London, Jan 21 : Anne Sinclair, the wife of shamed International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has blasted critics who slammed her for standing by her spouse during a series of sex scandals, insisting she `is a free woman' to make her own decisions.

Sinclair, a 63-year-old former TV presenter, was ridiculed for sticking with her husband while he was twice accused of attempted rape.

But in an interview with Elle magazine, Sinclair insisted that there was no need to leave him.

"I am neither a saint nor a victim. I am a free woman," the Daily Mail quoted Sinclair, as saying.

"No one knows what happens in the privacy of a couple and I refuse anyone the right to judge me. I feel free to take my own decisions and decide on my own actions. I decide on my own life," she added.

Sinclair has provided moral and financial support throughout the alleged sexual assault claims surrounding Strauss-Kahn.

When Strauss-Kahn was first arrested for an attempted rape in a New York hotel suite last May, Sinclair immediately said she did not believe a word of the allegations.

At one stage she even compared Strauss-Kahn's `ordeal' to that suffered in the 1890s by Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French army officer who was imprisoned for high treason because of an anti-Semitic conspiracy, but was then dramatically cleared. (ANI)