Imelda Marcos: The First Lady of Excess Part 1 | 180

Scamfluencers

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.1 • 7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Imelda Marcos - the former beauty queen turned First Lady of the Philippines – was as famous for her 1,000 pairs of shoes and jawbreaker-sized diamonds as she was infamous for the fortune that she and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, stole from their country. While Imelda jet-setted around the globe on the public dime, ordinary Filipinos struggled under a collapsing economy. When Ferdinand’s popularity starts to plummet, he pulls his most ruthless move yet – declaring martial law to keep himself in power.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, scam influencers fans, Sachi here.
0:02.2	If you live for the outrageous stories and unbelievable cons that we cover, you need Wendry Plus.
0:07.2	It's like sitting in the room with us as we unravel every twist.
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0:16.1	Start your free trial in the Wendry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify now.
0:31.1	Sarah, we all know how I feel about marriage, but I'm curious what you think about a marriage of convenience for a woman. Like, is it worth it to be married to a dud if he can get you
0:35.9	literally anything you want?
0:37.9	Wow, I actually have no idea how you feel about marriage. Maybe you can let me know.
0:43.3	You know what? I think that's probably fine. I mean, that's kind of what marriage was forever until
0:49.1	quite recently when everyone was like, wait a second, should we be in love? It's always been kind of considered a
0:55.4	business transaction almost. So if people are continuing with that tradition, who am I to judge?
1:01.0	Yeah, who's going to get hurt by a little transactional relationship? If that were me and a guy
1:06.8	was like, we obviously don't love each other, this is convenience. I'd say, listen, we can do this, but you have to promise you one thing. Promise me you won't fall in love. Yeah, and then, you know, who knows what happens after that. Yeah, the most twisted romance ever. A true scamful-encers love story, Sarah. Well, today I'm going to tell you about a political wife who understood just how much
1:28.6	power there was in being the effervescent, glamorous, charming plus one. She's going to take
1:34.7	full advantage of it for her own benefit, and no one else's. It's June 1977 on the remote island of Caloit in the Philippines.
1:50.8	A helicopter lands and outsteps Imelda Marcos, first lady of the Philippines, wife to dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and a self-styled patron of beauty and grandeur.
2:01.9	Amelda has high cheekbones, glowing skin, and her dark hair is in a perfect buffant.
2:07.4	Cameras click as she smiles at the crowd of waiting press.
2:10.9	Last year, Amelda went on a safari trip and was inspired to amass her own collection of
2:15.5	African animals. So, Ferdinand made it happen with a presidential decree.
2:20.4	A British game dealer shipped in zebras, giraffes, gazelles, and more from Kenya,
2:25.6	transforming Caloit into the Marcos' own personal serengeti.
	...

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