7. The End Of Her Life Was Just As Sad As The Beginning
Unfortunately, it seems that Barbara Hutton was never able to escape the sadness and tragedy of her life. While Hutton did have happy moments and times, the last few years of her journey were filled with tragedy, struggles, and illness. Of course, one of the toughest times of Hutton’s life happened when her only child, Lance, passed away in a plane accident in 1972. Like most parents who have faced such a devastating loss, Hutton never got over the loss of her son. Those who were closest to her state that Hutton began to lose interest in living once she heard the news that her son has passed.
From that point, Hutton’s health began to deteriorate. Not only did Hutton struggle with walking due to breaking her hip and refused medical care immediately after the injury, but she also started to go blind. Many people speculate that this was another reason Hutton requested to be carried or pushed around in a wheelchair when she was out and about, she did not want people to know she was going blind. Two weeks before Hutton passed away, she was discharged from the hospital, where she was receiving treatment for pneumonia. Whether this illness was a factor in the heart attack that took Hutton’s life on May 11, 1979, at the age of 66 is unknown.