Barbara Hutton carried off a plane in London, 1971. Getty Images/townandcountrymag.
1. Barbara Hutton Went From One of the Wealthiest Women In the World to Nearly Penniless
One of the biggest challenges people of a higher-class status have is trying to teach their children how to handle money. This problem was one problem Hutton’s family members had with her. So it seemed like no matter how hard they tried to control Hutton’s spending, they would come out empty-handed. From a young age, Hutton enjoyed shopping and spending money. However, this is not to say that Hutton was selfish with her spending. In fact, Hutton was known to be very generous with her money. Some might say she was generous to a fault.
While Hutton was known to help support and buy lavish gifts for her friends, it was mostly her many husbands, except for Cary Grant was her most expensive taste. While she was known to spend millions of dollars on her mansion, her husbands often did the same. Then, of course, there were the best and expensive cars and jewelry. There were also numerous divorces, with six of her seven husbands leaving with some type of settlement. Her first husband cost her about $2 million while her second husband $1.5 million and her fifth about $2.5 million. When Hutton died at 66 years old in 1979 from a heart attack, she had only $3,500.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“F.W. Woolworth Company.” Wikipedia
“James Buchanan Duke” Wikipedia.
“Jane Bowles, Libby Holman Reynolds, and Barbara Hutton.” Paul Bowles, paulbowles.org.
“Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987).” IMDB.
“Barbara Hutton: The Iconic Jewelry Collector.” Alexandra Rhodes, Sotheby’s. April 2014.
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