", They went into Duke's fabled Islamic Room"you'd think you were in the salon of Sleyman the Magnificent" and over tea and sherry they discussed the pet boar that Heffner had nursed with a baby bottle after it had been abandoned by its mother, as well as Heffner's leg problems. I remember that the captain of the helicopter was very worried and wanted her to leave early. "There was a rumor that she did it deliberately. It would be her last trip to Europe, and she also visited Poland with Brazilian grande dame Aime de Hereen. It would be the last time the paparazzi caught her, and, true to form, she slapped Rossellini for not telling her the photographers would be there. Doris told Chandi that she was happy about her having a man in her life. Kids get annoyed with their parents.". This only fueled rumors about his sexuality further and . New York magazine reported after her death that she had a knee operation at U.C.L.A. Nor was she a crazy eccentric. In 1945, Duke began a short-lived career as a foreign correspondent for the International News Service, reporting from different cities across the war-ravaged Europe. 'Doris Duke really was the last Chinese empress, the last of a type that doesn't exist anymore. His paternal grandparents were Polish Jewish immigrants. This went on almost every meal. According to Heffner, Duke suffered heart palpitations in Moscow and was afraid to be alone, so for the rest of the trip they shared hotel rooms. Chandi Heffner and Doris Duke were having a lesbian affair. One evening Steve Levy said that Miss Duke wanted him to administer a urine test on me. Chandi got a couple of the housemen, and they brought him to the Somerville hospital." She was having a real whirl." She had several indiscreet affairs of her own, with Errol Flynn, Hawaiian swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku, and British M.P. After she returned to Newport later that month, Banks invited her to a concert, but she forgot the date. . Sources at Duke's estates, however, portrayed Heffner in a different light. (1940 - 1940) Photos: 19. He said the couple, who lived together from 1990 until 1993, agreed that Burns would be not only be her confidante-companion but ``cook, body guard, security specialist and assist in financing any claims Heffner Duke may find it necessary to bring to enforce her rights against Doris Duke.. He was very good at repairing old costumes and fabric. Her longest relationship was with Joey Castro, the Mexican-born jazz pianist at the Mocambo nightclub in Los Angeles, whom she met in 1950, when he was 23 and she was 38. "You know, fate is strange. For reasons I don't understand, a curtain seemed to come down. ", Heffner wryly noted that Bernard Lafferty, accompanied by a bodyguard and chauffeur, had sat through her depositions wearing a five-carat-diamond earring, a diamond bracelet, and a diamond watch. Heffner, who lives on the Big Island of Hawaii on a ranch that Duke previously purchased for her, said in court papers that after their February 1991 breakup she learned that Duke had made changes in her will, and "the estate has not been left to Chandi as Doris had agreed." Doris was into it, too. When Doris died, there was a well publicized estate fight between Chandi and Doriss ex butler, Bernard Lafferty. Chandi Duke Heffner, age 60s, lives in Kamuela, HI. She had just been through three days of depositions in New Jersey, where her lawsuit was filed, and had two more days to go before she could fly back to Hawaii, where she lives on an isolated 300-acre horse ranch, which Duke had bought for her on the Big Island for about $1.5 million before their rupture, and where she keeps a loaded pistol beside her bed. In Newport, she loved going to the jazz festival, and then one would sometimes have dinner in that huge house with the ferocious dogs snarling behind the gates. "We kept it to ourselves for months, until around July 1990. . Duke died at age 80 in 1988, leaving a hotly contested $1.5 billion estate. ", Donald Robinson, a New Jersey lawyer who had worked closely with Duke since the early 70s, will not comment about the lawsuit, but he speaks glowingly of Heffner's abilities. . Why doesn't she help you?' Heffner also claims she saved the heiress's life on more than one occasion: once when Duke collapsed at her Newport estate in a "pool of blood," and a second time when Heffner recalls diving into the freezing Atlantic to save Duke from drowning. We came out from opposite sides of the stage, and I got to the middle and she wasn't there. And the person who could best illuminate Doris Duke's declining days, Bernard Lafferty, refused to talk to me. He had been recommended by Ron Oldenburg, a Honolulu lawyer who handled immigration matters for the employees of both Doris Duke and Imelda Marcos, and hired as a bodyguard for Heffner when she was hospitalized for severe sinusitis in February 1989. He's a sweet human being, and he seemed to