BARBARA HUTTON (HEIRESS OF WOOLWORTH FORTUNE) - MYSTERIES & SCANDALS {4}
BARBARA HUTTON (HEIRESS OF WOOLWORTH FORTUNE) - MYSTERIES & SCANDALS
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00:00When she was four, her mother committed suicide, and the press dubbed Barbara the poor little
00:05rich girl.
00:06In 1933, when Barbara turned 21, she inherited her mother's $50 million estate, which made
00:12her, for a time, one of the richest women in the world.
00:15She married seven times, once to actor Cary Grant.
00:18Sadly, this outrageously rich and beautiful daughter of privilege became an alcoholic,
00:23drug-addicted anorexic, and believe it or not, flat broke.
00:26On this episode of Mysteries and Scandals, we'll examine the glamorous, yet tragic life
00:30of Barbara Hutton.
00:31How did she go from riches to rags, and what demons drove her to self-destruction?
00:36There was a beauty there, but it was a sad beauty.
00:40She was, indeed, the poor little rich girl.
00:42She was not to be understood.
00:43I mean, most men, I think, were enamored of her prestige, her looks, her power, her money.
00:50She was simply not equipped to face life.
00:53She was so out of it.
00:54She was so addicted to drugs.
00:56Feeling an underweight, Barbara Hutton asks cameraman to deny rumors she's been dieting.
01:01She just was on a diet all the time.
01:02She was very, very thin.
01:03It was a deliberate thing.
01:04She couldn't eat.
01:05She just thought that one should be thin.
01:09They say you can't be too rich or too thin, but this woman pushed the envelope.
01:14I'm A.J.
01:15Benza.
01:16Join me as we look back at the sadness and scandal of an American princess, Barbara Hutton.
01:23In 1979, heiress Barbara Hutton died alone at the age of 66 in a Los Angeles hotel suite.
01:46A shell of a woman, Hutton weighed less than 100 pounds.
01:50She was buried at the Woolworth Family Mausoleum in New York City.
01:53Oscar-winning actor and close friend Cliff Robertson attended the funeral where he read
01:57a poem for Barbara.
01:58Gentle lady alone and lost in search of love so simple, gentle lady, console your heart.
02:10A sad ending for a woman who at one time had it all.
02:16Barbara Hutton's troubled tale began in New York City in 1912.
02:20Barbara, an only child, was born into one of America's wealthiest families.
02:24Mona Eldridge was Barbara Hutton's social secretary.
02:27Barbara Hutton's grandfather on her mother's side was Woolworth, the founder of Woolworth's.
02:35Barbara's father, Franklin, also came from an illustrious family.
02:38C. David Heyman is the author of Poor Little Rich Girl.
02:41Her father, Franklin, was Hutton.
02:44He was the brother of E.F. Hutton, the famous investment banker.
02:50Was an extraordinarily business-wise man.
02:53A good businessman, yeah, but a lousy husband to Barbara's mother.
02:57Treated her very badly and was very tough on her.
03:01Barbara's father was an alcoholic and a womanizer and he had many mistresses.
03:08And little Barbara, who was raised by nannies and servants, suffered the fallout.
03:12One day when Barbara was just four years old, she went to wake her mother and made
03:16a grim discovery.
03:17Barbara went into the room and found her mother in bed.
03:20There was a suicide note.
03:22She was found dead in her bed by Barbara, her daughter of all people.
03:26For Barbara, it was obviously a devastation and it was to mark her uneasy passage for
03:32the rest of her life.
03:34Franklin Hutton went on with his drinking and womanizing and never really played a role
03:37in his daughter's life.
03:38Franklin Hutton sent Barbara to live with her maternal grandfather, F.W. Woolworth.
03:43After Grandfather Woolworth died in 1918, six-year-old Barbara was farmed out to various
03:47highbrow boarding schools.
03:49So she did have not a very happy childhood, but she grew up very fast.
03:55At age 15, she owned her own apartment here in New York.
04:01She also learned quite early in life that people didn't really like her until they found
04:07out that she had a lot of money.
04:09In 1930, Barbara Hutton, now 18 years old, decided she was through with school.
04:14Hutton dove right into the international party circuit.
04:17She was intelligent, so she attracted those who were looking for a rich girl to marry.
04:22One of the people that she met at this time was a man whose name was Alexis Devaney.
04:27He had even more to offer Barbara, which was a title.
04:30Sure, this European prince had a title.
04:33What he lacked was money.
04:34Devaney saw 19-year-old Barbara Hutton as his cash cow, but the prince had one problem.
04:40He was involved with a Newport girl who was a friend of Barbara's, whose name was Louise
04:45Van Allen.
04:46There were two Devaney brothers and Russi's sister.
04:49This threesome inspired to spin this web, which would entrap Barbara.
04:56Prince Devaney and his conniving royal siblings launched their plan in the south of France.
05:01They all went on vacation.
05:04Alexis began making an actual play for Barbara.
05:07Russi led a party looking for Barbara, and there they found Alexis Devaney in bed with
05:15Barbara Hutton.
05:16It was, of course, a public embarrassment.
05:18Louise Van Allen had no choice but to break her engagement with Alexis, leaving Alexis
05:24free to now pursue Barbara Hutton.
05:27And it didn't take him long.
05:29I never believed that a woman in those days had to have a husband.
05:34And it's nice to have a prince as a husband so that you can be a princess.
05:38On June 20th, 1933, 25-year-old Prince Alexis Devaney married the 20-year-old Barbara Hutton.
