Oil tycoon Jean-Paul Getty (J. Paul) extracted oil in the Middle East, making a multi-billion-dollar fortune and setting his family up for generations. He was once the richest private citizen in the world. But the family’s unimaginable wealth came at a high price with a series of devastating tragedies, known as “the Getty family curse.”
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When Forbes estimated the combined family fortune at $5 billion (which was the 54th highest on its list of America’s Most Wealthy in 2014), the publication noted: “The story of the famed Getty family is one of the most obvious examples that money, cold hard cash, doesn’t buy happiness.” From the grandson who founded Getty Images to the great-grandchild who dressed Kim Kardashian, the Getty family is one of the most fascinating families in the world. They are known for many things: oil, businesses, immense fortune, but, most intriguingly, a litany of devastating incidents.
Here is the Getty family’s cursed history…