I remember her referring to 'we dancers.' And I didn't sense any antagonism between Chandi and Bernard." It's so hard for me still, so hard." We were joking around, because we both had bad knees. Chandi sued Dukes estate and wound up inheriting $65 million. She had had several leg operations, after a riding accident, but she participated in the seminar. And he would tell me, 'Miss Heffner's complaining.' Heffner also said that as next of kin she would have requested an autopsy, but she was never officially notified of Duke's death, and by the time she learned of the cremation, it was too late. And the person who could best illuminate Doris Duke's declining days, Bernard Lafferty, refused to talk to me. The court also gave Doris title to the Fifth Avenue house, which she gave to New York University in 1957, and Rough Point, a huge Vanderbilt "cottage" in Newport. SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) _ Reclusive multimillionaire Doris Duke has adopted a 35-year-old conservationist as a daughter, her lawyer said Friday. Id love to be a fly on the wall when David and Victoria Beckham meet their sons fiancees family. And I was surprised. She had episodes of pneumonia, she had clots in her veins, and some of those clots may have traveled to her lungs. Brooklyn Beckham, whos 21, has announced hes marrying Nicola Peltz, 25. I said, 'Sure, have him call me.' Ron Protas, the artistic director of the Martha Graham Dance Company, says, "Doris was very shy, and never thought enough of herself, because she was so beat up emotionally by her father. Marcos has said that she and Duke were friends of almost 20 years, but others say that they met in the late 1970s through Franco Rossellini. Duke's Los Angeles decorator Tony Duquette adds, "He was just marvelous to Doris, and not at all sinister. . He went to Sarasota High School. "You know, fate is strange. I feel in danger.' . "I got a call from my sister's major-domo, Ferencz Soltesz," said Heffner, who had been living with Duke for two years at that point. Chandi Duke Heffner is known for Oh My God (2009). One of Chandi's doctors thought that pregnancy might help her conditions, and Chandi was discussing this with Doris one evening in Newport while I was sitting there. Doris's statements to Chandi to this effect were confirmed by [her lawyer Donald] Robinson as well, who told Chandi he had prepared the necessary documents to make provision for the disposition of Doris's estate, and that Chandi would be "totally in control. Like Doris, actually." After Heffner returned to Hawaii, she kept in touch with Farrah and Saretta, and in February 1983 helped them organize a Middle Eastern dance seminar in Honolulu. Wait til the Beckhams Meet the Parents: Nicola Peltzs Aunt Inherited $65 Mil from Doris Duke in Infamous Adoption, Movie Release August Schedule for "Tenet," "Mulan" Will Be Scuttled as Gov. Even Imelda didn't see her.". On New Year's Day 1964, she ordered him out, and he retaliated by suing her, claiming that they had been secretly married. She told me she was supposed to start hula dancing professionally at a hotel in Hawaii. He was cooking and she was serving. ", After Thanksgiving, as she had for five decades, Duke left for Hawaii. And, like Heffner, after following Duke from Duke Farms to Rough Point to Falcon's Lair to Shangri La for more than six years he was suddenly given a few hours to pack his bags and leave. Demopoulos said that Duke had mentioned her suspicions that she was being poisoned. She wasn't Barbara Hutton," says Marina Cicogna, who was a friend of both heiresses. "Rubi" was also presented with a string of polo ponies and a house in Paris. Around Christmas, Duke rented a house in Honolulu for Martha Graham and Ron Protas. Charles became so concerned about Duke's condition that she called her and asked if Heffner had been "giving her something, I don't know what"even though Heffner had been out of the picture for a year and a half. According to financial accounts shes posted on her website, she has about $700,000 parked in CDH to help India. "Cromwell was quite nice," says Nelson Seabra, a rich Brazilian friend of Duke's. Duke last made news in 1988, when she posted the $5.3 million bail for her close friend Imelda Marcos, the former Philippines First Lady. Incredibly, she was awarded a $65 million settlement. The next day Duke's lawyer called Heffner again and informed her that Duke wanted her out, too. I said, 'Doris, do it, I think it's a good thing.' In 1966, a few days after Duke suddenly shut down the record company she had started for Castro, he broke her jaw, according to Mansfield, and she fled to Newport with Eduardo Tirella, a handsome young set designer. . He came over here, and she died. I have come to the realization that her primary motive was financial gain. Heffner takes credit for everything from improving the dairy herd at Duke Farms to arranging the sale of Duke's gold deposits in Switzerland. For Industry Professionals. . 