05:45Coincidentally, five months later, Barbara inherited her $50 million fortune, which had
05:50been held in a trust since her mother's death.
05:52The first night of their honeymoon, Alexis Devaney looked at her and with ire and fire
06:02in his eyes.
06:04He said to her that she was too fat.
06:07And from then onwards, she was always on a diet.
06:11She became, for all intents and purposes, an anorexic.
06:16Two unhappy years later, Barbara Hutton, now 22 years old, ditched her prince.
06:20And Devaney, gold digger that he was, made out just fine.
06:24He emerged much richer than he had been prior to marrying Barbara.
06:31Barbara's second husband was Count Raventlow, who was a Danish count.
06:36It wasn't the fairy tale story that she expected.
06:40She found out soon after she married him that he was extremely sadistic, violent, and willful.
06:49But the marriage did produce a son.
06:51Lance Raventlow was born on February 25, 1936.
06:56Five years later, the marriage ended in divorce.
06:58So at the age of 28, Barbara Hutton was the world's richest divorcee.
07:02Degraded by a prince and battered by a count, Barbara soon set her sights on Hollywood,
07:07not exactly the place you come to lick your wounds.
07:10Would Hutton finally find happiness with the crown prince of Tinseltown?
07:13Straight ahead to Cary Grant years.
07:15Barbara's slow descent into the evils of addiction.
07:25In 1933, Barbara Hutton inherited the $50 million Woolworth department store fortune
07:31and was considered one of the richest women in the world.
07:33By the age of 29, the beautiful Barbara had already divorced two royal gold diggers, a
07:37prince and a count.
07:39But it was a member of Hollywood royalty who was the next man to steal her heart.
07:45I used to be afraid of that look, the withering glance of the goddess.
07:48She met Cary Grant on a trip across the Atlantic.
07:55With Barbara, it was always, her heart was always open to the next person.
08:00In 1942, Barbara Hutton married Hollywood's most eligible bachelor, Cary Grant.
08:05The press called him Cash and Cary.
08:07From all indications, Barbara Hutton and Cary Grant were very much in love at the beginning.
08:13He didn't like Barbara's friends.
08:15He saw them all as taking advantage of her.
08:18And he was the only husband that she had who really, I think, truly loved Barbara for Barbara.
08:27Grant also established a close bond with Barbara's son, Lance.
08:30It looked like maybe marriage number three was a charm, but not for long.
08:34Even heartthrob Cary Grant couldn't make Barbara happy.
08:37She couldn't understand having a husband who worked for a living.
08:42As he said, I don't know what she thought, that I was going to give up acting and, you
08:46know, just be there to go on vacations with her.
08:48Designer Ole Cassini first met Barbara Hutton in 1943.
08:52And she said to me, Cary is a very difficult man, he's very charming, but I don't want
08:56to stay married to him.
09:00And she said, you and I might as well make the best of it.
09:03I'm going to renounce Cary Grant.
09:06The only problem was that Cassini, who was then serving in the U.S. military, was married
09:10to actress Jean Tierney.
09:12And she said to me, why don't you propose to your wife, a friend of the boss, and she
09:18will get a million dollars, and you and I will live forever happily, because we belong
09:26to each other.
09:27And I talked to Jean, and I did say, look, you have the greatest chance in the world
09:32to get rid of me.
09:33Unfortunately, she decided that she wanted me to stick around.
09:37But Barbara had no intention of sticking around.
09:40Three years after taking their wedding vows, Hutton divorced Grant.
09:4332-year-old Barbara set sail for the next port in her stormy life.
09:47Now, Barbara's fourth husband was Igor Trubetskoy.
09:50Now, there was a real Russian aristocrat.
09:54It would be lovely, she thought, to be Princess Trubetskoy.
09:57And he wanted just to have a nice, quiet life with her wife.
10:02But Barbara was more than a wife.
10:04She was an institution, I think.
10:07So bye-bye Igor.
10:09The couple divorced in 1958.
10:11Barbara Hutton, now 38 years old, had four divorces under her belt.
10:15She'd been a princess twice and a countess once, and was again on the prowl for her next
10:20Prince Charming.
10:21But over the years, Barbara had developed some habits that were beginning to cause problems.
10:25And I suppose this is the only way one can explain it.
10:28She was drugged out of her mind.
10:30If she wanted to have a drug prescription, she could always find a doctor who will prescribe
10:35it.
10:36She was also addicted to booze.
10:39And when she was drinking, she really didn't know much what she was doing.
10:43The effect of the two were exaggerated, because she wasn't eating at all.
10:47So there was nothing to absorb either the pills or the booze.
10:51She was a zombie.
10:52You can see that in the photographs, where she just had this vacant stare.
10:56When we come back, Barbara meets her match with husband number five, a world-class Latin
11:01lover.
11:02Could he be the man who could finally satisfy her?
11:05Or was Hutton's rapid deterioration from pills, booze, and anorexia going to prevent any chance
11:10of happiness for the poor little rich girl?
11:17This Sunday.
11:18In her life, Barbara Hutton was one of the most talked about, written about, and gossiped
11:21about women in the world.
11:22I'm AJ Benza for Mysteries and Scandals.
11:25For decades, people were both fascinated and appalled by this lonely heiress and her never-ending
11:30and expensive quest for love and happiness.
11:32Only beyond imagination, smart, beautiful, independent, the woman had it all.
11:37So what was missing?
11:38Well, love.
11:39After four unhappy marriages, it seemed no one could satisfy the poor little rich girl.
