Customer Reviews

Poor Little Rich Girl: The Life and Legend of Barbara Hutton

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Such compassion from my fellow reviewers..not! This woman found her mother's dead body at the age of six after her mother committed suicide. She was then abandoned by her father. Exploited, belittled, controlled, ridiculed by several of her husbands. One mocked her weight so much she became anorexic. One left her after almost dying giving birth to his child leaving her unable to have any more. The majority were penniless, aristocrats who saw a vulnerable woman and MONEY. Money is the only thing she had. She had a loveless bleak existence which she tried to fill by spending money. Isn't that what drug addicts, drinkers, food addicts do?
I have read various accounts that this woman should have been happy because she was had money. Superficial, shallow vacuous views of of an unhappy, rejected woman who then lost her only child and descended into a downward spiral.
I fear for humanity when selfish people with no humility truly believe that money makes you happy.

I thought the book was well written. Barbara was so self destructive....chain smoker, pill pusher, alcoholic & for good measure had a severe eating disorder. Sounds like her body just "gave in" at age 66. The sad thing is besides great wealth, Barbara had a lovely baby son that she brought up the way she was, with nannies & boarding schools. Barbara was also very beautiful judging from her early photos. No one could have really stopped her downfall. I think she also enjoyed the headlines & publicity..like being a film star without making movies! I got a depressed feeling at the waste & sadness of her life. Still in her early 30's, she already was showing signs of anorexia nervosa.

This book proves money can't buy happiness, especially when you don't earn it yourself. It's fascinating to see how the really wealthy lived, especially during that time!

She could blow through a fortune, unlike Marjorie Merriwether Post or Doris Duke. She tried to buy happiness, but she was a penniless old hag at the end of her life. The book lets you live vicariously through the life of a manic spender, and makes one think about what you say to a child can leave incredible damage that lasts a lifetime. She had a lot of fun too.

Knowing next to nothing about Babs, I found this book educational, but a little difficult to follow. The author dropped (what seemed like) about 10 names per page, most of which nobody who was born post-1960, like myself, would recognize. It was very hard to remember who was who. I thought I was doing a pretty good job keeping up with Babs' husbands...remembering which was which...but after a while it got confusing (obviously more the subject's fault than the author's). I think I got a pretty good idea of what Ms. Hutton was about, and have a hard time sympathizing with her...poor little rich girl indeed! She popped into a Woolworth's ONCE in her life, just to sign a few autographs. Her cheesy poetry netted her less than $200, the only money she truly earned of her own effort. Someone else handled all her financial matters (luckily for her, usually quite well), because she couldn't be bothered...spending money takes time, you know). She dropped husbands as soon as they no longer entertained her. Yes, she had exquisite taste in clothing and jewelry, and traveled incessantly to places I can only dream of ever seeing..but had no grasp on reality- she once sent one of her employees to the bank to change a bill because she had no change..it was a $10,000 bill ( I didn't even know those existed!). I enjoyed this book because it took me somewhere I could never go myself. It's hard to feel sorry for her though...she dug her own grave!!!

what a wasted life!! she had all the money in the world to do something of importance with her life and she chose to do nothing! she lived in a fantasy world, it was very hard for me to feel sorry for her, all she did was travel and collect husbands!! in the other hand, the book was well writen but is hard for me to know why anyone like this could be famous!! she was indeed a poor little rich girl.