American heiress to the Woolworth Dime Store millions. She was known for her seven marriages and her extravagant spending habits. Her life filled the gossip columns for four decades. Her inheritance was estimated between $100 million and $500 million which she proceeded to spend with abandon.
Hutton’s grandfather was the founder of the Woolworth chain of 1,057 stores with annual sales of over $119 million. A very shy child, her mother died when she was four. Catered to from the cradle on, she was high born with class, town houses, country homes, Rolls Royce’s and yachts. Her coming out party in December 1930 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York paid no attention to prohibition laws as 1000 guests drank 2,000 bottles of French champagne. The cost of the party was $60,000, equivalent to a million dollars in 1987 rates. Her glamorous gown didn’t conceal the fact that she was chubby. In May 1931 she was presented to King George V and Queen Mary of England. Her life was exotic if not always happy. Hutton underwent operations to remove her bulges and subsisted on Coca Cola and medications. She was never again to feel completely well. Rich women of her era sought Europeans with titles as they had everything else and she was no exception. She was popular with men and women, kind and generous. A true lady, she was fun to be with.
Hutton filled her life with men, including seven husbands and several lovers. Her habit of buying her way into and out of relationships was something she did throughout her life. At age 20 she married Prince Alexis Mdivani of Georgian Russia. After a second honeymoon she obtained her freedom by settling $2.25 million on him. Three months after her Reno, NV divorce from Mdivani, he died in an speeding accident in Spain. Hutton’s second husband was Count Kurt Haugwitz-Reventlow. She thought she had found happiness for life and renounced her American citizenship to become a Dane. Denmark was a country where there were also tax advantages. Her only child, Lance Reventlow, was born on 2/24/1936. He was killed in a plane crash in 1972 when he was 36. She spent $4.5 million to build a grand house on London’s Regent’s Park and shortly thereafter sought a divorce. The Count demanded $5 million, but she whittled it down to $1 million.
After this she was known to have had a relationship with Howard Hughes. At the beginning of World War II, Hutton rented a home in Beverly Hills and met many people in the entertainment industry. Her third marriage was to Cary Grant and for a time they were known and Cash-and-Cary. He became an American citizen in July 1942 and on 7/08/1942 the were married at Lake Arrowhead, CA. Before their marriage Grant renounced all claim to her fortune and he was the only husband not receiving some settlement when they divorced. Grant, a hard worker, came from a poor background and did not want to give up his film career as Hutton expected of him. Their lifestyles were at opposite ends of the spectrum and their schedules were totally different.. He disliked the titled Europeans that came to live off her during the war so much that he was rude to them. During their marriage Howard Hughes stayed with them sporadically. Grant was up and at work at 5:00 AM, she slept all day and Hughes did his business in the middle of the night, phone in hand constantly. Hutton and Grant divorced July 1945.
Prince Igor Troubetzkoy was her next husband. Their marriage took place March 1947 and their divorce followed in October 1951 in Paris. Dominican playboy and diplomat, Porfirio Rubirosa was next. Their marriage lasted only three months as he had many women in his life and kept returning to Zsa Zsa Gabor. He was killed in Paris in an automobile she had given him. She also had given him a string of polo ponies. Number six was a champion tennis player, Baron Gottfried von Cramm. He was not good in the bedroom and was gone in 1960. Barbara’s final husband was a commoner. She paid $50,000 to have a Vietnamese prince adopt him so he became Prince Raymond Doan Vinh Na Champassak. He was a Laotian chemist and painter. Four years after they were married, they separated. Most people thought Hutton died penniless, but when bills came due they were paid immediately by her attorneys. To do so, she sold pieces of her jewelry. She still had a credit at the Beverly Wilshire of $100,000 when she died.
Her biography, purported to be based on her personal notebooks and written by C. David Heyman, “Poor Little Rich Girl” was published in November 1983 and became an immediate best seller in spite of Heyman’s reputation as a gossip-monger. The book was pulled from the shelves a month later as several people quoted in the book came forth to dispute what had been written. It was later found that portions of Heyman’s book were taken from a previous biography “Million Dollar Baby” by Philip Van Rensselaer. In 1987 a documentary was made of her life based on “Poor Little Rich Girl.”
By 1977, at age 65, she was spending most of her time in hospitals due to bad nerves and a starvation diet, proving that yes, you can be too rich and too thin. Sick and sad, she was taken by ambulance to her last home, a three bedroom suite at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Few friends were allowed to see her. Hutton died on 5/11/1979, Los Angeles, CA.
Link to Wikipedia biography