11:45In 1953, 41-year-old Barbara took another ill-fated pass at matrimony, when she married
11:51international playboy Porfirio Rubirosa.
11:54I thought Barbara's fifth husband was Rubirosa, who was a famous, well-known man about town.
12:06Very, very attractive to women.
12:08And she fell for his, for his lying.
12:11He had many, many conquests among important women.
12:16So Rubirosa set his sights on Barbara Hutton, despite the fact that he was already having
12:20an affair with another well-known beauty.
12:22At the same time, he was involved with actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, herself no lightweight in the
12:28love department, having been married eight times.
12:32It was, again, publicly embarrassing for Barbara, because there were pictures constantly in
12:37the newspaper.
12:38And of course, by that time, she had started drinking.
12:43And she was probably not coherent at the time.
12:47And he managed to get a ring on her finger.
12:50An incredible photograph, I think, of the actual wedding itself.
12:54Barbara looking very, for the first time in her life, very old, I think, very worn, very
12:59haggard because of her anorexia.
13:02The new Mrs. Rubirosa seems perfectly happy and says, this time it's for keeps.
13:09The marriage lasted less than six months.
13:12Barbara claimed she never even consummated the relationship, which is truly a pity, since
13:17the only reason for marrying Rubirosa would be to consummate the marriage, since Rubirosa
13:22was known purely and simply for his lovemaking prowess.
13:28And to put it in a digestible fashion, if you go into American restaurants today and
13:33you ask for the big peppermill, which is 15 inches in length, it's for good reason called
13:39the Rubirosa.
13:40Let's pass on the peppermill joke.
13:43In 1955, Barbara, now 42 years old, rebounded and married again.
13:48Husband number six was a German by the name of Baron Gottfried von Kramm.
13:52Now, Barbara's sixth husband was a very famous German tennis player, and she was, in her
14:01own little girlish way, in love with him.
14:05The thing is, though, he was homosexual, and in her fairytale dreams, she thought perhaps
14:12she could change him.
14:13This woman was living in a dream world.
14:15Barbara soon learned that one of the things money can't buy is sexual preference.
14:20She did say, at one point, that von Kramm was the love of her life, which is interesting,
14:28because things you read about him, you might not think that.
14:33Hutton and von Kramm were married five years.
14:35Understandably, Barbara had a hard time dealing with her husband's homosexual affairs.
14:40For a while, she found solace in her usual pills and booze, but by 1960, Babs, now 48
14:46years old, had had enough.
14:48Marriage number six was over.
14:49I felt very sorry for her, but I also felt that she needed other people besides that
14:55social farrago that she was in.
14:58Remarkably, Barbara managed to stay single for four years, until she met lucky number
15:02seven in 1964.
15:04Raymond Dorn was her last husband.
15:07He was half French, half Vietnamese painter, and I believe that by that time, because she
15:16was drinking, because she was getting older, fewer people were paying court to her, and
15:23she was looking for somebody to be her husband.
15:27Husband number seven, however, lacked the social status worthy of Barbara Hutton.
15:31Not a problem.
15:32Barbara simply reached for a checkbook.
15:34Barbara then decided to buy him a title, and she went out to Cambodia to purchase one
15:44for him.
15:45So for $250,000, Raymond Dorn became a Cambodian prince, and Barbara Hutton, now 51, became
15:52a princess once again.
15:53Big surprise, this marriage didn't work out either.
15:56By the 1960s, Barbara was suddenly faced with the unimaginable.
16:00She was getting poorer and poorer by that time, and every single marriage was extremely
16:05expensive.
16:06Not because they demanded it, but she was very generous.
16:10She would say, well, you know, it's not your fault, I'm tired of you, so, you know, have
16:15a million.
16:16Well, all the money in the world couldn't protect Barbara Hutton from the tragedy that
16:20was about to strike.
16:21Straight ahead, the decay of a super socialite, addicted, alone, a recluse on the verge of
16:26bankruptcy.
16:27Was there any hope for Hutton to ever find true happiness?
16:33By 1970, 58-year-old Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton was suffering the effects of years
16:38of alcoholism, prescription drug addiction, and starvation diets.
16:42Her mental and physical health was in serious decline, and to further complicate matters,
16:46Hutton was in grave financial trouble.
16:48After decades of outrageous spending, Barbara had one bright spot in her unhappy life, her
16:53son Lance.
16:54Like his mother, Lance was raised by nannies and servants and sent to the best boarding
16:57schools.
16:58Mother and son shared a loving but difficult relationship.
17:01And then in 1972, 36-year-old Lance had a run-in with fate.
17:05Lance had no pilot's license, he used to pilot his own plane.
17:10He went up on an overcast day.
17:14He was warned not to take off because of the bad weather.
17:17He was quite reckless.
17:19Lance Reventlow died in an airplane crash outside of Aspen, Colorado, and now she had
17:26lost her last treasure, Lance.
17:28I mean, it was, in a sense, also a sign, I suppose, for her of ruination and her own
17:37inability, I think, to be able to control any facet of her life.
17:42Shortly after Lance's death, Barbara, now a woman of 60, went into seclusion.
17:46Although technically still married to husband number seven, Barbara rarely saw him.
17:50Hutton began to isolate herself from the world.
17:53The social swirl she had lived in for so many years quietly disintegrated.
17:57In the mid-1970s, Barbara moved back to Los Angeles and into a posh hotel in Beverly Hills.
18:03Bernard Gelbort was a close friend.
18:05Every person who was close to her were actually there for what they could gain.
18:16By 1973, there wasn't much left for anybody to gain.
