Her first husband, James R. Cromwell, called Duke "my frigidheiress" and engaged in a lengthy court battle to win a financial settlement. She had this terrible fear of fire." During this period, Duke also plunged into three large-scale public projects. Meanwhile, Bernard said he wasn't feeling well and went back up to his room. A. once a week wherever we were. . Because MyLife only collects this data and does not create it, we cannot fully guarantee its accuracy. In addition to providing medical care, food, and veterinary care, Ms. Heffner . He's standing on a street corner in New York right now and needs a place to go. [36], Duke married twice, the first time in 1935 to James H. R. Cromwell, the son of Eva Stotesbury and stepson of wealthy financier Edward T. There was a gradual onset of a depressed relationship between Doris and Chandi, starting about the middle of 1990 and going progressively downhill. In a settlement signed Thursday by Manhattan Surrogate Court Judge Renee Roth, Chandi Duke Heffner, 42, dropped claims to the $1.2-billion estate and dropped a breach-of-contract suit contending that Duke reneged on a promise to support her for life, said Heffners lawyer, David Keyko. Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, with whom Duke was friends, was the vice president and publicly supported the foundation. [24] The collection is on public display at her former home in Honolulu, Hawaii, now the Museum of Islamic Art, Culture, & Design. Adam Smith followed a century later with direct consideration of the . She wasn't sure if she wanted to have a baby, but she said by the third month an incredible mother instinct took over. "They did not meet in dance class," he insists. Duke Kahanamoku went in after her and saved her. Her second husband, Dominican playboy Porfirio Rubirosa, fared only slightly better: His divorce settlement was estimated at $1 million. She was having a real whirl." Each evening she would return to Duke Farms or her Manhattan apartment in time for dinner alone on a tray. Her mother was another story. When she turned 18, in 1930, the 6feet 0inches (1.83m)[10] tall Duke was presented to society as a debutante, at a ball at Rough Point, the family residence in Newport, Rhode Island. Heffner also said that as next of kin she would have requested an autopsy, but she was never officially notified of Duke's death, and by the time she learned of the cremation, it was too late. The DDCF also controls funding for the three separate foundations created to operate Duke's former homes: the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Duke Farms and Newport Restoration Foundation. Lance, and several other experts who reviewed the evidence, concluded that it was far more likely that Duke had deliberately run Tirella over out of rage at his decision to leave her for Hollywood. Keep in mind, people are entitled to a change of heart. How do we get rid of her? "She forgave Rubi everything," says Reinaldo Herrera, even his subsequent marriage to Barbara Hutton. . And so I decidedthe biggest mistake of my 41 yearsto give this son of a bitch a second chance . "I looked upon Bernard as a member of the small Doris Duke family," says Donald Robinson. Duke's interest in horticulture led to a friendship with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scientific farmer Louis Bromfield, who operated Malabar Farm, his country home in Lucas, Ohio in Richland County. . ". The last words were 'Stay in touch, Harry.' Friends of Duke have intimated that the heiress had become fearful of Heffner's behavior, and eventually locked her out of the Hawaiian estate in early 1991. When tobacco heiress Doris Duke died last October, she left a will that shocked even those who had known her best. Her former physician, Dr. Harry Demopoulos, is seeking to unseat Lafferty as co-executor. We'll travel together. This evidence would be more consistent with Duke running Eduardo Tirella down just outside the gates. In the late 1980s, Duke donated $2 million to Duke University to be used for AIDS research. It has nothing to do whatsoever with economic advantage. "Ferencz said, 'We had a butler who was fired. That fall, she attended a tribute to Sophia Loren at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a fancy party afterward at Tatou, with Imelda Marcos, Rossellini, Natale, and Lafferty, who wore a ski sweater. About Chandi Heffner | Flickr She also told me that Duke was much more taken with Ferdinand Marcos, who was gravely ill in Honolulu, than she was with his wife. It was clear that something adverse was going on in the latter part of 1990 in Hawaii. How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! Chandi Heffner is the president and founder of CDH International Foundation (CDHIF), a US-based organization that supports humanitarian, medical, and animal service projects for the private nonprofit society CDHIF India. "Both of them greeted us at the door. "I couldn't quite keep up, so I was in the back of the class. . Her Newport artist pal Richard Banks said that that summer "Doris decided to do the whole social thing and she loved it. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". This third-party data is then indexed through methods similar to those used by Google or Bing to create a listing. There's no question that Bernard was more than just a butler. He's a sweet human being, and he seemed to be honest and fiercely defensive of her.". '", In 1947 she married again, but handed the groom a prenuptial agreement at the altar. We took him to Newport. [67] The fees for their lawsuits exceeded $10 million, and were paid by the Duke estate. Chandi Heffner - $7,100 in Political Contributions for 2020, Campaign Finance, Money, American politics, American political campaign contributions, presidential campaign contributions Also in Duke's collection were over 2,000 bottles of rare wine (worth over $5 million) and the extraordinary Duke collection of fine jewels. She had just been through three days of depositions in New Jersey, where her lawsuit was filed, and had two more days to go before she could fly back to Hawaii, where she lives on an isolated 300-acre horse ranch, which Duke had bought for her on the Big Island for about $1.5 million before their rupture, and where she keeps a loaded pistol beside her bed. Duke was the life beneficiary of two trusts created by her father, James Buchanan Duke, in 1917 and 1924. Duke's passions varied wildly. Brooklyn Beckham, whos 21, has announced hes marrying Nicola Peltz, 25. ", By the time Duke returned to Shangri La that fall, she and Heffner were getting together on an almost daily basis, and when it was time to move back to Duke Farms in the spring of 1985, she invited Heffner to go with her. Donald Robinson then called and informed Heffner that Duke wanted Burns out of the house. "The butler word they like," Lafferty lamented at the time, "because the butler always did it. In addition to providing medical care, food, and veterinary care, Ms. Heffner . In an earlier will, Demopoulos had been named executor[68] and challenged Lafferty's appointment. According to Heffner, Duke suffered heart palpitations in Moscow and was afraid to be alone, so for the rest of the trip they shared hotel rooms. [5] The total value of the estate was estimated variously from $60 - $100 million (equivalent to $927 million to $1.545 billion in 2021),[6] the majority derived from J.B. Duke's holdings in the American Tobacco Company and the precursor of the Duke Power Company.[7]. Chandi Duke Heffner photos, including production stills, premiere photos and other event photos, publicity photos, behind-the-scenes, and more. [15] Display construction began in 1958. I asked Phyllis Saretta what she thought the attraction was. In the car, Chandi was saying, 'Oh, she's such a nice lady, and the house is gorgeous!' One of Heffner's lawyers says that he has 18,000 documents concerning Duke's business and legal affairs, many of which Chandi had "attended to.". Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? . Then one day in June, Miss Duke called me and said, 'Thomas, have you seen Bernard? Although Duke was determined to produce his own heir, Nanaline was as surprised as everyone else when she became pregnant at the age of 42, and she always favored her son, Walker Inman, over Doris. Richard Banks called Lafferty the next day. He was the legendary Latin lover Porfirio Rubirosa, the former son-in-law of the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. After Bloom was fired, Protas was told the loan was being reviewed. Ambassador to Canada and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. I turned and saw her on the floor. We knock, we bang, we yell. They were disciples of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the spiritual master of the Hare Krishna movement, and they had been unofficially married in a ceremony in India in the 70s. $473,000 in today's dollars[37] was divided among Tirella's eight siblings when Duke was found negligent after a trial five years later. [61] After her death, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation was established in 1996, supporting four national grant making programs and Doris Duke's three estates, Shangri La, Rough Point, and Duke Farms. Upon her father's death in 1925, the 13-year-old Doris Duke -- known as "The Richest Girl in the World" -- inherited several hundred million dollars. . Heffner is also claiming her right to inherit two trusts which Buck Duke created in 1917 and 1924, on the ground that she is his lineal descendant and grandchild. In June 1985, Duke and Heffner traveled to Russia together. Her principal residence and official domicile[27] was Duke Farms, her father's 2,700 acre (11km2) estate in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey. Duke was close friends with former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and in 1968, when Duke created the Newport Restoration Foundation, Kennedy Onassis was appointed the vice president and championed the foundation. Years ago, she was talking about the things we all talk about nowthe environment, battered women and children, animal rights. Robinson would not comment on whether the adoption meant Miss Hefner would be the heiress of Miss Duke, who has been married twice and has no other children. According to the 1993 Forbes Four Hundred list, Doris Duke was the 18th-richest woman in America, not far behind cosmetics billionairess Este Lauder. At her father's estate