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. They were disciples of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the spiritual master of the Hare Krishna movement, and they had been unofficially married in a ceremony in India in the 70s. Who can help student-athletes cash in? He wanted me out of there. One time we were performing at an Arab party at this catering hall in Brooklyn called the Venetian Manor, and Doris and I were partners. Moreover, Heffner's legal complaint against Duke states: Doris . In later years she did have problems with her hearing and with her legs, but nothing major. Duke Kahanamoku went in after her and saved her. The first one, in Hawaii, didn't work out: she wanted to make a museum out of a Thai temple that she had saved from destruction on one of her many trips to Southeast Asia. . But theyve hit a snag, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, Elizabeth Holmes cites her new baby as a reason she should avoid prison for Theranos scam. "She looked great," Warnecke says. Despite the negative publicity, she fought her husband in the courts for five years, until he gave in. ", Others insist that Heffner's growing involvement with Burns created new tensions and was the root cause of Duke's disenchantment with her adopted daughter. Although Duke was determined to produce his own heir, Nanaline was as surprised as everyone else when she became pregnant at the age of 42, and she always favored her son, Walker Inman, over Doris. She told me that in the months prior to her fall from grace one of Duke's doctors was injecting her with steroids, for knee problems, and that the psychological side effects of "the substance enabled the other people to talk her into whatever they wanted. They had done the whole kitchen togetherthe carpentry, everything. "But she thought everybody was after her money. I used to tell her, 'You know, Doris, some people do like you for yourself. Lafferty was accused of conspiring to kill his terminally ill employer with morphine. And Doris said, 'How about the one next to you?' The press decided she had become an eccentric recluse. As she spoke, she leaned forward like a child who is eager to please, but when she sat back and let her lawyers take over, her face lost its animation and she seemed older, harder, drained. In 1985, she met Chandi Heffner, a 32-year-old Hari Krishna devotee. . You felt that she was going to break. Sources at Duke's estates, however, portrayed Heffner in a different light. Lafferty also may pay fees to and divide commissions among the trustees as he sees fit. "She's an unusually intelligent person: perceptive, articulate, well-read, culturally alive. Lafferty served. Bernard Lafferty recently lunched in Manhattan with William Luers, president of the Metropolitan Museum, which was left $10 million by Duke. Once Chandi was adopted she took over Dukes life. But by the following summer she was noticeably declining again. For many years she sang in a black gospel choir at the First Baptist Church of Nutley, New Jersey, and left its minister, the Reverend Lawrence G. Roberts, $1 million in her will. (After Duke's death, the trustees of her estate became defendants in this lawsuit.). We used to joke that she'd outlive me. ", Thomas Rybak maintains, "I personally believe that Chandi was pushed out by Bernard. Miss Duke lives in a walled 2,700-acre estate in Hillsborough, and rarely attracted . When I go I'll be eaten by the sharks.". '", In 1947 she married again, but handed the groom a prenuptial agreement at the altar. Duke died last October, leaving an estate reported to be between $750 million and $1.3 billion and lengthy obituaries which focused on her husbands and lovers, her houses in New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Hawaii, her collections of Oriental and Islamic art, her $5 million bailout of Imelda Marcos, and her perplexing relationship with Chandi Heffner. Charlene Gail Heffner goes by the name Chandi Duke Heffner. And he called from a pay phone, and I felt so sorry for this guy, I said, 'Come to Somerville.' ", Thomas Rybak, who had been working as Doris Duke's chef for several months when Lafferty was hired in May 1987, at a salary of about $500 a week, paints a different picture. His family all died, and he had one remaining relative, in Philadelphia. It was a really loving daughter-mother relationship. Chandi lives on the horse farm now and operates a very modest charity called the CDH Foundation, with total assets of $ 2 million. "Whenever she walked into your room, she made the room," recalls Mercedes Bass. Usually something came in the mail that she wanted to discuss, because Chandi was taking care of her financial affairs. Finally, one of her new lawyers, Mr. Doyle, got it back on track. She really considered herself a dancer. The last words were 'Stay in touch, Harry.' Lee told me, "Ten or 15 years ago, I went to sing in the Versailles Room at the old Bellevue, and Bernard was the manager of the room, and we became friends. This Grand Marnier was so old the labels had been written by hand. That was a going-out-of-your-way gesture." ChatGPT who? Contrary to Heffner's version of events, he told me that he had prescribed anabolic steroids for Duke for her knee problems in late 1989 or early 1990. It happened on a train to California. Chandi sued Duke's estate. Duke. Duke died at age 80 in 1988, leaving a hotly contested $1.5 billion estate. ", Rybak says that Lafferty got off to a good start at Duke Farms. ". "That was quite an event. "Doris was seeing a Japanese therapist for her knee problems . 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. It was perhaps her last romantic affair, and in some respects foreshadowed her relationship with Chandi Heffner. When tobacco heiress Doris Duke died last October, she left a will that shocked even those who had known her best. We knock, we bang, we yell. 