Book description
I> is not a hopeless story. While some of the family have been
damaged by the Getty legacy, others have saved themselves from disaster,
most notably the cricket-loving philanthropist, J. Paul Getty jr.
Pearson's moving story of his recovery from drugs and deep personal
tragedy shows that there is hope for future generations of this stricken
family - and demonstrates that money can be used to buy survival and
even happiness. Oil tycoon J. Paul Gerry created the greatest fortune in
America - and came close to destroying his own family in the process. Of
his four sons who reached manhood, only one survived relatively
unscathed. One killed himself, one became a drug-addicted recluse and
the third had to bear the stigma all his life of being disinherited in
childhood. The unhappiness continued into the next generation, with the
name Getty, as one journalist put it, 'becoming synonymous for family
dysfunction'. Getty's once favourite grandson was kidnapped by the
Italian mafia, lost his car and, after a lifetime of drink and drugs,
became a paraplegic. A granddaughter is currently suffering from AIDS.
And the Getty family itself has been torn apart by litigation over their
poisoned inheritance. But did the disaster have to happen? John Pearson,
who has specialized in biographies of families as varied as the
Churchills, the British Royal Family, the Dcvonshires and the Krays,
sets out to find the answer. The result is a fascinating saga of an
extraordinary dynasty. He traces much of the trouble to the bizarre
character of the avaricious, sex-obsessed billionaire, J. Paul Getty
himself - and demonstrates how much of his behaviour has been repeated
in succeeding generations. He describes the famous kidnapping of his
grandson in graphic detail, revealing how the old man's attitude added
considerably to the boy's sufferings. And he shows how the family has
coped with the latest modern scourges: drugs and AIDS. For
Painfully Rich<
I> is not a hopeless story. While some of the family
have been damaged by the Getty legacy, others have saved themselves
from disaster, most notably the cricket-loving philanthropist, J. Paul
Getty jr. Pearson's moving story of his recovery from drugs and deep
personal tragedy shows that there is hope for future generations of
this stricken family - and demonstrates that money can be used to buy
survival and even happiness. Oil tycoon J. Paul Gerry created the
greatest fortune in America - and came close to destroying his own
family in the process. Of his four sons who reached manhood, only one
survived relatively unscathed. One killed himself, one became a
drug-addicted recluse and the third had to bear the stigma all his
life of being disinherited in childhood. The unhappiness continued
into the next generation, with the name Getty, as one journalist put
it, 'becoming synonymous for family dysfunction'. Getty's once
favourite grandson was kidnapped by the Italian mafia, lost his car
and, after a lifetime of drink and drugs, became a paraplegic. A
granddaughter is currently suffering from AIDS. And the Getty family
itself has been torn apart by litigation over their poisoned
inheritance. But did the disaster have to happen? John Pearson, who
has specialized in biographies of families as varied as the
Churchills, the British Royal Family, the Dcvonshires and the Krays,
sets out to find the answer. The result is a fascinating saga of an
extraordinary dynasty. He traces much of the trouble to the bizarre
character of the avaricious, sex-obsessed billionaire, J. Paul Getty
himself - and demonstrates how much of his behaviour has been repeated
in succeeding generations. He describes the famous kidnapping of his
grandson in graphic detail, revealing how the old man's attitude added
considerably to the boy's sufferings. And he shows how the family has
coped with the latest modern scourges: drugs and AIDS. For
Painfully Rich<