18:20Barbara Hutton had pretty much squandered her fortune, but it was Hutton's addictions
18:23that were really destroying her life.
18:26She abused her body with drink and with a certain amount of drugs.
18:31Yeah, having lost her son, it was clear at this point that she had nothing left to live
18:37for and wanted to die.
18:39She just had retired from the entire world where she never would walk.
18:46I just commented about people, you know, caring her, and she said, well, that's what I am
18:52paying for.
18:53She was drinking Coca-Cola all the time, smoking cigarettes.
19:01The thing that's absolutely indelible in my mind is her face lying there in that bed smoking
19:08and the gentleness that would come from her, but it was a gentleness that was wrapped in
19:14regret.
19:15She was very thin, gone, the spirit was gone, the life was gone out of her.
19:22Barbara Hutton died quietly in her hotel suite in Beverly Hills on May 11, 1979.
19:27She was 66 years old.
19:28She'd have been a good deal happier if she'd have put her fortune to better use.
19:39Not just writing a check, getting involved with the real world.
19:43That would, I think, would have helped her recognize who she was.
19:46And I think that she'd have been happier if there was some, you know, purpose in her life.
19:54She was simply not equipped to face life.
19:56Only 16 people showed up for Barbara Hutton's funeral at the Woolworth family mausoleum
20:01in New York City.
20:02So what did happen to all that money?
20:05She knew in the depths of her heart that her lawyers were stealing it right and left, but
20:11somehow it didn't matter.
20:13So that when she died, she had exactly $3,000 left in the bag, $3,000.
20:21Barbara Hutton took the you can't take it with you philosophy pretty seriously.
20:25What a life.
20:26$50 million.
20:27And you wind up alone with three grand in the bank, drinking Coca-Cola, smoking cigarettes,
20:32and being carried everywhere you go.
20:34I guess the rich are different.
20:36I'm A.J. Benza.
20:37Join me the next time our paths cross in a state of mind called Hollywood.
20:54Fortune.
21:13When she was four, her mother committed suicide and the press dubbed Barbara the poor little
21:17rich girl.
21:18In 1933, when Barbara turned 21, she inherited her mother's $50 million estate, which made
21:25her, for a time, one of the richest women in the world.
21:27She married seven times, once to actor Cary Grant.
21:30Sadly, this outrageously rich and beautiful daughter of privilege became an alcoholic,
21:34drug-addicted anorexic, and believe it or not, flat broke.
21:38On this episode of Mysteries and Scandals, we'll examine the glamorous yet tragic life
21:42of Barbara Hutton.
21:43How did she go from riches to rags, and what demons drove her to self-destruction?
21:48There was a beauty there, but it was a sad beauty.
21:52She was, indeed, the poor little rich girl.
21:54She was not to be understood.
21:55I mean, most men, I think, were enamored of her prestigious looks, of power, of money.
22:02She was simply not equipped to face life.
22:05She was so out of it.
22:06She was so addicted to drugs.
22:08Feeling an underweight, Barbara Hutton asks cameraman to deny rumors she's been dieting.
22:12She just was on a diet all the time.
22:14She was very, very thin.
22:15It was a deliberate thing.
22:16She couldn't eat.
22:17She just thought that one should be thin.
22:21They say you can't be too rich or too thin, but this woman pushed the envelope.
22:25I'm A.J. Benza.
22:26Join me as we look back at the sadness and scandal of an American princess, Barbara Hutton.
22:52In 1979, heiress Barbara Hutton died alone at the age of 66 in a Los Angeles hotel suite.
22:58A shell of a woman, Hutton weighed less than 100 pounds.
23:02She was buried at the Woolworth Family Mausoleum in New York City.
23:05Oscar-winning actor and close friend Cliff Robertson attended the funeral where he read
23:09a poem for Barbara.
23:11Gentle lady alone and lost, in search of love so simple, gentle lady, console your heart.
23:22A sad ending for a woman who at one time had it all.
23:27Barbara Hutton's troubled tale began in New York City in 1912.
23:31Barbara, an only child, was born into one of America's wealthiest families.
23:35Mona Eldridge was Barbara Hutton's social secretary.
23:38Barbara Hutton's grandfather, on her mother's side, was Woolworth, the founder of Woolworth's.
23:47Barbara's father, Franklin, also came from an illustrious family.
23:50C. David Heyman is the author of Poor Little Rich Girl.
23:53Her father, Franklin, was Hutton.
23:55He was the brother of E.F. Hutton, the famous investing banker.
24:00As a husband, so that you can be a princess.
24:02On June 20th, 1933, 25-year-old Prince Alexis Devaney married the 20-year-old Barbara Hutton.
24:08Coincidentally, five months later, Barbara inherited her $50 million fortune, which had
24:14been held in a trust since her mother's death.
24:16The first night of their honeymoon, Alexis Devaney looked at her and with ire and fire
24:26in his eyes.
24:27He said to her that she was too fat.
24:31And from then onwards, she was always on a diet.
24:35She became, for all intents and purposes, an anorexic.
24:39Two unhappy years later, Barbara Hutton, now 22 years old, ditched her prince.
24:44But Devaney, gold digger that he was, made out just fine.
24:48He emerged much richer than he had been prior to marrying Barbara.
24:55Her second husband was Count Raventlow, who was a Danish count.
25:00It wasn't the fairy tale story that she expected.
25:04She found out soon after she married him that he was extremely sadistic, violent, and willful.
25:13But the marriage did produce a son.
25:15Lance Raventlow was born on February 25th, 1936.
