It's easy to assume that life would be a breeze if we had unlimited
wealth, but money truly can't buy happiness. The following people were
all born with a silver spoon in their mouths, but they all secretly
suffered emotional and physical hardships, addictions, and abuse that
made their lives miserable.
magazine's Sabrina Rubin Erdely exposed the horrific details behind two
teenagers who are the heirs to one of the United States's largest
family fortunes. Patterson and Georgia Inman, age fifteen, are the
children of Walker Inman, the nephew of tobacco heiress Doris Duke. The
Inman twins are set to inherit a trust fund worth one billion dollars
when they turn twenty-one, yet both teens recently spent three months in
a mental hospital to deal with the trauma of their horrific childhood.
The
Duke family once controlled the entire tobacco industry in the U.S.
They established the prestigious Duke University, and their charitable
foundation gives away millions of dollars every year. However, the heir
to that fortune, Walker Inman, was a drug addict who subjected his
children to abuse from the time they were two until his death from a
meth overdose when they were twelve. Together with his fifth wife,
fellow drug and alcohol addict Daralee Inman, Walker routinely locked
the kids in a basement that was smeared with feces, trapped them in
their bedrooms, forced them into scalding hot baths, and endangered
their lives by driving them around while heavily intoxicated.
While
the children were sometimes treated to extravagant luxuries like owning
a pet lion and taking exotic vacations, their schooling was sporadic
and their lives were so cloistered that they are emotionally and
intellectually stunted. They still believe in Santa Claus, for
instance, and both suffer from suicidal thoughts and anorexia after
being malnourished and underfed for their entire childhood.
Walker
Inman often subjected his children to chemical fumes while he was
freebasing drugs in front of them. His abuse was both physical and
verbal; he was once arrested after smacking Georgia so hard in the face
that fellow diners pressed charges because they feared for the girl's
life.
The Inman twins now live with their estranged mother, a
former stripper, and are undergoing intensive therapy to cope with their
traumatic upbringing.
Christina Crawford: Adopted and Abused by a Hollywood Legend
Christina Crawford was less than a year old when she was adopted by a
glamorous movie star, actress Joan Crawford. One of four adopted
children, Christina grew up in the lap of luxury, however she claims to
have been a victim of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her
mother for most of her life. Her tell-all memoir,
Mommie Dearest,
was published two years after her mother died. It was later made into
a movie starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford and Diana Scarwid as
Christina.
Christina alleges that her mother suffered from
violent mood swings and alcoholism, both of which lead her to habitually
hit and scream at her children with little provocation. When the book
was released, it brought the concept of parental abuse by wealthy
parents into the spotlight, and now Christina is the poster child for
the "poor little rich girl."
After Joan Crawford's death,
Christina and her brother discovered that they had been cut out of her
will for "reasons which are well-known to them." The siblings later
sued, claiming that another sister, Cathy LaLonde and her husband,
Jerome, took advantage of their aging mother's mental condition to
ingratiate themselves and increase their own fortune. Christina now has
little to no contact with her sister, but has gone on to be an actress
and writer, as well as a champion for abused children everywhere.
Heir to the Astor Fortune Allegedly Neglects His Elderly Mother as Payback for His Childhood
Anthony Marshall is the only son of renowned socialite and charitable
philanthropist Brooke Astor. The Astor family is one of the richest and
most respected blue blood families in the United States. Sadly, their
family history of parental abuse and neglect is a long legacy that still
sends shockwaves throughout New York City high society to this day.
Brooke
Astor was married twice before marrying into the Astor family. Her
first husband, J. Dryden Kuser, was a wealthy New Jersey politician with
whom she had one son, Anthony. Astor alleges that her first husband
abused both her and their son for years before she finally divorced him.
Astor claimed that Kuser subjected her and Anthony to physical and
verbal abuse, and that he was an adulterer who was plagued by alcoholism
throughout their marriage. According to a biography of the socialite
written by Frances Kiernan in 2007, Brooke was six months pregnant with
the couple's only child when Kuser broke her jaw.
After their
divorce, Astor married Charles H. Marshall, whom she loved very much.