in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, she created one of the largest indoor botanical displays in the United States. ", A few days before I interviewed Heffner, an item had appeared in Cindy Adams's gossip column: Robert Ibrahim Farrah, an instructor of Middle Eastern dance, who says he introduced Heffner to Duke in 1984, claimed that Duke had come to fear Heffner. ", Duke gave him a house in Paris for a wedding gift, and a plane before their divorce one year later. The enemies gathered. Miss Hefner in no way needs any economic advantage, he said, adding that she owns a 300-acre horse ranch among other property. Heffner Duke, adopted in 1988 when she was 38 and the heiress was in her 70s, could not be reached for comment. Chandi Heffner is a small, sturdy woman with thick black shoulder-length hair and bone-white skin, Thick black eyebrows set off her striking indigo-colored . The press decided she had become an eccentric recluse. In order to do so she released the parking brake and shifted into drive, but instead of putting her foot on the brake pedal she hit the gas. Some questioned Reubens sexuality at the time until in 1989 when Reubens engaged in a "mock wedding" with Chandi Heffner, the adopted daughter of tobacco heiress Doris Duke. Subscribers have complete access to the archive. "He was doing a lot of embroidery work for Doris. Guest introduced Duke to Leon Amar, a 30-year-old Moroccan decorator. She took daily tap lessons from Bill "Bojangles" Robinson at the Cotton Club, and for years studied ballet under Cyd Charisse's ex-husband, Nico. In Newport, she loved going to the jazz festival, and then one would sometimes have dinner in that huge house with the ferocious dogs snarling behind the gates. [58][36][51] Duke was also friends with artist Andy Warhol. Then [Franco and I] didn't see Doris anymore. She also liked gospel music and sang in a gospel choir. I suppose it was Doris's fault for never talking about what she did.". Flamboyant life and death of a billionaire butler - The Irish Times And he would tell me, 'Miss Heffner's complaining.' We wouldn't sit in the main dining room. On the last day of the seminar, he spent the afternoon with Duke at Shangri La. Heffner told me, "Doris used to call James 'Teach.' In 1968, she established the Newport Restoration Foundation, with Jacqueline Onassis as vice president. In 1969, socialite C. Z. Other people told me that Duke suspected Heffner of poisoning or drugging her, and that she credited Lafferty with saving her life. She has also been involved in equestrian sports and was the owner of the horse Authentic, whose rider took home the Gold Medal in show jumping for Team USA at the 2004 Athens Olympics. AN OVERDOSE OF GREED? - The Washington Post The gate had obviously been left open. Keyko said that $800,000 was paid to Heffner on Friday. As founder and president of the Chandi D. Heffner International Foundation (CDHIF) and its counterpart foundation in India (CDHIFI), Chandi Heffner has directed numerous projects to ease suffering and improve the condition of hundreds of thousands of people in India. She underwent a second knee surgery in July of that year. [55], In 1963, Duke funded the construction of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram on land leased from the state forestry department of Uttar Pradesh in India. At a 1990 lunch at Duke Farms for Lord Carrington, then chairman of Christie's, according to Oatsie Charles, "Chandi's attitude toward Doris was awfully offhand. . Doris Duke - Facts, Death & Mansion - Biography [citation needed], Duke cultivated an extensive art collection, principally of Islamic and Southeast Asian art. He could barely speak.". The next day I got a phone call from Doris to thank me. Heffner paints a sedate portrait of their life together, with Doris retiring to her music room, Chandi dealing with the employees and both women sharing vegetarian dinners. Duke was a hands-on homeowner, climbing a ladder to a three-story scaffolding to clean tile murals in the courtyard of Shangri La,[34] and working side by side with her gardeners at Duke Farms. Belief persists today in Newport that there was a coverup facilitated by Duke "blood money". Rough Point was deeded to the Newport Restoration Foundation in 1999 and opened to the public in 2000. "She designed those houses and she saw to every color," says Newport artist Richard Banks. The plane included a bedroom decorated to resemble a bedroom in a real house. She was like a flower child, even though the era was over. Pages: 700 pages. This gives her the air of philanthropy. She grew up near Towson, an upper-middle-class suburb of Baltimore, and graduated from Notre Dame Prep, a private Catholic girls' school, in 1971. Mahn soon left, and in 1987 co-authored Daddy's Duchess: The Unauthorized Biography of Doris Duke. There was a deadly side to Doris. He rushed to complete what was then the most expensive house on Fifth Avenue in time for her birth at home, on November 22, 1912. She was hospitalized from February 2 to April 15. [17] In 1945, Duke began a short-lived career as a foreign correspondent for the International News Service, reporting from different cities across the war-ravaged Europe. I almost feel . Chandi