The Bettencourt Affair: The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris

An NPR Best Book of 2017 Heiress to the nearly forty-billion-dollar LÆOr?al fortune, Liliane Bettencourt was the worldÆs richest woman and the fourteenth wealthiest person. But her gilded life took a dark yet fascinating turn in the past decade. At ninety-four, she was embroiled in what has been called the Bettencourt Affair, a scandal that dominated the headlines in France. Why? ItÆs a tangled web of hidden secrets, divided loyalties, frayed relationships, and fractured families, set in the most romantic cityùand involving the most glamorous industryùin the world. The Bettencourt Affair started as a family drama but quickly became a massive scandal, uncovering LÆOr?alÆs shadowy corporate history and buried World War II secrets. From the Right Bank mansions to the Left Bank artist havens; and from the BettencourtsÆ servant quarters to the office of President Nicolas Sarkozy; all of Paris was shaken by the blockbuster case, the shocking reversals, and the surprising final victim. It all began when Liliane met Fran?ois-Marie Banier, an artist and photographer who was, in his youth, the toast of Paris and a prot?g? of Salvador Dal?. Over the next two decades, Banier was given hundreds of millions of dollars in gifts, cash, and insurance policies by Liliane. What, exactly, was their relationship? It wasnÆt clear, least of all to LilianeÆs daughter and only child, Fran?oise, who became suspicious of BanierÆs motives and filed a lawsuit against him. But Banier has a far different story to tell... The Bettencourt Affair is part courtroom drama; part upstairs-downstairs tale; and part characterdriven story of a complex, fascinating family and the intruder who nearly tore it apart.

• | Author: Tom Sancton
• | Publisher: Dutton
• | Publication Date: Aug 07, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 416 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback/Biography & Autobiography
• | ISBN-10: 110198449X
• | ISBN-13: 9781101984499