Wendy Touton, Wendy Touton Photo, Marie Douglas David Divorce

Swedish countess Marie Douglas-David claims that she needs more than $43 million to live on. To that end, Marie Douglas-David wants her estranged husband to pay her more than the $53,000 a week stipulated in their postnuptial agreement.

Marie Douglas-David, 36, and 67-year-old George David, who is the former chief executive at Hartford-based United Technologies Corp and has a net worth of $329 million, were married in 2002. By 2004, however, the marriage was on the skids, but not before the two drew up the aforementioned postnuptial agreement.

But Marie Douglas-David wants the agreement to be invalidated. It seems as though Marie Douglas-David has weekly expenses that exceed $53,000 and, in order to maintain the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed, she is demanding that George David pony up more dough.

In addition to maintaining her Park Avenue apartment and three homes in Sweden, Marie Douglas-David's expenses include $4,500 for clothing, $1,000 for hair and skin care, $1,500 for meals, and $8,000 for travel. At that rate, only $53,000 a week simply won't do. What's a poor girl to do?

One could argue that, given that we are in the throes of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Marie Douglas-David's demand for more than $53,000 in living expenses is somewhat excessive.

But it also shows that some people are not quite feeling the pinch. Indeed, some people are still doing very well in this horrendous economy, thank you very much. And one gets the sense that Marie Douglas-David and her ilk ought not complain.

Marie Douglas-David should be glad she's not in Ruth Madoff's predicament. Ruth Madoff, who is the wife of disgraced Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, has over $100 million dollars in assets. But if prosecutors have their way, they will leave Ruth Madoff with almost nothing, because they consider her assets to be the fruits of her husband's egregious crimes.

Perhaps Marie Douglas-David ought to just be happy with her measly $53,000 a week. Perhaps she ought to just count her many blessings.

Wendy Touton Photo, Picture