news: For anyone who cares, Parsons' wife is not Denzel Washington's wife Pauletta Pearsons, who Daylife has erroneously labeled on their site.
It's this woman. Poor, little, tiny white woman. You marry a black man in 1968 when that shit wasn't cool AT ALL only for him to knock up some other chick more than 40 years later.
PS. Trying to think of another case where a rich black man cheated on his white wife with a black woman. Can anyone name another case? Does this count as some extreme counter stereotype irony? Is this a new trend?
I know there's a high number of black man-white woman-black woman love triangles in "Regular Broke Folks Land." Because, hell, we's broke. I just know in popular culture we're so used to the young white woman (usually blonde if were following the usual stereotypes) usurping the marriage of the black woman (see Angela Bassett screaming "Git yo' shit" in "Waiting to Exhale") that it almost seems alien to look at the opposite happening in "Rich Folks Land."
Like I know he can't be the only one, but this is like watching a zebra eat a lion for me in someways. I want to know MORE. Who IS the MacDella person? What on earth did she "model" as she doesn't look very tall? Why is up now down? Why is left now right? Someone! EXPLAIN!
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Reader Comments (38)
It must be hard to keep one's pants up.
If you don't want to be married, don't be married.
@ rikyrah
Considering the fact that he's been married since 1968 I'm going to gather that he wanted to be married, he just wanted some booty on the side and the booty on the side got ALL KINDS OF PREGNANT.
Idiot. A 61-year-old idiot.
In other news: For anyone who cares, Parsons' wife is not Denzel Washington's wife Pauletta Pearsons, who Daylife has erroneously labeled on their site.
It's this woman. Poor, little, tiny white woman. You marry a black man in 1968 when that shit wasn't cool AT ALL only for him to knock up some other chick more than 40 years later.
PS. Trying to think of another case where a rich black man cheated on his white wife with a black woman. Can anyone name another case? Does this count as some extreme counter stereotype irony? Is this a new trend?
I love the "model/ philanthropist" caption. Like adding "philanthropist" will make her appear more business-y and thus more credible. sheesh. Sweetie, at the end of the day, you're still a model.
I can't get too mad at her. At least she got knocked up by a married dude with PLENTY of money to go around. *sardonic laugh*
I hope his wife takes him for everything he's worth. I can't begin to imagine her embarrassment since this story went public.
@ Danielle: you are too funny. Nope, can't think of anything off the top of my head. I'm sure THIS particular situation happens often but it's not as well publicized.
You know, I feel about him the same way I feel about Jesse Jackson.
Grown assed man.
If you want to fucking cheat..
GET A DAMN VASECTOMY.
If you have children, and at least one of each, what the hell do you need to go around with the possibility of getting a woman pregnant?
The male ego is unreal.
@ d
I know there's a high number of black man-white woman-black woman love triangles in "Regular Broke Folks Land." Because, hell, we's broke. I just know in popular culture we're so used to the young white woman (usually blonde if were following the usual stereotypes) usurping the marriage of the black woman (see Angela Bassett screaming "Git yo' shit" in "Waiting to Exhale") that it almost seems alien to look at the opposite happening in "Rich Folks Land."
Like I know he can't be the only one, but this is like watching a zebra eat a lion for me in someways. I want to know MORE. Who IS the MacDella person? What on earth did she "model" as she doesn't look very tall? Why is up now down? Why is left now right? Someone! EXPLAIN!
The "old azz, married men should get a vasectomy" crowd: THIS guy, Jesse Jackson, John Edwards, Bill Cosby, Julius 'Dr. J' Erving, the list goes on and on...
The MacDella Cooper Foundation - Sharing the Light
Uh, she was sharing much, MUCH more than the light...
@ Danielle: she has done very well for herself. She's from Liberia and attended college in NY where she was discovered by a modeling agent. She went on to become a fashion coordinator for Ralph Lauren.
