Barbara Hutton Biography

The only child of Edna Woolworth - who was the daughter of Frank W. Woolworth, the founder of the Woolworth department store chain - and Franklyn Laws Hutton, Barbara Hutton’s early years were tragic.

Her father was a notorious philanderer, while her mother committed suicide when Barbara was only six-years-old. As a result, she was shunted between various relatives and raised by a governess.

On her 21st birthday, she inherited close to $50 million from her mother's estate. She was portrayed in the press as the ‘lucky’ young woman who had it all. However, the public had no idea of the psychological problems she lived with that led to a life of victimisation and abuse.

Her difficult childhood had set the tone for what became a troubled private life, which was punctuated by no fewer than seven failed marriages, including a brief partnership with Cary Grant. She had her only child, Lance, with Curt Haugwitz-Reventlow.

In 1972 Lance was killed in a plane crash, by which time Barbara had exhausted a large part of her fortune by spending and living recklessly.

Her last years were spent in a Beverly Hills hotel, until she died of a heart attack in 1979. She was virtually broke.