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. Chandi Duke Heffner, the 39-year-old former belly dancer and Hare Krishna devotee who was legally adopted by American Tobacco Co. heiress Doris Duke in 1988, now claims the reclusive 80-year-old billionaire reneged on her promise to make Heffner the sole beneficiary of her estate. Heffner was also responsible for hiring a new accountant, Irwin Bloom, and a security consultant, Steven Levy, both of whom had worked for Nelson Peltz. And then eventually somebody else dropped back. A stingy southern belle, Nanaline Holt Inman was a widow with one son when she married Buck Duke in 1907. The only times I saw Doris really relaxed were these few times in Beverly Hills.". ", Duke gave him a house in Paris for a wedding gift, and a plane before their divorce one year later. Doris loved it. Upon her father's death in 1925, the 13-year-old Doris Duke -- known as "The Richest Girl in the World" -- inherited several hundred million dollars. "We discussed cremation, and she said, 'Never, never, ever let anyone cremate me.' The Untold Truth of Stephen Hawking's Son - Ti. This went on almost every meal. This was at 11 in the morning. "And later on, for a while, on Irwin Bloom, the financial manager. 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. In 1925, at the age of 13, she inherited an estimated $100 million in trusts from her father, James Buchanan Duke, a coarse but brilliant self-made man who founded the American Tobacco Company and the Duke Power Company, and who endowed Trinity College in North Carolina with millions, reportedly on the condition it change its name to Duke University. Keyko said that $800,000 was paid to Heffner on Friday. After Tirella's death, she seemed consumed with the idea of actually becoming a performer. One night at dinner, Heffner told me, "Doris said to me, 'You're my daughter reincarnated. When he died in a car crash in 1965, she took to her bed for two days. "There was a rumor that she did it deliberately. One evening Steve Levy said that Miss Duke wanted him to administer a urine test on me. He also said he had worked on and off for Peggy Lee for 10 years. For some reason, Doris actually came to believe that Chandi. Her telephone was not listed in the Los Angeles area. Ferencz Soltesz [the Peltzes' majordomo] told me he's an excellent butler so long as you keep him off the bottle. Phyllis Saretta told me that Duke performed with the Farrah company four or five times, wearing a long black wig. sometimes I can't believe it's real. Movies. Then one day in June, Miss Duke called me and said, 'Thomas, have you seen Bernard? Menu. On rare occasions I got Bernard. Heffner said that she had asked for them almost as a joke, and that Duke was laughing when the agent for the ownerrumored to be Adnan Khashoggi or a Kuwaiti sheikhcalled back and agreed. Today, the museum features objects, furniture, and art selected, arranged, and used by Doris to make Rough Point a home. 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. This stuff was from Miss Duke's father. I really don't know what the hell was going on, frankly. Last year she gave. Chandi said, 'But where do I find a man?' He used to take her to Gold's Gym." ", When I asked Chandi Heffner about the widespread rumors that she and Duke were lovers, she laughed and said, "Oh, right, I've heard that. "I said, 'What's wrong?' Ari Emanuel lets his AI alter ego open Endeavors earnings call, Sam Bankman-Fried increasingly isolated as another associate takes a plea deal, How Black Market Flea and Everyday People brought the buzz of Black life to the Beehive. If you want, we will give Bernard another chance, or we will get another butler. ' This should be some rehearsal dinner! "Not at all. . The baby's death profoundly affected Duke, and she even hired psychics to try to. Earlier this year, Manhattan Surrogate Court Judge Eve Preminger removed Lafferty from that position for allegedly squandering the estates assets on lavish living but Lafferty is appealing the ruling. . Chandi Heffner is 69 years old today because Chandi's birthday is on 08/26/1953. Today, Chandi lives on a palatial farm in. Chandi Heffner choked back tears as she talked about Doris Duke, the worldly and restless tobacco heiress who legally adopted her in 1988, when Heffner was 35 and Duke was 75, and cast her out less than three years later. "He was devastated. Franco Rossellini assured everyone that he was all for it. She had received another $10 million of her inheritance in 1937, and would receive at least as much in 1942. After the war, she moved to Paris and wrote for the magazine Harper's Bazaar . ", Heffner denies that she had had any previous association with Imelda Marcos. Heffner almost broke down again. One night at dinner, she told me, 'You know, my father always said no one would ever love me except for my money, and to be very careful.' We'll have a great life together. "Doris had gone surfing," explains Nancy Cooke de Herrera, an old friend from Hawaii. She was very into the ritualistic part of Hawaiian dance. Heffner, 40, a former belly dancer and member of the Hare Krishna, was left nothing by Duke and claimed the heiress was not of "sound mind and memory" when she rather feebly signed the new. Column: 15 minutes of fame flies by. Doris told Chandi that she was happy about her having a man in her life. Born on 1940 to James Henry Roberts Cromwell and Doris Duke. One repeated her response to a straight man who was reluctant to have dinner with Rock Hudson for fear that he would be molested. She was ahead of her time. "He seemed depressed, and Doris thought it would give him more self-esteem. How do we get rid of her? 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. . He also said that she had lent $600,000 for his company, Health Maintenance Programs, Inc., in 1989; the loan is to be converted into stock, according to the will. Under the terms approved by Surrogate Renee Roth on Thursday, Chandi Gail Heffner will receive $800,000 by Monday and $65 million on Wednesday. She was very happy doing that.". "O.K., I'm not going to see her, but. In 1995, Chandi Heffner Duke, the disinherited adopted daughter, reached a $65 million settlement with Mr. Lafferty and the estate. 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