25:19Five years later, the marriage ended in divorce.
25:22So at the age of 28, Barbara Hutton was the world's richest divorcee.
25:26Degraded by a prince and battered by a count, Barbara soon set her sights on Hollywood,
25:31not exactly the place you come to lick your wounds.
25:33Would Hutton finally find happiness with the crown prince of Tinseltown?
25:37Straight ahead to Cary Grant years, and Barbara's slow descent into the evils of addiction.
25:49In 1933, Barbara Hutton inherited the $50 million Woolworth department store fortune
25:54and was considered one of the richest women in the world.
25:57By the age of 29, the beautiful Barbara had already divorced two royal gold diggers, a
26:01prince and a count.
26:03But it was a member of Hollywood royalty who was the next man to steal her heart.
26:08I used to be afraid of that look, the withering glance of the goddess.
26:12She met Cary Grant on a trip across the Atlantic.
26:19With Barbara, it was always, her heart was always open to the next person.
26:24In 1942, Barbara Hutton married Hollywood's most eligible bachelor, Cary Grant.
26:29The press called him Cash and Cary.
26:31From all indications, Barbara Hutton and Cary Grant were very much in love at the beginning.
26:37He didn't like Barbara's friends.
26:38He saw them all as taking advantage of her.
26:42He was the only husband that she had who really...
26:47Rich girl.
26:52This Sunday, Barbara Hutton was one of the most talked about, written about and gossiped
26:56about women in the world.
26:58I'm AJ Benza for Mysteries and Scandals.
27:01For decades, people were both fascinated and appalled by this lonely heiress and her never
27:05ending and expensive quest for love and happiness.
27:08Wealthy beyond imagination, smart, beautiful, independent.
27:11The woman had it all.
27:13So what was missing?
27:14Well, love.
27:15After four unhappy marriages, it seemed no one could satisfy the poor little rich girl.
27:21In 1953, 41-year-old Barbara took another ill-fated pass at matrimony when she married
27:26international playboy Porfirio Rubirosa.
27:29Now, Barbara's fifth husband was Rubirosa, who was a famous, well-known man about town.
27:41He was very, very attractive to women and she fell for his, for his lie.
27:47He had many, many conquests among important women.
27:51So Rubirosa set his sights on Barbara Hutton despite the fact that he was already having
27:56an affair with another well-known beauty.
27:58At the same time, he was involved with actress Zsa Zsa Labor, herself no lightweight in the
28:04wealth department, having been married eight times.
28:08It was, again, publicly embarrassing for Barbara because there were pictures constantly in
28:13the newspaper.
28:14And, of course, by that time, she had started drinking and she was probably not coherent
28:21at the time.
28:22And he managed to get a ring on her finger.
28:26An incredible photograph, I think, of the actual wedding itself.
28:30Barbara looking very, for the first time in her life, very old, I think, very worn, very
28:35haggard because of her anorexia.
28:37The new Mrs. Rubirosa seems perfectly happy and says, this time it's for keeps.
28:45The marriage lasted less than six months.
28:47Barbara claimed she never even consummated the relationship, which is truly a pity since
28:52the only reason for marrying Rubirosa would be to consummate the marriage since Rubirosa
28:58was known purely and simply for his lovemaking prowess.
29:04To put it in a digestible fashion, if you go into American restaurants today and you
29:09ask for the big peppermill, which is 15 inches in length, it's for good reason called the
29:15Rubirosa.
29:16Let's pass on the peppermill joke.
29:19In 1955, Barbara, now 42 years old, rebounded and married again.
29:24Husband number six was a German by the name of Baron Gottfried von Kramm.
29:29Barbara's sixth husband was a famous German.
29:35I think truly loved Barbara for Barbara.
29:38Grant also established a close bond with Barbara's son, Lance.
29:41It looked like maybe marriage number three was a charm, but not for long.
29:45Even heartthrob Cary Grant couldn't make Barbara happy.
29:48He couldn't understand having a husband who worked for a living.
29:53As he said, I don't know what she thought that I was going to give up acting and just
29:57be there to go on vacations with her.
29:59Designer Ole Cassini first met Barbara Hutton in 1943.
30:03And she said to me, Cary is a very difficult man, he's very charming, but I don't want
30:07to stay married to him.
30:10And she said, you and I might as well make the best of it.
30:14I'm going to renounce Cary Grant.
30:17The only problem was that Cassini, who was then serving in the U.S. military, was married
30:21to actress Jean Tierney.
30:23And she said to me, why don't you propose to your wife, a friend of the boss, and she
30:29will get a million dollars, and you and I will live forever happily because we belong
30:37to each other.
30:38And I talked to Jean and I did say, look, you have the greatest chance in the world
30:43to get rid of me.
30:44Unfortunately, she decided that she wanted me to stick around.
30:48But Barbara had no intention of sticking around.
30:51Forty years after taking their wedding vows, Hutton divorced Grant.
30:54Thirty-two-year-old Barbara set sail for the next port in her stormy life.
30:58Now Barbara's fourth husband was Igor Trubetskoy.
31:01Now, there was a real Russian aristocrat.
31:05It would be lovely, she thought, to be Princess Trubetskoy.
31:08And he wanted just to have a nice, quiet life with her wife.
31:13But Barbara was more than a wife.
31:15She was an institution, I think.
31:18So bye-bye Igor.
31:20The couple divorced in 1958.
31:22Barbara Hutton, now 38 years old, had four divorces under her belt.
31:26She'd been a princess twice and a countess once, and was again on the prowl for her next
31:31Prince Charming.
