After the whole Lisa Nowak Depends incident, the title “ex-astronaut” can no longer be used to bolster credibility.
I also saw an astronaut of the female persuasion on TV once giving an interview. She had been a commander of a recent mission, I think.
The interviewer asked her some throwaway question about why she was an astronaut and she started hyperventilating and exclaiming something about, “Overpopulation! Pollution! War and poverty! We just HAVE TO GET OFF THIS PLANET!!”
It actually was sad.