Palfrey E-Mails WTOP

Augenstein writes:
You've acknowledged that for 13 years you operated your escort agency. Obviously, it will ultimately be up to a judge and/or a jury to determine whether the activities were legal or not. With that as the constant:

1. Did your family and friends (excluding your employees) know that part of your life was involved in running Pamela Martin and Associates? Was it something you spoke freely about with them? Did your loved ones state questions about the business? How did you explain it to them? (I'm purposely not asking for particular names, as you and I are both sensitive to involving innocent people in this discussion)

Palfrey writes back:
Like most people, I am a complicated individual who is capable of compartmentalizing various aspects of my life. In addition, I am an extremely private person. For me, my involvement with Pamela Martin & Associates was just one of the many - although significant - segments of my life, the past 13 years. The business was not necessarily something I tried to hide from others, but something I felt was simply no one else's concern; mostly because of its sensationalistic aspects. The type of current media attention I am receiving, with or without the 'Who's Who List' is evidence of the reaction I would have gotten had my little cottage industry become known in my personal life; albeit on a much smaller scale with friends and acquaintances. I most certainly would have been the subject of constant gossip and ridicule. After all, there is something to be said for discretion, not to mention self-preservation in a situation such as mine. Sadly though, when the Government leaked the "unsigned" affidavit to the online tabloid rag The Smoking Gun last October, in its attempt to humiliate me, my efforts to keep the business part of my life confidential came crashing down on me and the derision commenced, post haste. What a shame really because similar to the famous Mayflower Madam's experiences in the 1980's, I ran a first-rate firm, with top quality associates patronized by some of the best people in this country as well as many internationally. Like Ms. Biddle-Barrows, I am quite proud of the business I ran and the ethical manner which it was conducted for almost a decade and a half period. With reference to my family, out of respect for them - I have no comment.