31:32But over the years, Barbara had developed some habits that were beginning to cause problems.
31:36And I suppose this is the only way one can explain it, she was drugged out of her mind.
31:41If she wanted to have a drug prescription, she could always find a doctor who will prescribe
31:45it.
31:46She was also addicted to booze.
31:50And when she was drinking, she really didn't know much what she was doing.
31:54The effect of the two were exaggerated, because she wasn't eating at all.
31:58So there was nothing to absorb, either the pills or the booze.
32:02She was a zombie.
32:03You can see that in the photographs, where she just had this vacant stare.
32:07When we come back, Barbara meets her match with husband number five, a world-class Latin
32:12lover.
32:13Was he the man who could finally satisfy her?
32:16Or was Hutton's rapid deterioration from pills, booze, and anorexia going to prevent any chance
32:21of happiness for the poor little...
32:25Was an extraordinarily business-wise man.
32:28A good businessman, yeah, but a lousy husband to Barbara's mother.
32:32Treated her very badly, and was very tough on her.
32:36Barbara's father was an alcoholic and a womanizer, and he had many mistresses.
32:43Little Barbara, who was raised by nannies and servants, suffered the fallout.
32:47One day, when Barbara was just four years old, she went to wake her mother and made
32:50a grim discovery.
32:51Father went into the room and found her mother in bed.
32:55There was a suicide note.
32:56She was found dead in her bed by Barbara, her daughter of all people.
33:01For Barbara, it was obviously a devastation, and it was to mark her uneasy passage for
33:07the rest of her life.
33:08Franklin Hutton went on with his drinking and womanizing, and never really played a
33:12role in his daughter's life.
33:13Hutton sent Barbara to live with her maternal grandfather, F.W.
33:17Woolworth.
33:18After Grandfather Woolworth died in 1918, six-year-old Barbara was farmed out to various
33:22highbrow boarding schools.
33:24So she did have not a very happy childhood, but she grew up very fast.
33:30At age 15, she owned her own apartment here in New York.
33:35She also learned quite early in life that people didn't really like her until they found
33:42out that she had a lot of money.
33:44In 1930, Barbara Hutton, now 18 years old, decided she was through with school.
33:49Hutton dove right into the international party circuit.
33:52She was intelligent, so she attracted those who were looking for a rich girl to marry.
33:57One of the people that she met at this time was a man whose name was Alexis Devaney.
34:01He had even more to offer Barbara, which was a title.
34:05Sure, this European prince had a title.
34:07What he lacked was money.
34:09Devaney saw 19-year-old Barbara Hutton as his cash cow, but the prince had one problem.
34:15He was involved with a Newport girl who was a friend of Barbara's, whose name was Louise
34:20Van Allen.
34:21There were two Devaney brothers and Lucy's sister.
34:24This threesome inspired to spin this web, which would entrap Barbara.
34:31Alexis Devaney and his conniving royal siblings launched their plan in the south of France.
34:36They all went on vacation.
34:39Alexis began making an actual play for Barbara.
34:42Lucy Sirt led a party looking for Barbara, and there they found Alexis Devaney in bed
34:49with Barbara Hutton.
34:51It was, of course, a public embarrassment.
34:53Louise Van Allen had no choice but to break her engagement with Alexis, leaving Alexis
34:59free to now pursue Barbara Hutton.
35:02And it didn't take him long.
35:03Barbara believed that a woman in those days had to have a husband, and it's nice to have
35:09a prince.
35:1043.
35:11And she said to me, Carrie is a very difficult man, he's very charming, but I don't want
35:16to stay married to him.
35:20And she said, you and I might as well make the best of it.
35:23I'm going to renounce Carrie Grant.
35:26The only problem was that Cassini, who was then serving in the U.S. military, was married
35:30to actress Jean Tierney.
35:32And she said to me, why don't you propose to your wife, a friend of the boss, and she
35:38will get a million dollars, and you and I will live forever happily because we belong
35:46to each other.
35:47And I talked to Jean, and I did say, look, you have the greatest chance in the world
35:52to get rid of me.
35:53And fortunately, she decided that she wanted me to stick around.
35:57But Barbara had no intention of sticking around.
36:00Three years after taking their wedding vows, Hutton divorced Grant.
36:0332-year-old Barbara set sail for the next port in her stormy life.
36:07Now Barbara's fourth husband was Igor Trubetskoy.
36:10Now, there was a real Russian aristocrat.
36:14It would be lovely, she thought, to be Princess Trubetskoy.
36:17And he wanted just to have a nice, quiet life with her wife.
36:23Barbara was more than a wife.
36:24She was an institution, I think.
36:27So bye-bye Igor.
36:29The couple divorced in 1958.
36:31Barbara Hutton, now 38 years old, had four divorces under her belt.
36:35She'd been a princess twice and a countess once, and was again on the prowl for her next
36:40prince charming.
36:41But over the years, Barbara had developed some habits that were beginning to cause problems.
36:45And I suppose this is the only way one can explain it.
36:48She was drugged out of her mind.
36:50If she wanted to have a drug prescription, she could always find a doctor who will prescribe
36:54it.
36:55She was also addicted to booze.
36:59And when she was drinking, she really didn't know much what she was doing.
37:03The effect of the two were exaggerated, because she wasn't eating at all, so there was nothing
37:08to absorb either the pills or the booze.
37:11She was a zombie.
37:12You can see that in the photographs, of course, she just had this vacant stare.
