9. Big Edie Feared They’d Be Evicted
Despite owning the Grey Gardens as part of her divorce settlement from Phelan Beale, Big Edie was always afraid of being evicted from the property. After the documentary Grey Gardens premiered in 1975, Big Edie’s fear only increased as the world became aware of the squalor of her home and lifestyle. Her already reclusive behavior risen more in the last two years preceding her death from pneumonia.
In 1977, Big Edie died from pneumonia. She reportedly said anything barely to Little Edie on her deathbed, saying that she had said everything she wanted to say in the documentary. One can imagine how Big Edie’s fear of losing her property developed after a lifetime of being told to sell the property compounded with her own loss of all her wealth and privilege.
It’s a rather sad picture to imagine Big Edie spending the last years of her life shut away behind the overgrown wilds and crumbling walls of Grey Gardens. Too afraid to leave and too poor to fix up her surroundings, she must have had a rather dark final chapter of her life. One wonders why none of her wealthy relatives stepped in after the documentary, or if she perhaps refused their help out of fear of losing her last piece of luxury.