Dorothy Hutelmyer might be a wronged woman.

She's turning into a national celebrity.

An Alamance County, N.C., jury awarded her $1 million last week against a secretary whom jurors blamed for stealing Hutelmyer's husband. The verdict is thought to be one of the largest of its kind.

Friday, Dorothy Hutelmyer appeared on the Today and Good Morning America shows, and she has a long list of other interview requests from newspapers, TV shows and the tabloids.

She still doesn't blame her former husband of 18 years, Joe Hutelmyer, who now is married to his former secretary, Lynne Cox.

Today co-host Matt Lauer asked her: "It takes two to tango. He was, in effect, a rat in all this also, right?"

She replied: "I would not say he was a rat. Joe's a good person, but I think that he made some bad choices."

Lawsuits by jilted spouses appear to be on the rise. Most are settled before trial, and they are filed by men as well as women.

In January, a North Carolina jury awarded Lynn Blackwell Falls nearly $1.2 million for the breakup of her 17-year marriage.

Falls' lawyer, Ed Parker, argued to the jury "that our marriages are the foundation of our society."

But what may have made a bigger impression on jurors was a video of her husband, Keith Falls, and employee Sheila Noah having sex on a conference room floor at his accounting firm. The video was taken by a camera hidden in the ceiling by Lynn Falls' private detective.

North Carolina is one of a few states where spouses can sue for "alienation of affection" - basically breaking up a marriage - and adultery. More than 30 states have abolished similar laws, which date to the 1800s.

Parker said he fears the two huge awards this year will lead to moves to do away with the law.

Lawyers say the suits are sometimes filed out of spite.

"They're just looking for vengeance, total vengeance: 'I'm hurting, so I want someone else to hurt, too,' " said Pam Simon, a lawyer who heads the North Carolina Bar Association's family law section.

Other times, they're used as leverage in property or custody fights. "It's, 'If you don't give me everything I want, I'll go public,' " Simon said.

The Hutelmyers moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania in 1981, living what Dorothy Hutelmyer describes as a storybook marriage. He wrote her love poems and songs.

Cox met Joe Hutelmyer when she worked as his secretary at an insurance company. Witnesses testified that Cox, just separated from her husband, began wearing contact lenses, more makeup and shorter skirts.

Their off-and-on affair started in late 1993. Joseph Hutelmyer said he had marital problems but then said he had to go back to his family because of their three children, said Cox's lawyer, Wayne Abernathy.

The Hutelmyers separated in January 1996. Cox, who is in her early 40s, and Hutelmyer, 43, married last spring.

Dorothy Hutelmyer, 40, decided to sue after finding out about the affair - after her marriage broke up. She's glad she did, and not just because of the money. "It does bring some sense of closure," she said.

But Cox's lawyer said it will be a hollow victory.

"She doesn't have any money," Abernathy said. "They're never going to get paid."