Heffner - Waimea, Hawaii | about.me "There was a rumor that she did it deliberately. Doris loved it. She is asking for compensatory and punitive damages in an unspecified amount "to support her for the rest of her life in the style she had enjoyed" while serving as a companion to the eccentric billionaire. Heres a description of Chandi (seen in the picture here on the right, with Duke and Imelda Marcos) from her website. Because it was her major incapacity; there really wasn't anything else wrong with Doris. Doris seemed very, very happy. One of those servants was the future executor of Doris Duke's estate. In addition to providing medical care, food, and veterinary care, Ms. Heffner also devotes some of her resources to cultural preservation efforts in India. Relatives, Associates, Neighbors & Classmates. On October 6, it was announced that Duke had made a donation of $1 million to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. One of Chandi's doctors thought that pregnancy might help her conditions, and Chandi was discussing this with Doris one evening in Newport while I was sitting there. She wasn't about being a pretty, rich American girl. . So how about getting some grown-up priorities?, Forget carrots, tomatoes, peppers: Here are the best vegetables to grow, New town on the north side of Drogheda is under way to cater for a population of just over 21,100, This has been a game-changer for me: how a room in the garden can transform your family life, Im dating a guy who has called things off twice, but I keep going back for more, Refugee family who fled Myanmar for Ireland in 2007 now face eviction, Ukrainian defenders oust Russian forces from some positions in Bakhmut - Ukraine general, Sudan conflict shows no sign of easing as civilians brace for more violence, Gas demand spiked during cold, damp March, Zero Leads: Search continues for man sought in fatal shooting of five in Texas. "She got baby doses for a few weeks and that was it. She was not on steroids in the latter half of 1990, and this was not a mood swing. In her will, Duke requested that no funeral or memorial service be held for her. [51], When Doris' father died, he left a fortune valued at $100 million,[52] with the largest share going to Duke and her mother. Duke." The next day Duke's lawyer called Heffner again and informed her that Duke wanted her out, too. When she was a cult member of Hare Krishna she got adopted by a Billionaire Heiress of a Tobacco company and Philanthropist, Doris Duke when she went to Hawaii in the 1980s. ", They went into Duke's fabled Islamic Room"you'd think you were in the salon of Sleyman the Magnificent" and over tea and sherry they discussed the pet boar that Heffner had nursed with a baby bottle after it had been abandoned by its mother, as well as Heffner's leg problems. Even Imelda didn't see her.". . Today, his farm is part of Malabar Farm State Park, made possible by a donation from Duke that helped purchase the property after Bromfield's death. Heffner told me she had left "the farm community" and was living with Gordon Damon, a real-estate agent whose house was near Duke's Diamond Head estate. Heffner told me that "even back in high school I began kind of a quest to see if there was more to life," and that after a trip around the world, she ended up in Hawaii, meditating, surfing, and exercising polo ponies. Doris was into it, too. In 1985, she met Chandi Heffner, a 32-year-old Hari Krishna devotee. And clearly he balked at Bernard's on off relationship with alcohol - a lifelong conflict characterised by faithful attendance at AA meetings punctuated by massive binges - which in one soaring episode soon after joining Duke's staff in 1987 found him, according to one former staff member, "buck naked, bent over a chair, passed out", surrounded by a slew of (tragically empty) Grand Marnier bottles from the Duke cellars, some of so old and distinguished a vintage that the labels were hand written. ), By then the center of her social life was Franco Rossellini, the extremely amusing and gay Italian movie producer, whom she had met about 1975. One night at dinner, Heffner told me, "Doris said to me, 'You're my daughter reincarnated. I remember when I read his resume, I thought, This man has really been through it. Farrah says that Duke had returned from her first visit to Manila, with Rossellini, about a week before meeting Heffner. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. This went on almost every meal. His mother was a teacher, while his father fought as a pilot during WWII. These are just some of the accusations, strange rumors, and conspiracy theories that I heard concerning the last years of Doris Duke's life: Her estate is really worth at least $2 billion. "She was told she has a pretty good case," the family member said. Much to the surprise of almost everyone who knew Duke, she named her butler of six years, Bernard Lafferty, as executor of her estate and placed him in control of the newly created Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which is to receive almost her entire fortune. I hired him to come out [to Los Angeles] and work for me, to kind of be my majordomo here. It's not true. She designed the architectural, artistic and botanical elements