The one thing writer Margo Howard never wanted to be was an advice columnist. Not surprising since her mother was Ann Landers, the world’s most popular giver of advice to the lovelorn. And her aunt, her mother’s twin, was Abigail Van Buren, another extremely well-known “agony aunt.” Margo says, “For thirty years, I wanted to have nothing to do with it. I was a magazine writer and a syndicated columnist writing for many publications including TV Guide, People and The Nation. I was a proper journalist for thirty years.”
But then when editor Michael Kinsley was launching “Slate” online, he asked Margo to plug in a computer and try her hand writing a “Dear Prudence” advice column for the web magazine. “I was in my late 50’s and not doing much and I said I would try it. And I loved it. “
And how did her mother react? Margo says “She was alive for four or five years while I was writing that column and she thought I was very good. But even though she knew a column had already run, she would still edit the copy and send it back to me.”
Unlike some children of the famous, Margo is full of praise for her well-known mom. “I was fifteen when she went to work. I was pleased because it took the focus off me. And even though she was famous, she wasn’t an actress; she was a hard working journalist. And, yes, she gave me advice. Wonderful advice. I read the letters she wrote me and they are like having a conversation with her, full of good and sensible advice.”