Her son Anthony respected his stepfather so much that he even took his
last name when he turned eighteen, prompting his biological father to
sue him for back child support.
Though surrounded by affluence,
Anthony's childhood was one of parental neglect, abuse, and fear. After
his mother married Vincent Astor, the heir to the Astor fortune,
Anthony was pushed even further into the shadow of his parents'
spotlight. Even Brooke Astor herself has been quoted as saying that
though she is a philanthropist, she was a "lousy mother."
Perhaps
Anthony's sad, lonely childhood is the reason why he was convicted in
2007 of elder abuse and mismanaging his mother's huge fortune. In 2006,
the New York Daily News printed a front page story about the feud
between Anthony and his son, Philip Marshall. When Philip Marshall
visited his 103-year-old grandmother, he found that Brooke was living in
squalid conditions, and in her ailing mental and physical state she was
unable to help herself. Philip sued his father in order to stop the
elder abuse, and once an investigation began, Anthony's embezzlement was
discovered.
Marshall was convicted of taking advantage of his
mother's deteriorating health and stealing millions of dollars from her.
Brooke was eventually assigned new guardians who made sure that she
was comfortably appointed until her death in 2007 at the age of one
hundred and five.
Anthony was sentenced in 2009, and went to jail
in 2013 at the age of eighty-nine. He has since paid back about twelve
million dollars that he stole from his ailing mother over the years.
Modern Family Actress Verbally Abused and Starved by Her Mother
Fans of the ABC sitcom
Modern Family were shocked to hear that an
actress on the show, Ariel Winter, the 14-year-old girl who plays the
character of middle child Alex Dunphy, was secretly subjected to cruelty
and abuse at the hands of her mother, Crystal Workman.
In 2012,
Ariel filed paperwork with the assistance of her older sister,
thirty-four-year-old Shanelle Workman. Ariel claimed in court documents
that her mother subjected her to "ongoing physical abuse (slapping,
hitting, pushing) and emotional abuse (vile name-calling, personal
insults about minor and minor's weight, attempts to 'sexualize' minor,
deprivation of food, etc.) for an extended period of time."
Though
Crystal Workman denies all of the accusations against her, her older
daughter Shanelle was also removed from her family's care by the
Department of Child and Family Services twenty years ago, when she was
about the same age as Ariel. Shanelle lived in foster care for several
years until she was old enough to move out on her own.
Now, Ariel
has been allowed to live with Shanelle, though her mother and estranged
father are both petitioning the court to regain custody. Reports
indicate that the cast and crew of
Modern Family knew that Ariel
was being abused, but could do nothing to help her. They witnessed
Crystal withholding food from the teenager, only allowing her to eat egg
whites and raw vegetables. She would often tell Ariel that she didn't
look good in her clothes, that her ears were too big, and other cruel
and damaging remarks. Crew members admit that they felt so sorry for
her that they would try to sneak Ariel food when her mother wasn't
looking.
Heiress to the Johnson & Johnson Fortune Dies Alone in Squalor
Casey Johnson is the daughter of a socialite mother, Sale Johnson, and
Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, and the great-grandson of
a Johnson & Johnson founder. Casey grew up surrounded by wealth
and opulence. She attended the best private schools, rubbed elbows with
childhood friends Nikki and Paris Hilton, drove expensive cars, and got
her first Chanel handbag at age ten. Yet underneath all of the wealth
dwelled a sad child whose mother largely ignored her, and who started
using hard drugs by the time she was barely in her teens.
By all
accounts, the life of Casey Johnson was a tragic case even before she
died alone in a messy bungalow at the age of thirty. She was a hard
partier who was addicted to cocaine and alcohol, and she had been to
rehab more times than she could remember. A bi-sexual, Casey could
never seem to find lasting love with either men or women, and her
heartbreak often lead her to have nasty fights in public. One time, an
ex-girlfriend set her hair on fire in a nightclub. Another time, she
sneaked into an ex's house and left a used vibrator on the bed.