of the displays based on observations from her extensive international travels. Duke Farms in New Jersey is managed by the Duke Farms Foundation; a video tour of the former Duke Gardens is available. If anyone has news on Chandi from the far reaches of Hawaii, drop us a line at showbiz411@gmail.com. Tirella's family sued Duke for wrongful death and won $75,000. So we went into the room, and Bernard was buck naked, bent over a chair, passed out. According to the Mansfield biography, Cromwell asked her on their sexless wedding night what his annual income from her would be. Lafferty's body was discovered on Monday by Sally Blake, a Donegal woman and former Duke employee whom he invited to California for a holiday with her 77 year old mother. If you want, we will give Bernard another chance, or we will get another butler. ' And she was so frail. [16] During World War II, she worked in a canteen for sailors in Egypt, taking a salary of one dollar a year. The rest of the house was dark, which was odd. Donders Response Types - Cognition Lab One evening Steve Levy said that Miss Duke wanted him to administer a urine test on me. Heffner has a sister named Charlene Gail Heffner aka Chandi Duke Heffner. Chandi got a couple of the housemen, and they brought him to the Somerville hospital." The two exchanged their "vows" at Duke's Hawaiian mansion, but it was revealed the whole thing was a hoax. She told me that in the months prior to her fall from grace one of Duke's doctors was injecting her with steroids, for knee problems, and that the psychological side effects of "the substance enabled the other people to talk her into whatever they wanted. Enzo Natale says, "Chandi had accused me of trying to rape her in Honolulu. After the war, she moved to Paris and wrote for the magazine Harper's Bazaar. Probability theory. (1970 edition) | Open Library And all around him were all these liquor bottlesGrand Marnier and sherry. In 1940 he served several months as U.S. London, United Kingdom . Doris bought her a sprawling horse farm worth then 30 years ago over a million bucks. She told me she was supposed to start hula dancing professionally at a hotel in Hawaii. By any standard, Bernard Lafferty was not a conventional choice to oversee a billion dollar legacy. About Chandi Heffner | Chandi Heffner And Doris said, 'How about the one next to you?' We came out from opposite sides of the stage, and I got to the middle and she wasn't there. Chandi Duke Heffner, the 39-year-old former belly dancer and Hare Krishna devotee who was legally adopted by American Tobacco Co. heiress Doris Duke in 1988, now claims the reclusive. English translation by Lszlo Vekerdi.] The power that this will gives Bernard Lafferty is "awesome," says one attorney. "It's very important that Doris has done this," he told me at the time. James Burns, 32, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday, claimed Chandi Gail Heffner Duke owes him half of the $66 million she was awarded after Duke die in 1988. Heffner takes credit for everything from improving the dairy herd at Duke Farms to arranging the sale of Duke's gold deposits in Switzerland. . "It was really sad," Heffner said, "because Martha arrived and Doris wouldn't go see her. Stotesbury. Of course, they had a very attractive life. [36], What Lance was able to find showed that Duke's account of the incident had changed and was inconsistent with the evidence. One time we were performing at an Arab party at this catering hall in Brooklyn called the Venetian Manor, and Doris and I were partners. [25][26], Duke acquired a number of homes. His family all died, and he had one remaining relative, in Philadelphia. Duke was twice divorced and had no other children. ", Donald Robinson, a New Jersey lawyer who had worked closely with Duke since the early 70s, will not comment about the lawsuit, but he speaks glowingly of Heffner's abilities. New York magazine reported after her death that she had a knee operation at U.C.L.A. [35], In 1966, Eduardo Tirella, curator of Duke's art holdings for the previous decade, decided to leave for a career in Hollywood as a production designer. And all of a sudden I started hearing, 'The food is cold.' . If someone crossed them, they just put them out of their lives. Doris Duke Adopts 35-Year-Old Conservationist | AP News "She's an unusually intelligent person: perceptive, articulate, well-read, culturally alive. BILLIONAIRE'S HEIR OUT OF PLACE - The Washington Post American billionaire heiress, philanthropist, and socialite (19121993), a Manhattan mansion at 1 East 78th Street, "A Tale of Money and Mystery: Billionaire tobacco heiress Doris Duke's death has spawned a wealth of disputes. There was a little alcove under the stairs, and the food would be nice but ordinary. Alan Deutschman, Bob Colacello, Steven Daly, 5 more Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. I remember that the captain of the helicopter was very worried and wanted her to leave early. "It was shocking," Heffner told me. Wait til the Beckhams Meet the Parents: Nicola Peltzs Aunt Inherited $65 Mil from Doris Duke in Infamous Adoption, Movie Release August Schedule for "Tenet," "Mulan" Will Be Scuttled as Gov.
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