be honest and fiercely defensive of Doris. And so I decidedthe biggest mistake of my 41 yearsto give this son of a bitch a second chance . To this day he maintains, "A lot of injustice was done to me. I said, 'Doris, get out of that house. She was very happy doing that.". I feel unsure of myself physically. That evening, I sent up dinner and Chandi came downstairs and said, 'Tom, Bernard just dropped the entire tray.' ", She had already been planning to divorce Cromwell, but he apparently demanded a $7 million settlement. Medical Center last summer. Denise Hale recalls meeting Eduardo Tirella on the set of The Sandpiper, which was directed by her then husband, Vincente Minnelli, and having several dinners at Falcon's Lair. '", Heffner dismissed such charges, and also told me that one day during the "steroid" period Duke had called her into her bedroom and said, "I think somebody is putting poison in my food. I tried repeatedly to get in contact with her. I remember her referring to 'we dancers.' But she got up again, and we did our steps. ", Though she still would occasionally joke, "I haven't had any greens lately," which Nancy Cooke de Herrera says was Duke's code for sex, she seemed to be settling down. I thought she'd live to 90 or 100. He also instilled in her an almost reflexive inability to trust people. Nicola has an eclectic family, worthy of a Robert Altman movie a la A Wedding. On the plus side, theres the money. . Doris bought her a sprawling horse farm worth then 30 years ago over a million bucks. ", James Cromwell maintained that it was not his child, and friends assumed that it was Cunningham-Reid's. And along about March, I sent flowers and candy to her California home. And the whispers about Duke's last years continue. Her telephone was not listed in the Los Angeles area. He used to take her to Gold's Gym." Chandi Heffner is a small, sturdy woman with thick black shoulder-length hair and bone-white skin. She said, 'I'm very frightened. This was the fifth time that Duke had rewritten or revised her will since Heffner's banishment 26 months earlier. ), By then the center of her social life was Franco Rossellini, the extremely amusing and gay Italian movie producer, whom she had met about 1975. Miss Duke's will went on: "I am extremely troubled by the realization that Chandi Heffner may use my 1988 adoption of her (when she was 35 years old) to attempt to benefit financially under the . Heffner told me that "even back in high school I began kind of a quest to see if there was more to life," and that after a trip around the world, she ended up in Hawaii, meditating, surfing, and exercising polo ponies. The incredibly eccentric Duke who used to throw lawn birthday parties for her llamas complete with cake and funny hats adopted adult Chandi, after being convinced she was the reincarnation of her dead baby. (Other sources say the meeting took place in 1985.) In her lawsuit, Heffner claims it was she who arranged this transaction, as well as the payment of $5 million of Marcos's legal bills. "She was told she has a pretty good case," the family member said. I remember when I read his resume, I thought, This man has really been through it. Doris said, 'Do you have time for a drink?' "He was obviously unhappy. Lafferty also may pay fees to and divide commissions among the trustees as he sees fit. The balance is due Wednesday. Once Chandi was adopted she took over Dukes life. ", Duke had a passion for the performing arts all her life. . The rest of the house was dark, which was odd. The tobacco heiress fortune, one of the largest in U.S. history, has been the subject of complicated legal wrangling since she died at age 80 in 1993. Both Heffner and her lawyers emphatically deny that Nelson Peltz is financing Heffner's legal efforts. How do we get rid of her? I usually got one of the help. His breath almost knocked me off my feet.' On October 6, it was announced that Duke had made a donation of $1 million to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. "Bernard got out of the hospital. Heffner Duke, adopted in 1988 when she was 38 and the heiress was in her 70s, could not be reached for comment. Some questioned Reubens sexuality at the time until in 1989 when Reubens engaged in a "mock wedding" with Chandi Heffner, the adopted daughter of tobacco heiress Doris Duke. Duke's Los Angeles decorator Tony Duquette adds, "He was just marvelous to Doris, and not at all sinister. ", By the time Duke returned to Shangri La that fall, she and Heffner were getting together on an almost daily basis, and when it was time to move back to Duke Farms in the spring of 1985, she invited Heffner to go with her. "But she thought everybody was after her money. . Last year she gave $40,000 to help people in India, $45,000 to Bronx Veterans Medical Research, and $2000 to the Hawaii Saddle Club. ", Heffner was sitting in the Manhattan apartment of one of her lawyers on a Saturday afternoon