37:16When we come back, Barbara meets her match with husband number five, a world-class Latin
37:21lover.
37:22Would this be the man who could finally satisfy her?
37:25Or was Hutton's rapid deterioration from pills, booze, and anorexia going to prevent any chance
37:30in happiness for the poor little rich girl?
37:36This Sunday.
37:37In her life, Barbara Hutton was one of the most talked about, written about, and gossiped
37:40about women in the world.
37:42I'm AJ Benza for Mysteries and Scandals.
37:45For decades, people were both fascinated and appalled by this lonely heiress and her
37:49never-ending and expensive quest for love and happiness.
37:52Wealthy beyond imagination, smart, beautiful, independent, the woman had it all.
37:57So what was missing?
37:58Well, love.
37:59After four unhappy marriages, it seemed no one could satisfy the poor little rich girl.
38:05In 1953, 41-year-old Barbara took another ill-fated pass at matrimony when she married
38:10international playboy Porfirio Rubirosa.
38:14Now, Barbara's fifth husband was Rubirosa, who was a famous, well-known man about town,
38:25very, very attractive to women, and she fell for his line.
38:31He had many, many conquests among important women.
38:35So Rubirosa set his sights on Barbara Hutton despite the fact that he was already having
38:40an affair with another well-known beauty.
38:42At the same time, he was involved with actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, herself no lightweight in the
38:48love department, having been married eight times.
38:52It was, again, publicly embarrassing for Barbara because there were pictures constantly in
38:57the newspaper.
38:58And, of course, by that time, she had started drinking, and she was probably not coherent
39:05at the time, and he managed to get a ring on her finger.
39:10An incredible photograph, I think, of the actual wedding itself, Barbara looking very,
39:15for the first time in her life, very old, I think, very worn, very haggard because of
39:20her anorexia.
39:21The new Mrs. Rubirosa seems perfectly happy and says, this time it's for keeps.
39:29The marriage lasted less than six months.
39:31Barbara claimed she never even consummated the relationship, which is truly a pity since
39:36the only reason for marrying Rubirosa would be to consummate the marriage since Rubirosa
39:42was known purely and simply for his lovemaking prowess.
39:48And to put it in a digestible fashion, if you go into American restaurants today and
39:53you ask for the big peppermill, which is 15 inches in length, it's for good reason called
39:59the Rubirosa.
40:00Let's pass on the peppermill joke.
40:03In 1955, Barbara, now 42 years old, rebounded and married again.
40:08Husband number six was a German by the name of Baron Gottfried von Kramm.
40:12Now, Barbara's sixth husband was a very famous German tennis player, and she was in her own
40:21little girlish way in love with him.
40:25The thing is, though, he was homosexual, and in her fairy tale dreams, she thought perhaps
40:32she could change him.
40:33This woman was living in a dream world.
40:35Barbara soon learned that one of the things money can't buy is sexual preference.
40:39She did say at one point that von Kramm was the love of her life, which is interesting
40:48because things you read about him, you might not think that.
40:52Hutton and von Kramm were married five years.
40:55Understandably, Barbara had a hard time dealing with her husband's homosexual affairs.
41:00For a while, she found solace in her usual pills and booze, but by 1960, that was gone.
41:06Honeymoon, Alexis Devaney looked at her with ire and fire in his eyes.
41:14He said to her that she was too fat, and from then onwards, she was always on a diet.
41:22She became, for all intents and purposes, an anorexic.
41:26Two unhappy years later, Barbara Hutton, now 22 years old, ditched her prince.
41:31But Devaney, gold digger that he was, made out just fine.
41:35He emerged much richer than he had been prior to marrying Barbara.
41:42Barbara's second husband was Count Raventlow, who was a Danish count.
41:47It wasn't the fairy tale story that she expected.
41:51She found out soon after she married him that he was extremely sadistic, violent, and willful.
42:00But the marriage did produce a son.
42:02Lance Raventlow was born on February 25th, 1936.
42:07Five years later, the marriage ended in divorce.
42:09So at the age of 28, Barbara Hutton was the world's richest divorcee.
42:13Degraded by a prince and battered by a count, Barbara soon set her sights on Hollywood,
42:18not exactly the place you come to lick your wounds.
42:21Did Hutton finally find happiness with the crown prince of Tinseltown?
42:24Straight ahead to Cary Grant years, and Barbara's slow descent into the evils of addiction.
42:36In 1933, Barbara Hutton inherited the $50 million Woolworth's department store fortune
42:41and was considered one of the richest women in the world.
42:44By the age of 29, the beautiful Barbara had already divorced two royal gold diggers, a
42:48prince and a count.
42:50But it was a member of Hollywood royalty who was the next man to steal her heart.
42:53I used to be afraid of that look, the withering glance of the goddess.
42:59She met Cary Grant on a trip across the Atlantic.
43:06With Barbara, it was always, her heart was always open to the next person.
43:11In 1942, Barbara Hutton married Hollywood's most eligible bachelor, Cary Grant.
43:16The press called him Cash and Cary.
43:18From all indications, Barbara Hutton and Cary Grant were very much in love at the beginning.
43:23I mean, he didn't like Barbara's friends.
43:25He saw them all as taking advantage of her.
43:29And he was the only husband that she had who really, I think, truly loved Barbara for Barbara.
43:38Grant also established a close bond with Barbara's son, Lance.
43:41It looked like maybe marriage number three was a charm, but not for long.
43:45Even heartthrob Cary Grant couldn't make Barbara happy.
43:48He couldn't understand having a husband who worked for a living.
