Too Rich: The Family Secrets of Doris Duke

A portrait of Doris Duke co-authored by her cousin highlights her often scandalous and excessive behavior, citing the controversial settlement of her estate and considering the possibility that she was murdered. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.

"Really great sex" is what the very rich and the very poor can share, according to the late Doris Duke, because both have the time and the freedom to focus on it. The middle class is too busy with jobs and mortgages and college tuitions. Duke, the tobacco heiress who during her lifetime (1912-1993) was thought to be the world's richest woman, spent most of that life in search of the largest and most potent male organ, the winner being that of playboy Profirio Rubirosa, with Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku's the runner-up, although General Patton's won kudos too. The authors speculate on whether Duke deliberately killed one of her lovers, and they relate how, late in life, she learned to distinguish between sex and love and found the latter with author Louis Bromfield. The suspicious circumstances of her death are retold with renewed questions about her doctors' behavior and the last-minute codicil to her will, which left the major portion of her estate to her butler, "the Rasputin of the court of Doris Duke." Pony Duke (Doris's godchild), writing here with former nationally syndicated columnist Thomas, "really liked" her, but his portrait, drawn from his own and family members' recollections as well as public information, is not one of an easily likable woman. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Duke and novelist Thomas tell the story of Doris Duke, Duke's cousin and godmother, who was worth an estimated $2 billion when she died in 1993. The heir to the American Tobacco Company fortune, Doris' father left her an estate of $100 million--at the age of 12. Wealthy and powerful, she grew up isolated and lonely. Later, she married a good-looking opportunist who saw the marriage as a way to further his political aspirations. Sex being a favored pastime, she soon turned to other men. Duke was the Lady Di of the forties, thus her life was well publicized, including the measurements of one of her well-endowed men, one Porfirio Rubirosa. The authors recount her famous mood swings, often triggered by bouts with alcohol and drugs. Eventually, she became reclusive. However, the authors do not intend to keep the story light. For example, she forced the premature birth--and eventual death--of her child, who was created out of wedlock, to avert a scandal. An insightful, if often pathetic story about the costs of greed and pride. Brian McCombie

Dirt from a Duke relative.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.