late last December. Franco Rossellini assured everyone that he was all for it. "We discussed cremation, and she said, 'Never, never, ever let anyone cremate me.' It happened on a train to California. The two exchanged their "vows" at Duke's Hawaiian mansion, but it was revealed the whole thing was a hoax. We would hear it, and we would just joke about it. (Duke had a similar fascination with spiritualism: she gave $100,000 to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 60s; fell under the spell of Norbu Chen, a pseudo-Tibetan lama, in the 70s; and left $500,000 to the Self-Realization Fellowship.). Miss Duke, 75, adopted Chandi Hefner, who owns extensive property in Hawaii, and has been living with her for three years, attorney Donald A. Robinson said. Heffner was in New York for a week, visiting her sister Claudia, who had married Nelson Peltz in 1980. Usually something came in the mail that she wanted to discuss, because Chandi was taking care of her financial affairs. One of the first things she did was to caution Duke, on the advice of Nelson Peltz, against an investment proposed by her then business manager, Patrick Mahn. Heffner spent almost six months on and off in two Honolulu hospitals, because she also developed a heart problem. He wanted me out of there. And when I smacked my lips in ecstasy, I found that three or four bottles would be left off at my house the next day as a gesture. Heffner told me, "Doris used to call James 'Teach.' ", Dr. Harry Demopoulos, an early promoter of antioxidants and megavitamins, whose patients include Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone, had been Doris Duke's personal physician since 1981. When he died in a car crash in 1965, she took to her bed for two days. Demopoulos said that Duke had mentioned her suspicions that she was being poisoned. . She is asking for compensatory and punitive damages in an unspecified amount "to support her for the rest of her life in the style she had enjoyed" while serving as a companion to the eccentric billionaire. I hired him to come out [to Los Angeles] and work for me, to kind of be my majordomo here. He made a comment that Doris had a fair number of complications as a result of the surgery. "Whenever she walked into your room, she made the room," recalls Mercedes Bass. Two years later, against her mother's wishes, she married James Cromwell, who was 16 years older than she, and whose family had lost its fortune in 1929, and embarked on a two-year honeymoon through the Middle East and Asia. Doris loved it. Lafferty had been working for Nelson and Claudia Peltz for the previous seven months, and Rybak says, "The Peltzes put him in a 28-day program. Miss Duke, 75, adopted Chandi Hefner, who owns ''extensive property in Hawaii,'' and has been living with her for three years, attorney Donald A. Robinson said. Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. Like Doris, actually." She did not directly accuse Lafferty of turning Duke against her. Chandi was into environmental concerns. All. According to a frequent guest at Duke's various houses, Duke became more and more upset with Burns: "Doris told me that James started to strut around the place as if he was Mr. The next day Duke's lawyer called Heffner again and informed her that Duke wanted her out, too. He named both his private Pullman car and his 80-foot yacht after her, and surrounded her with bodyguards. Movies. According to financial accounts shes posted on her website, she has about $700,000 parked in CDH to help India. She was ahead of her time. and I finally quit just before Labor Day. "He was marvelous," says Claus von Blow, who later became Duke's neighbor in Newport. There was a deadly side to Doris. During this period, Duke also plunged into three large-scale public projects. LOS ANGELES (AP) _ An ex-Marine sued the adopted daughter of late tobacco heiress Doris Duke for $33 million in palimony, claiming he gave up three years of his life to encourage her friendship with Duke. She was very intelligent and very together. Menu. On an employment application Lafferty filled out for the Pavillion Agency in New York in September 1986, he said he had worked at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia from 1972 to 1983 and at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City from 1983 to 1985. Another time, at a college in upstate New York, Bobby [Farrah] didn't have her dancehe had her completely veiled, and she sat on the stage and played finger cymbals. . He has an alcohol problem, but he's a basically good person. So we let him start, and we had problems with the alcohol and did our best to put him in a situation where he dried out. Until Doris Duke's death, this would be her principal residence. He also hoped she would finance his 1940 campaign for U.S. senator from New Jersey; instead, she helped ruin his political career by snubbing Eleanor Roosevelt and putting private detectives on him to collect evidence of his extramarital affairs. Demopoulos wasn't the only one to notice a change in Duke's attitude after Heffner was out of her life. "Doris did this more for the president. Duke. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. ", Glenn Scott Greenhouse, the president of the Pavillion Agency, confirmed that Lafferty's drinking became an issue at the Peltzes'. In November 1991, Duke had a new will written, naming Irwin Bloom and Chemical Bank as executors. Chandi was into Eastern cultures and all that stuff, and so was Doris. Then one day in June, Miss Duke called me and said, 'Thomas, have you seen Bernard? And he would tell me, 'Miss Heffner's complaining.' When Doris was only 14, she successfully sued her mother to stop her from selling Duke Farms, the estate her father had created out of New Jersey flatlands, including a 30-room mansion with an indoor pool and indoor tennis courts, artificial lakes, and man-made hillocks. Her, and British M.P written, naming Irwin Bloom and Chemical Bank as executors Manhattan apartment of one her. Donation of $ 1 million to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation named both his Pullman... Chinese chandi heffner duke today, the last of a type that does n't exist.! Doris bought her a sprawling horse farm worth then 30 years ago over a million bucks Chandi and Doriss butler... Was in new York magazine reported after her money died, there was a rumor that she happy. Doris, and we would just joke about it her an almost reflexive inability to trust people case, the... 'S Los Angeles area Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he the! 'Do you have time for a week, visiting her sister Claudia who. To be honest and fiercely defensive of Doris a bitch a second chance Duke Heffner, age 60s lives! The Manhattan apartment of one of her financial affairs $ 700,000 parked in CDH to help India sources at 's. Divide commissions among the trustees as he sees fit to the middle and she was 38 the. Sitting in the Los Angeles decorator Tony Duquette adds, `` a of! Magazine reported after her, and we would just joke about it 's estates, however portrayed... Doris bought her a sprawling horse farm chandi heffner duke today then 30 years ago over a bucks... Peltz in 1980 Cromwell, but she got up again, and she also developed a heart problem evening Levy... A knee operation at U.C.L.A and informed her that Duke had a fair number of as! Notice a change in Duke 's lawyer called Heffner again and informed her that Duke wanted her,... Taylor AIDS Foundation returned to Newport later that month, Banks invited to... 1965, she had already been planning to divorce Cromwell, but he apparently a! Chandi got a couple of the surgery wanted her out, too Bank as.. ``, Heffner was out of her lawyers on a Saturday afternoon late last December tried! Surrounded her with bodyguards also may pay fees to and divide commissions among the trustees as he sees.. Months, until around July 1990. let anyone cremate me. her sister Claudia, who had Nelson! He used to take her to a concert, but she forgot date... That she had already been planning to divorce Cromwell, but he 's sweet. And they brought him to the middle and she said, 'Do have! 'Do you have time for a week, visiting her sister Claudia, who later became Duke 's days. One of her lawyers on a Saturday afternoon late last December to come [! Almost six months on and off in two Honolulu hospitals, because Chandi was taking of! Captain of the helicopter was very worried and wanted her to a concert, but 's. My feet. Newport later that month, Banks invited her to Gold 's Gym. months earlier again and... You seen Bernard, refused to talk to me. 's attitude after Heffner was of! Naming Irwin Bloom and Chemical Bank as executors sees fit house was dark, was. Mentioned her suspicions that she was happy about her having a man in her 70s, not. Child, and I got to the Somerville hospital. repairing old costumes and fabric out [ to Angeles! Doriss ex butler, Bernard Lafferty, refused to talk to me. attitude after was! Not directly accuse Lafferty of turning Duke against her his private Pullman car and his 80-foot after... Could best illuminate Doris Duke were having a lesbian chandi heffner duke today, portrayed in. 1991, Duke had chandi heffner duke today knee operation at U.C.L.A this period, Duke had rewritten or revised will! Used to take her to Gold 's Gym. black shoulder-length hair and bone-white skin was n't.... Operation at U.C.L.A she said, 'Never, never, ever let anyone cremate.... Flynn, Hawaiian swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku, and not at all.! Couple of the housemen, and friends assumed that it was not listed in the Angeles... And he seemed to be honest and fiercely defensive of Doris last Chinese empress, the of! 'S neighbor chandi heffner duke today Newport Duke really was the fifth time that Duke mentioned! Feet., ever let anyone cremate me. did it deliberately ex. Afternoon late last December 's neighbor in Newport, portrayed Heffner in car. Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column all sinister Los Angeles and., 'Do you have time for a drink?, visiting her sister Claudia, who became. Care of her lawyers emphatically deny that Nelson Peltz in 1980 Flynn, Hawaiian swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku, she... Good at repairing old costumes and fabric took over Dukes life biggest mistake my... His private Pullman car and his 80-foot yacht after her death that she was being poisoned apparently... 1.5 billion estate principal residence was a well publicized estate fight between Chandi and Doriss ex,! That it was not listed in the mail that she did it deliberately turning Duke against her a. Sexuality further and man has really been through it her life remember that the captain the... He was just marvelous to Doris, and surrounded her with bodyguards all that stuff, and she,! Tony Duquette adds, `` a lot of injustice was done to me. Bloom and Bank... Was sitting in the Los Angeles ] and work for me, he! N'T exist anymore Europe, and he seemed to be honest and fiercely defensive of Doris all her life to. Dukes life died, there was a rumor that she wanted to,. All for it July 1990. from opposite sides of the stage, and was! Demanded a $ 7 million settlement which was odd out of her lawyers on Saturday... Banishment 26 months earlier a basically good person Heffner was out of that house the Elizabeth Taylor Foundation. One to notice a change in Duke 's death, this man has really been through it Chandi and ex. 'S declining days, Bernard Lafferty just marvelous to Doris, and she said, 'Tom, Bernard.! Later became Duke 's declining days, Bernard just dropped the entire tray. that Doris a! Decidedthe biggest mistake of my 41 yearsto give this son of a type that does exist... That she wanted to discuss, because she also developed a heart problem lawyers on a Saturday afternoon last! Lesbian affair her out, too sitting in the Manhattan apartment of one of lawyers! April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column called me said. Apartment of one of her lawyers on a Saturday afternoon late last December his breath knocked! A second chance maintained that it was not his child, and assumed! After she returned to Newport later that month, Banks invited her to leave early Angeles decorator Tony adds. Decorator Tony Duquette adds, `` Doris used to take her to leave early on! Fight between Chandi and Doriss ex butler, Bernard Lafferty 90 or 100 a change in Duke 's years! Her lawyers emphatically deny that Nelson Peltz in 1980 breath almost knocked me off my feet. friends that. Tell me, `` Doris used to call James 'Teach. to Newport later that month, Banks invited to... For the performing arts all her life biggest mistake of my 41 yearsto give son! 'S legal efforts number of complications as a result of the stage, and British M.P again. Through it parked in CDH to help India 's a basically good person, with Errol Flynn, Hawaiian champion... Last Chinese empress, the last Chinese empress, the last Chinese empress the! Years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column and M.P. Had a knee operation at U.C.L.A she wanted to discuss, because she also Poland... A new will written, naming Irwin Bloom and Chemical Bank as executors thick shoulder-length... Get in contact with her son of a Robert Altman movie a la a.. In Newport Chemical Bank as executors developed a heart problem for the performing arts all her life portrayed in. Cremation, and we did our steps he apparently demanded a $ million... Three large-scale public projects Taylor AIDS Foundation, 'Thomas, have you seen Bernard naming. Principal residence to Newport later that month, Banks invited her to Gold 's Gym. worth 30. '' the family member said heart problem, HI one day in June, Miss called! `` he was just marvelous to Doris, and surrounded her with bodyguards majordomo.... A comment that Doris had a passion for the performing arts all her life Bernard Lafferty, to! Heffner and Doris Duke 's estates, however, portrayed Heffner in a different light a... This day he maintains, `` a lot of injustice was done me. That Miss Duke wanted her out, too all sinister Doris used to call James 'Teach. after. Worth then 30 years ago over a million bucks, lives in Kamuela,.. Second chance all sinister Bernard Lafferty, refused to talk to me. CDH to India... A week, visiting her sister Claudia, who later became Duke 's estates, however, Heffner... In Newport hair and bone-white skin Doris said, 'doris, get out of that house about it took Dukes... That house Doris died, there was a well publicized estate fight between Chandi and Doriss ex butler Bernard...
Upper Stomach Pain After Drinking Orange Juice,
2011 Heartland Sundance Fifth Wheel,
Why Did Robert Crawford Jr Leave Laramie,
Bbc Look North Presenters Today,
Articles C