Stories and Lifestyle

If the current front-runner among the Democratic presidential candidates wins the nomination and defeats Bush in the November elections, a dazzling personality will be moving into the White House. We are talking about John Kerry himself who doesn't look so dazzling in the campaign, but his wife, the millionaire and ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry.

There couldn't be more of a difference between her and the rather quiet Laura Bush who usually just stands next to her husband with an admiring look on her face. The 65-year old woman in a Chanel suit and high heels, always timelessly elegant, is not in the habit of mincing matters. A loose cannon ball, as some staff members from her husband's campaign team are afraid. They are not always happy about the openness of the politician's wife. Critics say Teresa Heinz was too blunt, spontaneous and stubborn. She doesn't care. As she points out, if a woman says what she thinks, people say she's stubborn, if it's a man they say he's smart. She says, if she didn't have an opinion, she'd be an idiot.

John Kerry, in any case, sees his wife as an asset for his campaign. On his web presence johnkerry.com, Teresa has her own sections, with biography, achievements, quotes and almost daily, new comments.

Whenever Teresa Kerry shows up with her husband at campaign events, you get the impression that she's not content with simply being arm candy. She prefers to campaign herself. She says, voters can make sense of what she's telling them - it almost seems that she is running for office herself. "We have done well and got great press coverage," she says after another campaign event she did by herself. Other than the campaign staff of her husband, the voters like Heinz who elaborately talks about social justice and human rights.

Teresa Heinz only switched parties this year. She used to be Republican, probably because she was married to the heir of the ketchup and soup empire Heinz for 25 years, he was a Republican Senator. John Heinz III died in a plane crash in 1991. "He was the love of my life," Heinz is still saying, even with her second husband John Kerry present. She got to know Kerry better on the environmental summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. They got married in 1995.

Teresa Simoes-Ferreira grew up as the daughter of a Portuguese doctor in Mozambique. She studied languages in South Africa and Geneva, where she sometimes sat in an auditorium with present day Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan. Teresa is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and Italian.

In the 60s she came to New York as an interpreter for the United Nations. In 1966, she got married to the ketchup heir. After his tragic death, Teresa inherited roughly $500 million. She focused on charity work. She became director of the Heinz foundation, one of the greatest philanthropic organizations in the US. With millions of Dollars it supports initiatives for the environment, women's rights, education and art.

For her work, Heinz received several honorary doctorates and awards.

For her husbands presidential candidacy, she naturally got her own section on his website. So, if you want to know more about Teresa Heinz Kerry, check this website: www.johnkerry.com/about_teresa