Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark

Huguette Clark, born in 1906, was one of the leading celebrities of her day, growing up in her family's 121-room Beaux Arts mansion in New York. Her father, William Andrews Clark, was a copper magnate and the second richest man in America, not hesitating to bribe his way into the Senate. Huguette attended the coronation of King George V, and at the age of 22, with a personal fortune of $50 million, she married her childhood friend, William MacDonald Gower, a Princeton man. However, the marriage was short-lived, as the couple divorced just two years later.

After a series of failed romances, Huguette began to withdraw from society. She first lived with her mother in a kind of Grey Gardens isolation, and then as a modern-day Miss Havisham, spending her days in a vast apartment overlooking Central Park, eating crackers and watching The Flintstones, with only servants for company. Despite her wealth and real estate, Huguette was manipulated by shady hangers-on and hospitals that were only too happy to admit and bill a healthy woman.

What caused this vivacious, young socialite to become a recluse? What was her life like inside that gilded, copper cage? Huguette's story is a complex and intriguing one, filled with wealth, power, and the consequences of isolation.

Born in 1906, Huguette Clark grew up in her family's 121-room Beaux Arts mansion in New York, and was one of the leading celebrities of her day. Her father, William Andrews Clark, was a copper magnate and the second richest man in America, not above bribing his way into the Senate. Huguette attended the coronation of King George V, and at the age of 22, with a personal fortune of $50 million, she married her childhood friend, William MacDonald Gower, a Princeton man. The marriage, however, was short-lived, as the couple divorced just two years later.

After a series of failed romances, Huguette began to withdraw from society. She first lived with her mother in a kind of Grey Gardens isolation, and then as a modern-day Miss Havisham, spending her days in a vast apartment overlooking Central Park, eating crackers and watching The Flintstones, with only servants for company. Despite her wealth and real estate, Huguette was manipulated by shady hangers-on and hospitals that were only too happy to admit and bill a healthy woman.

What turned this vivacious, young socialite into a recluse? What was her life like inside that gilded, copper cage? Huguette's story is a complex and intriguing one, filled with wealth, power, and the consequences of isolation.

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