Barbara Hutton
Barbara Hutton ( born November 14, 1912 in New York City; † May 11, 1979 in Los Angeles ) was a wealthy American department store heiress.
Life
Barbara Hutton was the granddaughter and heiress of Frank Winfield Woolworth, founder of the U.S. department store chain FW Woolworth Company. The age of five, she found her mother Edna Woolworth 's body. With only seven years Barbara inherited about 50 million U.S. dollars; according to today's purchasing power you have to multiply that sum at least by a factor of 10.
It was considered the richest woman in the world and had been married seven times, including from 1942 to 1945 with Cary Grant ( husband No. 3) and the German professional tennis player Gottfried von Cramm ( husband No. 6). Soon was the waste of joyful woman with any divorce - up to the divorce of Cary Grant - was poorer by millions as a symbol of the "poor rich girl ".
Since the 1950s, she had increasingly alcohol and drug problems. In 1972, they lost all grip after the death of her only child, Lance Reventlow. The former party queen and jet-set icon, died virtually destitute, forgotten, abandoned and sick in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles. She was interred in the Woolworth crypt next to her mother. At her death were on their accounts just under $ 3,500. She had almost one billion U.S. dollars ( according to today's purchasing power ) " squandered " in their lives.
Her life was made into a film in 1987 with Farrah Fawcett in the lead role for the TV ( Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, directed by Charles Jarrott ).