43:53As he said, I don't know what she thought, that I was going to give up acting and, you
43:56know, just be there to go on vacations with her.
43:59Designer Ole Cassini first met Barbara Hutton in 1940.
44:02Treated her very badly and was very tough on her.
44:06Barbara's father was an alcoholic and a womanizer, and he had many mistresses.
44:13And little Barbara, who was raised by nannies and servants, suffered the fallout.
44:17One day, when Barbara was just four years old, she went to wake her mother and made
44:20a grim discovery.
44:21Barbara went into the room and found her mother in bed.
44:25There was a suicide note.
44:26She was found dead in her bed by Barbara, her daughter of all people.
44:31For Barbara, it was obviously a devastation, and it was to mark her uneasy passage for
44:37the rest of her life.
44:38Franklin Hutton went on with his drinking and womanizing and never really played a role
44:42in his daughter's life.
44:43Hutton sent Barbara to live with her maternal grandfather, F.W. Woolworth.
44:48After Grandfather Woolworth died in 1918, six-year-old Barbara was farmed out to various
44:52highbrow boarding schools.
44:54So she did have not a very happy childhood, but she grew up very fast.
45:00At age 15, she owned her own apartment here in New York.
45:05She also learned quite early in life that people didn't really like her until they found
45:12out that she had a lot of money.
45:14In 1930, Barbara Hutton, now 18 years old, decided she was through with school.
45:19Hutton dove right into the international party circuit.
45:22She was intelligent, so she attracted those who were looking for a rich girl to marry.
45:27One of the people that she met at this time was a man whose name was Alexis Devaney.
45:32He had even more to offer Barbara, which was a title.
45:35Sure, this European prince had a title.
45:38What he lacked was money.
45:39Devaney saw 19-year-old Barbara Hutton as his cash cow, but the prince had one problem.
45:45He was involved with a Newport girl who was a friend of Barbara's, whose name was Louise Van Allen.
45:51There were two Devaney brothers and Rousseau's sister.
45:54This threesome inspired to spin this web, which would entrap Barbara.
46:01Prince Devaney and his conniving royal siblings launched their plan in the south of France.
46:06They all went on vacation.
46:09Alexis began making an actual play for Barbara.
46:12Rousseau led a party looking for Barbara, and there they found Alexis Devaney in bed
46:19with Barbara Hutton.
46:21It was, of course, a public embarrassment.
46:24Louise Van Allen had no choice but to break her engagement with Alexis, leaving Alexis
46:29free to now pursue Barbara Hutton.
46:32And it didn't take him long.
46:33Barbara believed that a woman in those days had to have a husband.
46:39It's nice to have a prince as a husband so that you can be a princess.
46:43On June 20, 1933, 25-year-old Prince Alexis Devaney married the 20-year-old Barbara Hutton.
46:50Coincidentally, five months later, Barbara inherited her $50 million fortune, which had
46:55been held in a trust since her mother's death.
46:58When she was four, her mother committed suicide, and the press dubbed Barbara the poor little
47:04rich girl.
47:05In 1933, when Barbara turned 21, she inherited her mother's $50 million estate, which made
47:11her, for a time, one of the richest women in the world.
47:14She married seven times, once to actor Cary Grant.
47:17Sadly, this outrageously rich and beautiful daughter of privilege became an alcoholic,
47:21drug-addicted anorexic, and believe it or not, flat broke.
47:25On this episode of Mysteries and Scandals, we'll examine the glamorous, yet tragic life
47:29of Barbara Hutton.
47:30How did she go from riches to rags, and what demons drove her to self-destruction?
47:35There was a beauty there, but it was a sad beauty.
47:39She was, indeed, the poor little rich girl.
47:41She was not to be understood.
47:42I mean, most men, I think, were enamored of her prestige, her looks, her power, her money.
47:49She was simply not equipped to face life.
47:52She was so out of it, she was so addicted to drugs.
47:55Feeling an underweight, Barbara Hutton asks cameraman to deny rumors she's been dieting.
47:59She just was on a diet all the time.
48:01She was very, very thin.
48:02It was a deliberate thing.
48:03She couldn't eat.
48:04She just thought that one should be thin.
48:05They say you can't be too rich or too thin, but this woman pushed the envelope.
48:12I'm A.J.
48:13Benza.
48:14Join me as we look back at the sadness and scandal of an American princess, Barbara Hutton.
48:25In 1979, heiress Barbara Hutton died alone at the age of 66 in a Los Angeles hotel suite.
48:45A shell of a woman, Hutton weighed less than 100 pounds.
48:49She was buried at the Woolworth Family Mausoleum in New York City.
48:52Oscar-winning actor and close friend Cliff Robertson attended the funeral where he read
48:56a poem for Barbara.
48:57Gentle lady alone and lost in search of love so simple, gentle lady, console your heart.
49:09A sad ending for a woman who at one time had it all.
49:14Barbara Hutton's troubled tale began in New York City in 1912.
49:18Barbara, an only child, was born into one of America's wealthiest families.
49:22Mona Eldridge was Barbara Hutton's social secretary.
49:26Barbara Hutton's grandfather on her mother's side was Woolworth, the founder of Woolworth's.
49:34Barbara's father, Franklin, also came from an illustrious family.
49:37C. David Heyman is the author of Poor Little Rich Girl.
49:40Her father, Franklin, was Hutton.
49:43He was the brother of E.F. Hutton, the famous investing banker.
49:49Was an extraordinarily business-wise man.
49:52A good businessman, yeah, but a lousy husband to Barbara's mother.