Hmmm, I guess I better retract my statement about the "philanthropy" bit. I don't want "Liberia's Angel" coming after me. Seriously, I mean it- http://www.tcnj.edu/~faust2/IMM370/Final/
And remember, this is a post-racial society now that Obama is in office. Up IS down and left IS right...lmao. I guess this shows that men are men are men (women too) no matter the color.
Also, think about how many black men in his peer group have this type of high profile position. Then, consider how many of them would have married white women back in the 60's and 70's. I know soldiers married often women from other countries (see: my great-uncle and Tiger Woods' father) but it was not normally "done." Perhaps they wanted to do it back then but had to wait until it was more socially acceptable. That's probably why you see the "black wife/white other woman" scenario more often than the reverse. Now that IR marriages are becoming socially acceptable (I use that term loosely), you may start seeing these situations among the rich more often. Just a guess...
Holy "A Brotha Done Came Back Home" Batman!
He was eating Wonderbread every morning for 40 years, and then he decided to have some wheat toast for a change. The sugar daddy said, "If loving you is wrong, I don't want to ever do right."
Like I know he can't be the only one, but this is like watching a zebra eat a lion for me in someways. I want to know MORE. Who IS the MacDella person? What on earth did she "model" as she doesn't look very tall? Why is up now down? Why is left now right? Someone! EXPLAIN!
You and me both, Danielle!
Can you imagine the egos of white women right now? First "biracial" Barack Obama marries unmistakably black Michelle Obama and she becomes First Lady and a fashion icon. And now this brotha cheats on his white wife for a sista from the continent. Damn.
I keed! I keed! :-)
You gotta love it. Lord the black man done walked out on old school becky for African Barbie. Hot damn!
Nah ya'll, were not in the Twilight Zone yet. First he'd have to leave his wife to MARRY Ms.Model/Philantrophist. To me this is just another brotha cheating on his wife. Just chose a sista this time.
Was MacDella Cooper featured on the Style network about 5 years ago?
You all are cracking me up!
Where is Carl Icahn on this?
I remember when Parsons was running Time Warner, how Icahn would always call into CNBC and throw a fit.
I'm in the if you don't want to be married, then get a divorce camp. At 61 this man should have known better and yeah, his wife is tiny but that's a another story,
Better to have an out of wedlock baby for a rich man than Levi Johnston, I say.
HEH,HEh,Heh,heh! ROTFLMBAO
Vasectomy HEH,HEh,Heh,heh
I stopped laughing and realized Parsons gave a interview a while ago and stated he and his wife had already given away their assets because they wanted their children to be independent. Whose money is he giving away? I can't bellieve Mrs Parsons is happy about giving away hers. In a divorce this should be one for the record books.
Next thought w/ Citigroup collecting government cheese does this make MacDella Cooper a welfare mother?
Which one yells Mac daddy?
so...how does the condom industry make any money when none of these folks actually uses them...
Four years ago my sister and I attended a dinner party thrown by our boss for Mr Parsons and his wife. The dinner included other distinguished guests including Terry McMillan. Mr. Parsons(He was CEO of AOL Time Warner at the time) was the only person to deign to speak to my sister and I. He was very personable and asked about our home country (Trinidad) and he didn't just appear to do it for show.
hey, why would he not marry Laura. She is a New York Socialite and I am sure that didn't hurt him. They had three children and she certainly was not your barbie doll. So maybe they have an understanding.
I read where his son has had a second marriage in 2006 to a woman Dr. Amanda S. Heron who has both her MD and MBA and they are both Management Consultants at a company known as McKinsey and Company. So the son has done alright for himself.
Thank You Danielle for bringing us this kind of story. This is very odd to me and I cannot think of another situation similar. possibly a trend will begin and other black men will follow. I now wonder if more of this is going on than publicized. possibly Tiger woods several years down the line will knock up a young black or asian woman
or Tiki Barber will have a child with a black woman later!!!!!!!!!
Really Interesting it leads me to think the white woman was just for "status" in the first place especially in 1968...