During
her final days, Casey became engaged to the lowly reality show star
Tila Tequila, who seemed to be more concerned with how much money Casey
had than what she was like as a person. Casey had adopted a toddler,
but after friends reported that she was leaving the child unattended
while she went out partying, Casey's mother Sale stepped in and took
guardianship of the child. Sale also cut Casey off financially, causing
the woman to live in disgusting conditions in a low-rent home.
On
December 29th, the heiress sent a final Tweet that said, "Sweet dreams
everybody." Four days later, a maid who had been sent to check on the
house discovered Casey's body in bed. She had died several days earlier
from a complication of her Diabetes, which she had had since she was a
child.
Wealthy Girl Starts Doing Drugs at Age Eight Due to an Abusive Childhood
Leigh Horowitz is the daughter of fashion giant Tommy Hilfiger's Chief
Executive Officer, Joel Horowitz. Leigh grew up with staggering wealth,
attended posh private schools, and took lavish vacations.
Unfortunately, her father worked long hours and traveled extensively, so
by the time she was just sixteen, Leigh was totally addicted to drugs.
She
started smoking pot when she was just eight-years-old. Then, she
turned to heavier drugs, like cocaine, LSD, and heroin. She was always
in trouble at school for showing up high or drunk, and she seemed to be
in a downward spiral that no one could fix.
After her father
discovered her drunk and on drugs at a friend's party on Thanksgiving
night, he went to her room and discovered hashish, marijuana, and
heroin. The next morning, he fooled her into thinking that they were
taking a ski trip, but instead she was sent to Ascent, a wilderness
program for troubled children in Idaho. While undergoing extensive (and
extremely expensive) therapy, Leigh's parents were shocked to learn
that she had been molested from the age of seven until she was nine by a
teenage boy that she knew, and that she had also been raped in high
school. Both of these horrible events contributed to her drug and
alcohol abuse.
The therapy she received saved Leigh's life, and
though she hated her parents while she was going through it, she was
able to get clean and sober and go on to mend her relationship with them
and lead a productive adult life.
Girl Wins Lottery at Age Sixteen, But Loses It All Due to Issues Stemming from Her Abusive Past
In 2003, Callie Rogers was just sixteen years old and earning minimum
wage when she won a major lottery in the United Kingdom, snagging a
£1,875,000 (roughly $2,846,812) jackpot. Though the teenager vowed that
she would behave responsibly with her windfall, she soon began spending
the money frivolously.
Just nine years later, Callie was a
mother of two who had wasted the vast majority of her lottery winnings
on breast augmentation surgeries, parties, and £250,000 (about $380,000)
on cocaine. All but about $2,000 of her fortune was gone. After
seeking help for her spending and drug addictions, Callie realized that
she had been acting out because of her long history of childhood abuse,
including being sexually molested when she was a child.
She told
The Sun,
“I prayed winning the Lottery would make me so happy I would forget
what he did to me. But once the buzz of winning died down within weeks,
I realized I was still crippled by the disgusting thoughts of what that
man did to me.”
Recently, Callie has remarried and is studying
to become a nurse. She and her husband both work to support their three
children.
Actress Mackenzie Phillips was Addicted to Drugs and Involved in an Incestuous Relationship
Mackenzie Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips, a member of The
Mamas & the Papas, and his first wife, Susan Adams. Mackenzie got
her start when she was just twelve years old, when she earned a role in
American Graffiti, which then lead to a role on the popular sitcom
One Day At A Time.
Though she achieved financial and professional success at a very young
age, she was unable to appreciate her fame due to her additions to drug
and alcohol. She claims to have tried drugs with her musician father
when she was just eleven years old, and that her dad had actually helped
inject her with cocaine when she tried it for the first time as a
child.
Mackenzie's entire life has been marred by drug abuse and
arrests. To make matters worse, in a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey
she claimed that she and her father had engaged in a ten year long
consensual sexual relationship. The sexual relationship started when
she passed out drunk at the age of eighteen and woke up to find that her
father was having intercourse with her. She then continued to use
drugs and have consensual sex with him for years.
Koh-i-Noor Diamond, a British Crown Jewel
Bahia Emerald, the World's Largest
The Moussaieff Red, the Most Famous Red Diamond
