Michael Pollack married NYC hedge fund manager sues Heidi Kling Union Square psychologist for $250K alleging she seduced him out of $250K in mistress money during therapy sessions over the course of ten years.
At what point does one realise they are being taken advantage of and at what point does one realise they are also complicit in their own misery and cuckoldry?
A NYC hedge fund manager has accused a Union Square psychologist of preying on his vulnerability and seducing him during office visits over the course of a decade to the tune of $250K.
Married father-of-two Michael Pollack, 46, claims he was duped into believing he was ‘trapped’ in his marriage by New York City therapist Heidi Kling, 58, according to a lawsuit.
The duo were involved in a secret relationship for 10 years, after he began seeing the therapist during the 2008 financial crisis, reports the New York Post.
Throughout their affair, Pollack frequently gave Kling large sums of money at the end of his raunchy therapy sessions, which he claims amounted to over $250,000 by the time they parted ways. A sum of money which he ascribes tantamount to ‘mistress money’.
Inspired her client to idolize and desire his therapist
In the court filings, submitted to the Manhattan Supreme Court, Tuesday, the Wall Street investor says the shrink ‘fostered’ an emotional dependence, which led him to fork over his fortune.
Pollack is the co-founder and CEO of the SCA Charitable Foundation, and previously worked for Wall Street hedge fund Glenhill Capital, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He founded his charity after surviving the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai while visiting his wife’s family, with the trauma of the ordeal one of the reasons he sought help from Kling.
But while undergoing ‘treatment’ from the therapist, the lawsuit claims she enchanted Pollack, including sending him constant flirtatious emails.
The hedge funder admitted developing an ‘erotic interest’ in Kling after just six months, but now claims she inspired an ‘idolization’ of her to swindle him out of his fortune.
While the two embarked on a sordid love affair, the shrink convinced Pollack that his spouse was ‘difficult to love,’ ‘extremely rigid’, and ‘highly controlling’, according to the court documents.
Their relationship turned physical in 2011 during an intimate therapy session, where the lawsuit claims that Kling ‘took (his) hand in hers, and initiated sexual contact. The sexual contact escalated, and continued in every, single session thereafter.’
She treats people for “impulse control disorders”. https://t.co/06A0hBPOqP
— NDR, Aimless Drifter Capital 🇺🇦 (@NegDiscountRt) March 4, 2023
At least 800 romps
He alleges that their liaison often became extremely costly, as he paid the therapist ‘thousands per week when (Kling’s) husband, Marty, was out of work’.
The dad, whose wife is from India, also frequently exchanged flirty messages with Kling, including sharing intimate verses in Hindi about desire.
He estimates that his therapy costs with Kling ran up to $50,000 before their relationship became intimate. Following the start of their affair, he claims his ‘mistress money’ payments ran upwards of a quarter of a million dollars. The interludes all took place at Kling’s office with the pair not engaging each other outside of the office.
At $300 per therapy session, the pair would have had to have over 800 physical interludes over the course of ten years – or 80 per year, which comes to 1.5 sexual sessions per week. Never mind the husband’s physical obligations (presumably) with his wife who continued to remain in the dark.
Pollack says he would empty a bank account his wife didn’t have access to, using an ATM near Kling’s office in Manhattan’s Union Square.
And then there was the following alleged plot twist.
When client turns therapist and vice versa
While the hedge funder would continue paying for ‘therapy’, in his suit Pollack says the roles becoming reversed, where he the ‘client’ would spend his appointments ‘soothing and comforting’ his ‘therapist’.
Yes kids. Even I am trying to absorb the magnitude and madness of it all.
The suit alleges Pollack often arriving at his sessions to find Kling ‘arguing with her husband, her children, or a third-party,‘ before they would end their sessions with sex-romps.
No, this is not a Woody Allen movie or anything anyone could’ve possibly have conceived in a screenplay — because reality is often more stranger and poetic than fiction.
But there was another dangerous corner to navigate. Kling’s mentor, Joseph Newirth, 79, who Pollack also had appointments with (because when one is vulnerable and confused…) who also according to the suit, encouraged the therapist and patient fling.
According to the suit, Newirth told the dad their romance would help him ‘grow emotionally’.
Do you suppose?
Their years-long entanglement came to a halt in August 2021 after Pollack began ‘to feel enormous internal pressure to make a choice between Dr Kling or his wife’.
But after ending things with the therapist, her mentor Newirth allegedly berated Pollack, shouting: ‘You were a f***ing robot before you met her. She opened you up, gave you life.’
And the meaning of life is?
‘I had PTSD. It was erotic transference,’ Pollack retorted, according to the lawsuit.
Following the ordeal, Pollack is suing the therapists for unspecified damages, claiming he now ‘struggles with how much time he lost with his family while he was consumed by devotion’.
According to Psychology Today, Kling specializes in treating anxiety, eating disorders, and relationship issues.
Writing in the outlet, she says she uses a ‘direct and interactive approach to help clients clarify problems, apply strategies to minimize negative behavior patterns, and cope more effectively with painful emotions.’
Not immediately clear is whether Pollack was now continuing therapy sessions in the aftermath of his extraordinary trauma at a new office and the progress of any sessions.
