What makes an American dynasty? There are the Kennedys, of course, but do the Trumps make the cut? Power—political, financial, or otherwise—plays a part, but so too do estate battles, personal rifts, and scandals. In this edition of the VF Archive digest, we explore a sampling of America's dynastic families—and check in across the pond. |
|
|
Two months before his assassination, John and Jackie Kennedy wrote, directed, and acted in a James Bond–inspired home movie in which the president was "killed." VF reveals the story behind the spoof, along with never-before-seen footage from that day. |
|
|
Ivana Marie Zelníčková Trump escaped from behind the Iron Curtain to storm New York City—and help define its "greed is good" era. From her heyday presiding over her husband's properties to her decadent post-Donald denouement selling costume jewelry and cavorting with a series of "freaky" Italian lovers, it was Ivana, all along, who gilded the Trump name. |
Jay Pritzker quietly built a $15 billion empire of more than 200 companies, including Hyatt Hotels Corp., and a network of 1,000 family trusts. But one of the patriarch's final deals before his 1999 death, designed to bind his heirs closer, unleashed a torrent of anger, greed, and betrayal, culminating in a $6 billion lawsuit by his 19-year-old niece, Liesel. Suzanna Andrews charted the destruction of a great American fortune. |
When Amy Whittlesey, the 22-year-old daughter of Reagan's ambassador to Switzerland, married 39-year-old artist George O'Neill, great-grandson of John D. Rockefeller Jr., it seemed she'd found the perfect combination of father figure and Prince Charming. Instead, she was headed for years in the gated WASP enclave of Mountain Lake, in central Florida—and what she described as a nightmare of infidelity, perversion, and guns that led to her hospitalization for depression. As Lisa DePaulo reported, America's most famously wealthy clan faced the scrutiny of divorce court, threatening the long-held secrecy of the Rockefeller trusts. |
She overcame the whispers—and not a few shouts—about her own well-being and conduct to emerge victorious over the House of Windsor. Princess Diana, though separated from the royal family, was perhaps its best hope for survival. Four years before her death, Anthony Holden profiled the woman who had, after a lifetime of emotional disappointments, fashioned her own set of rules in one of the world's strictest households. |
|
|
This e-mail was sent to you by VANITY FAIR. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book.
View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe
Copyright © Condé Nast 2025. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment