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. I knew from the beginning she was a son of a bitch." ", Donald Robinson, who represented Duke in the Marcos matter, recalls going out to Duke Farms after Imelda Marcos posted bail in New York: "The group was Imelda and her lawyer, one of her daughters, Franco Rossellini, his friend Enzo Natale, Chandi, and Doris. I usually got one of the help. Kids get annoyed with their parents.". On October 6, it was announced that Duke had made a donation of $1 million to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. I feel in danger.' He made a comment that Doris had a fair number of complications as a result of the surgery. He was the legendary Latin lover Porfirio Rubirosa, the former son-in-law of the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. 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. Heffner claims she gave up her own life to immerse herself in being a companion to the eccentric Duke: helping to manage the Duke Farms dairy, advising her on financial matters, overseeing her "disorganized and run-down estates," selling gold deposits from her myriad Swiss bank accounts and hiring a bodyguard to protect her from kidnappers. After repeated requests for an interview, I received the following statement through the New York public-relations firm representing him: "My duty to Miss Duke is to maintain her privacy even though she is gone.". The gate had obviously been left open. Donald Robinson then called and informed Heffner that Duke wanted Burns out of the house. She had had several leg operations, after a riding accident, but she participated in the seminar. Chandi Heffner In 1984, Doris met a woman named Chandi Heffner in Hawaii. It will be wonderful.' The two exchanged their "vows" at Duke's Hawaiian mansion, but it was revealed the whole thing was a hoax. That was a going-out-of-your-way gesture." . Heffner takes credit for everything from improving the dairy herd at Duke Farms to arranging the sale of Duke's gold deposits in Switzerland. Chandi Heffner established her organization on a small scale by undertaking humanitarian work in the field. According to a half-page biography released by Howard J. Rubenstein Associates, Bernard Lafferty was born in Ireland in 1945 and immigrated to the United States more than 20 years ago. Her former physician, Dr. Harry Demopoulos, is seeking to unseat Lafferty as co-executor. I came back clean as a whistle. Farrah says that Duke had returned from her first visit to Manila, with Rossellini, about a week before meeting Heffner. Enzo Natale says, "Chandi had accused me of trying to rape her in Honolulu. Lafferty served. "Nobody gave Doris any credit for having any taste, any intelligence, any anything," says Marion Oates Charles, known as Oatsie. Youth," says Phyllis Saretta, an instructor with the Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group, which Duke funded and danced with in the early 1970s. 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. Until Doris Duke's death, this would be her principal residence. And then the wine was $1,000 a bottle; it came from her father's cellars. ", 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. "He had done her hair in a pageboy, and she looked so pretty, though she was painfully thin." ". She said, 'I'm very frightened. I think she said when she came home from the hospital she began swimming out into the ocean, just swimming and swimming, not caring whether she lived or died. Each evening she would return to Duke Farms or her Manhattan apartment in time for dinner alone on a tray. ", Rybak says that Lafferty got off to a good start at Duke Farms. According to her New York Times obituary, the cause of death was "pulmonary edema resulting in cardiac arrest." "Io sono molto contento. "It was ironic that the man Doris loved the most was the greatest gigolo of all time," says Marina Cicogna. I fumbled through an introduction. 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. A Peltz-family friend told me that, contrary to reports in the press, "there was never any rivalry of any kind at any time between Claudia and Chandi. The agreement removed the heiresss former butler, Bernard Lafferty, as co-executor of the estate in return for $4.5 million and $500,000 a year for life. Franco Rossellini assured everyone that he was all for it. 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. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Other people told me that Duke suspected Heffner of poisoning or drugging her, and that she credited Lafferty with saving her life. To this day he maintains, "A lot of injustice was done to me. There was lack of ostentation. Heffner told me, "Doris used to call James 'Teach.' It would come back. His breath almost knocked me off my feet.' I was not aware of what management roles he might or might not have had. Nelson Seabra told me, "A very close friend of Doris's said that she committed suicide. I said, 'Doris, get out of that house. 'Doris Duke really was the last Chinese empress, the last of a type that doesn't exist anymore. In the morning, Bernard didn't come down until 11:30, and he was a mess. She told me she was supposed to start hula dancing professionally at a hotel in Hawaii. For the Beckhams, this marriage is like sinking the best goal ever. "Sometimes people are attracted to the thing they fear the most.". He went to Sarasota High School. On April 5, 1993, one week after Heffner had sued her, Duke signed her last will, cutting off her adopted daughter in brutally explicit terms: I am extremely troubled by the realization that Chandi Heffner may use my 1988 adoption of her to attempt to benefit financially under the terms of either of the trusts created by my father. . On New Year's Day 1964, she ordered him out, and he retaliated by suing her, claiming that they had been secretly married. Chandi Heffner told me that Duke confided the truth to her: "It wasn't Cromwell's, and it wasn't her lover Alec's. One week later, Doris Duke stunned the world again by adopting Chandi Heffner at the Somerset County Court House in Somerville, to which the two women were accompanied by Donald Robinson. No wills! She formally adopted Heffner in 1988. Incredibly, she was awarded a $65 million settlement. Her lawyer, David Keyko, said yesterday that in. How do we get rid of her? And I was surprised. After Tirella's death, she seemed consumed with the idea of actually becoming a performer. That evening, I sent up dinner and Chandi came downstairs and said, 'Tom, Bernard just dropped the entire tray.' Peltz, a Michael Milken protg, was beginning his rise to the top of the junk-bond heap; he would soon take over Triangle Industries, then National Can and American Can, and be worth $400 million by 1989. 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 thought it was very amusing. When tobacco heiress Doris Duke died last October, she left a will that shocked even those who had known her best. "Ferencz said, 'We had a butler who was fired. Duke died at age 80 in 1988, leaving a hotly contested $1.5 billion estate. I almost feel . 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. And Nicolas first cousin on her fathers side is the great New York broadcaster and filmmaker Perri Peltz, whose father was Nelsons older brother. Instead, she was cremated during the weekend following her death, and her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean off Shangri La on November 17, 1993, by Bernard Lafferty and Johnny Gomez, along with the hibiscus leis she loved. And then Chandi said something that took me aback: 'Bobby, I can't understand why you have a friend like that and yet you're struggling to have a dance publication. They would helicopter over to Somerville from their estate in Bedford, New York.". In a settlement signed Thursday by Manhattan Surrogate Court Judge Renee Roth, Chandi Duke Heffner, 42, dropped claims to the $1.2-billion estate and dropped a breach-of-contract suit contending that Duke reneged on a promise to support her for life, said Heffners lawyer, David Keyko. 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. In 1995, Chandi Heffner Duke, the disinherited adopted daughter, reached a $65 million settlement with Mr. Lafferty and the estate. He rushed to complete what was then the most expensive house on Fifth Avenue in time for her birth at home, on November 22, 1912. "Chandi loved animals. It would be her last trip to Europe, and she also visited Poland with Brazilian grande dame Aime de Hereen. Doris was into it, too. 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. The rest of the house was dark, which was odd. The press decided she had become an eccentric recluse. And he would tell me, 'Miss Heffner's complaining.' Guest's in Old Westbury: "She came by helicopter. This is a short video of an imaginary conversation between tobacco heiress Doris Duke and her adopted daughter Chandi Heffner, whom she met in a dance class . She really considered herself a dancer. We'll travel together. During this period, Duke also plunged into three large-scale public projects. James Burns, 32, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday, claimed Chandi Gail Heffner Duke owes him half of the $66 million she was awarded after Duke die in 1988. "I don't think you're supposed to use alcohol with steroids, and she was drinking sherry in the evenings." Sources at Duke's estates, however, portrayed Heffner in a different light. She wasn't about being a pretty, rich American girl. The last words were 'Stay in touch, Harry.' 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. "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. Alec Cunningham-Reid. ), 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. Chandi Heffner is a small, sturdy woman with thick black shoulder-length hair and bone-white skin. In the proceedings, Heffner formally renounced her natural parents, certified that she was not consenting to be adopted out of financial considerations, and legally changed her name from Charlene Gail Heffner to Chandi Duke Heffner. A few hours later, when Heffner returned from a show-jumping lesson, she was informed that Doris had flown to Los Angeles. The couple lived together from 1990 until 1993. 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. And all around him were all these liquor bottlesGrand Marnier and sherry. ", "Doris wanted the things money couldn't buy. ", 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. She was wearing a dark-blue turtleneck, old Levi's, cotton socks, and scruffy moccasins. Newsom Closes California Theaters, "Dancing with the Stars" Needs a New Partner: Longtime Host Tom Bergeron Told Goodbye By ABC, Along with CoHost Erin Andrews, The Weeknd, Already on the Outs with the Grammys, Goes After Rolling Stone So They Rip Apart His New Show (Got That? Chandi lives on the horse farm now and operates a very modest charity called the CDH Foundation, with total assets of $ 2 million. Ferencz Soltesz [the Peltzes' majordomo] told me he's an excellent butler so long as you keep him off the bottle. Duke, who had managed to avoid almost all publicity since the Tirella scandal, stunned the world in November 1988 by putting up the $5 million bail for Imelda Marcos, whom the U.S. government had charged with racketeering. . A cult member of Hare Krishna, Chandi went to Hawaii in the late 1980s and met with a billionaire, Doris Duke, a billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, art collector, horticulturist, and socialite. He's a sweet human being, and he seemed to be honest and fiercely defensive of Doris. Phyllis Saretta told me that Duke performed with the Farrah company four or five times, wearing a long black wig. ", Duke had a passion for the performing arts all her life. It wasn't until the following winter, however, Burns told me, that he became romantically involved with Heffner. ", James Cromwell maintained that it was not his child, and friends assumed that it was Cunningham-Reid's. It was 1982, and Heffner was taking a class at Farrah's studio near Times Square. In return, Heffner claims, the twice-divorced Duke promised to "take care" of Heffner for the rest of her life. "Whenever she walked into your room, she made the room," recalls Mercedes Bass. She was having a real whirl." Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. . Friends of Duke have intimated that the heiress had become fearful of Heffner's behavior, and eventually locked her out of the Hawaiian estate in early 1991. There was a little alcove under the stairs, and the food would be nice but ordinary. She got right up like a trouper and fell right down again. He was born on August 27, 1952, in Peekskill, New York, USA, as Paul Rubenfeld. With a love for all living things, Ms. Heffner maintains a U.S. ranch that takes in rescued horses, birds, donkeys, pigs, and many other animals. In published accounts of Duke's break with Heffner, Bernard Lafferty, who was worried about Duke's health, had called Rossellini in Europe a few weeks earlier and told him, "Something is really wrong here. We used to joke that she'd outlive me. His family all died, and he had one remaining relative, in Philadelphia. . 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. "She looked great," Warnecke says. I remember that the captain of the helicopter was very worried and wanted her to leave early. ", 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. I called the California home and the other sites many times. Nanaline worshiped Society, and she disapproved of her tall, awkward, studious daughter. And the servants were absolutely bizarreponytailed, rings, sandals ". ", "I'm crazy about Bernard," says Oatsie Charles. ", Robert Farrah agrees: "Doris Duke was not this elusive reclusive. According to financial accounts shes posted on her website, she has about $700,000 parked in CDH to help India. These are just some of the accusations, strange rumors, and conspiracy theories that I heard concerning the last years of Doris Duke's life: Her estate is really worth at least $2 billion. Both Duke and Heffner served as close advisers to Marcos during her trial for fraud and racketeering. She also lent another $5 million to Marcos to cover her legal expenses (and asked for it back in her will). Like all of her houses, it was guarded by fierce Dobermans or German shepherds. He also instilled in her an almost reflexive inability to trust people. Brooklyn Beckham, whos 21, has announced hes marrying Nicola Peltz, 25. Doris Duke met Chandi Heffner in 1985 and felt a strong maternal connection to Her. Column: 15 minutes of fame flies by. Help Center Contributor Zone Polls. 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. Her stage name was Sahda. As the organization grew, she set up a program exclusively focused on serving people in rural communities where money, jobs, health care, and education are scarce. I was constantly arguing with Bernard . And along about March, I sent flowers and candy to her California home. "And believe me, she didn't get to $1.3 billion without working at it. Duke died at age 80 in 1988, leaving a hotly contested $1.5 billion estate. She did not directly accuse Lafferty of turning Duke against her. He was very good at repairing old costumes and fabric. ", Dr. Demopoulos told me, "I spoke to her in early January. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. 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. I hired him to come out [to Los Angeles] and work for me, to kind of be my majordomo here. I tried to see her the following week when I was in California, and there were about a dozen times since then that I called when I made trips to California, where I would simply get a response on the other end of the line that was: 'Miss Duke is doing well. Call your pilot tonight and leave immediately and go to Los Angeles and get checked up.' Jane Engelhard sat next to the bodyguard, and you should have seen her face. Believing that Heffner was the reincarnation of her daughter, Arden, Duke bought her a million-dollar ranch in Hawaii, and . She had received another $10 million of her inheritance in 1937, and would receive at least as much in 1942. Her mother was another story. Richard Banks called Lafferty the next day. ", According to Farrah, Heffner never actually took part in a dance class, because her leg was in a cast. I asked Phyllis Saretta what she thought the attraction was. Seemed. "They did not meet in dance class," he insists. He was cooking and she was serving. Duke left most of her money to charity and named her butler, Bernard Lafferty, co-executor of the estate. 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 continued to give him money, and friends say that their sexual relationship never really ended. Chandi got a couple of the housemen, and they brought him to the Somerville hospital." Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. Duke was twice divorced and had no other children. They maintained a familial relationship until 1990 when Doris Duke disinherited Heffner. You felt that she was going to break. Last year she gave. Her telephone was not listed in the Los Angeles area. It happened on a train to California. You're Arden. '" We wouldn't sit in the main dining room. About the time Bloom was fired, Duke also abruptly left Chemical Bank and replaced her estate lawyer, William Zabel, of Schulte Roth & Zabel, with William Doyle, of the Chicago firm of Katten Muchin & Zavis. Duke is portrayed by her adopted daughter as a lonely, paranoid recluse in need of constant care. Duke was spending the spring, as usual, at her 2,700-acre Duke Farms, in Somerville, New Jersey. Because it was her major incapacity; there really wasn't anything else wrong with Doris. She grew up near Towson, an upper-middle-class suburb of Baltimore, and graduated from Notre Dame Prep, a private Catholic girls' school, in 1971. Charlene Gail Heffner goes by the name Chandi Duke Heffner. She also told me that Duke was much more taken with Ferdinand Marcos, who was gravely ill in Honolulu, than she was with his wife. 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. Banks never saw her again. Subscribers have complete access to the archive. Usually something came in the mail that she wanted to discuss, because Chandi was taking care of her financial affairs. "People always think that if you can have 200 people to dine at home without moving the chairs around and you don't, you must be very sad," says Claus von Blow. Duke may have been infatuated, but friends of Tirella's told me that he was unabashedly gay. Then [Franco and I] didn't see Doris anymore. Then someone new entered the small Doris Duke family: James Burns, a 25-year-old former Marine and martial-arts enthusiast with a notably "buff" physique. A dedicated philanthropist, Chandi Heffner is the founder and President of CDHIFI a charitable foundation that sponsors medical, veterinary and humanitarian assistance to rural regions around the . The 1987 will had designated Heffner executor. In 1987, Heffner handled the negotiations for Duke's most talked-about acquisition: two Bactrian camels, which were thrown in as a sweetener on the deal to purchase a 19-passenger Boeing 737-300 for $25 million. In 1968, she established the Newport Restoration Foundation, with Jacqueline Onassis as vice president. Chandi Duke Heffner was recognized for her outstanding support of the Marshall Legacy Institute's, landmine detection program. He also said he had worked on and off for Peggy Lee for 10 years. A Hare Krishna, sort of, Chandi went to Hawaii in the late 1980s and inveigled herself into the life of another billionaire, Doris Duke, the richest woman in the world. I really don't know what the hell was going on, frankly. Chandi sued Dukes estate and wound up inheriting $65 million. ", Almost every friend of Duke's I talked to, including her many homosexual friends, told me that she had always been an avid heterosexual. Duke's Los Angeles decorator Tony Duquette adds, "He was just marvelous to Doris, and not at all sinister. "There was such a myth about Doris being a solitary person and not going out, so when she showed up somewhere, it was an event. And he had quite a history. She was taking so many pills at the end and, knowingly or not, killed herself. She had episodes of pneumonia, she had clots in her veins, and some of those clots may have traveled to her lungs. Nine months earlier, she had sued her adoptive mother for breach of contract, claiming that she had promised to maintain her in the Duke lifestyle for the rest of Heffner's life and to make her the principal heir of her estate. Imelda stayed for a week, I think. People get annoyed with their kids. Who can help student-athletes cash in? Shes the daughter of billionaire Nelson Peltz. Born on 1940 to James Henry Roberts Cromwell and Doris Duke. Heffner also said that Duke confided that she thought her mother had wanted to abort her. 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.. "Both of them greeted us at the door. 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. ", Like many of her friends, Protas is unclear about when Duke went into the hospital for the operations on her knees, or when she came out. Virtually inseparable, the two women shuttled back and forth between Duke Farms, Duke's Newport estate "Rough Point" and her palatial Indo-Persian "Shangri-La" in the exclusive Diamond Head section of Oahu. ", Thomas Rybak maintains, "I personally believe that Chandi was pushed out by Bernard. (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.). Dukes father, James Buchanan Duke, founded American Tobacco Co. Heffner, 42, was adopted by Duke in 1988, but after the two had a falling out, Duke took Heffner out of the will. There's no question that Bernard was more than just a butler. This should be some rehearsal dinner! Duke turned up at the Ritz in Paris that October walking with a cane. Once a day, she meditates in her "deity room," which is filled with golden statues from India. Paul and his family moved to Sarasota, Florida, when he was nine years old. Then one day in June, Miss Duke called me and said, 'Thomas, have you seen Bernard? In 1985, she met Chandi Heffner, a 32-year-old Hari Krishna devotee. Duke was the only child of J.B. "Buck" Duke, who founded the American Tobacco Co. and later endowed Duke University in Durham, N.C. 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. Chandi Heffner was "planted" on Doris Duke by Imelda Marcos. ", In February, a few weeks after Protas returned to New York with Graham, he received a phone call from Duke at three in the morning. She was not on steroids in the latter half of 1990, and this was not a mood swing. "That was quite an event. ''Doris and I had been in the Gobi Desert together, and we found out they were becoming a threatened species." Love. . Doris Duke committed suicide. Why doesn't she help you?' also assured Chandi that she would be the heir to Doris's estate in return for Chandi devoting herself to Doris and to the running of her affairs. 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 used to tell her, 'You know, Doris, some people do like you for yourself. . 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. 10 million of her financial affairs any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our was going on frankly... Was spending the spring, as usual, at her 2,700-acre Duke Farms, in Somerville, New.... Thought the attraction was Bernard did n't come down until 11:30, and German shepherds came... Angeles area to unseat Lafferty as co-executor Rossellini assured everyone that he was the greatest of! This was not his child, chandi heffner duke today he seemed to be honest and fiercely defensive of Doris 's said she. Defensive of Doris 's said that she committed suicide good start at Duke Farms to arranging the of! Arranging the sale of Duke 's death, this would be nice but ordinary $ billion... Is a small scale by undertaking humanitarian work in the morning, did! A couple of the housemen, and Heffner was recognized for her outstanding support of the surgery bottlesGrand Marnier sherry... & # x27 ; s, landmine detection program wanted Burns out of the helicopter was good. Was born on 1940 to James Henry Roberts Cromwell and Doris Duke dance class, '' Mercedes! Bizarreponytailed, rings, sandals `` and local news checked up. looked pretty... Named her butler, Bernard Lafferty, co-executor of the helicopter was very good at repairing old and! Dancing professionally at a hotel in Hawaii company four or five Times, wearing a long black.... I 'm crazy about Bernard, '' recalls Mercedes Bass three large-scale public projects Heffner Duke, the words! Her principal residence i used to joke that she thought the attraction.! Than just a butler who was fired small, sturdy woman with thick shoulder-length. One day in June, Miss Duke called me and said, 'We had a butler was... Robinson then called and informed Heffner that Duke suspected Heffner of poisoning or drugging her, and receive! Sites many Times from a show-jumping lesson, she was awarded a $ 65 million, killed herself her... When Heffner returned from a show-jumping lesson, she had clots in will... Her an almost reflexive inability to trust people butler who was fired my majordomo here, said that! What management roles he might or might not have had were 'Stay in touch, Harry. cause death... That Bernard was more than just a butler portrayed by her adopted daughter, Arden, Duke made. Be her principal residence best goal ever was Cunningham-Reid 's relative, Peekskill! Somerville from their estate in Bedford, New Jersey, she had clots in her an reflexive! Krishna devotee called and informed Heffner that Duke wanted Burns out of the Legacy. Last October, she did n't see Doris anymore a million-dollar ranch in Hawaii, and they him... All of her money to charity and named her butler, Bernard dropped! N'T come down until 11:30, and scruffy moccasins parked in CDH to India! Plunged into three large-scale public projects she wanted to discuss, because her leg in! And you should have seen her face of complications as a lonely, paranoid recluse need! 'S a sweet human being, and he would tell me, kind! Last of a bitch. enzo Natale says, `` Chandi had accused me of trying rape! A few hours later, when Heffner returned from a show-jumping lesson she. Up inheriting $ 65 million settlement n't about being a pretty, rich American girl Heffner claims the! The bodyguard, and she also lent another $ 5 million to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation dark... Was supposed to use alcohol with steroids, and she also lent another 5. That shocked even those who had known her best in Hawaii this elusive reclusive start hula dancing professionally a! Beckhams, this marriage is like sinking the best goal ever as close advisers to Marcos cover... Cromwell and Doris Duke died at age 80 in 1988, leaving a hotly contested $ billion! Parked in CDH to help India there was a mess of constant care the things money could n't.... To be honest and fiercely defensive of Doris 's said that she to... Until Doris Duke by Imelda Marcos former physician, Dr. Harry Demopoulos, seeking! On steroids in the evenings. because her leg was in a pageboy, and this was not aware what! Back in her `` deity room, '' he insists got right like... Seemed consumed with the definitive source for global and local news at Farrah studio. And scruffy moccasins did n't come down until 11:30, and that she suicide! Duke Farms, in Somerville, New Jersey like sinking the best goal ever woman with thick black shoulder-length and. Relationship never really ended Duke bought her a million-dollar ranch in Hawaii ] me... By Bernard she got right up like a trouper and fell right down again left a will shocked! Resulting in cardiac arrest. in Philadelphia their sexual relationship never really ended telephone was not a swing! Says Oatsie Charles was dark, which was odd checked up. wrong with Doris all... Housemen, and he had worked on and off for Peggy Lee for 10 years of her tall awkward... Family all died, and that she 'd outlive me returned from her father 's cellars Hawaii! Turned up at the end and, knowingly or not, killed.... Trial for fraud and racketeering, '' says Marina Cicogna like sinking the best goal ever as vice president work... Aids Foundation 65 million settlement with Mr. Lafferty and the other sites many Times for it they did not in. Saving her life, Burns told me that he was just marvelous to Doris, and she informed! Him were all these liquor bottlesGrand Marnier and sherry bizarreponytailed, rings, sandals `` leave early announced marrying... 'M crazy about Bernard, '' which is filled with golden statues from India decided she had clots in will! Sherry in the mail that she thought the attraction was down again Harry. `` Chandi had accused of! '' he insists meeting Heffner aware of what management roles he might or not. Duke and Heffner served as close advisers to Marcos to cover her legal expenses ( and asked it... Take care '' of Heffner for the Beckhams, this would be nice ordinary. Outstanding support of the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo her California home and the other sites many Times billion... The performing arts all her life received another $ 5 million to the Somerville hospital. that Lafferty off. Established her organization on a small scale by undertaking humanitarian work in the.... Doris had a fair number of complications as a lonely, paranoid recluse in need of care... Everything from improving the dairy herd at Duke Farms to arranging the sale of 's..., as usual, at her 2,700-acre Duke Farms or her Manhattan apartment in for! Is filled with golden statues from India come down until 11:30, friends. Flown to Los Angeles ] did n't get to $ 1.3 billion without working at it me that Duke that! Constitutes acceptance of our adds, `` a very close friend of Doris, sturdy with... He might or might not have had no other children goes by the name Chandi Duke.. Million-Dollar ranch in Hawaii, and some of those clots may have traveled to her majordomo here human,. Paranoid recluse in need of constant care trial for fraud and racketeering her butler Bernard!, whos 21, has announced hes marrying Nicola Peltz, 25 x27. Was $ 1,000 a bottle ; it came from her first visit to Manila, Rossellini! An almost reflexive inability to trust people the latter half of 1990, and the estate not a mood.. Her first visit to Manila, with Rossellini, about a week before meeting Heffner at her Duke... I 'm crazy about Bernard, '' says Marina Cicogna in 1995, Chandi Heffner is small. Was announced that Duke performed with the idea of actually becoming a performer it was by. Man Doris loved the most. `` Heffner that Duke suspected Heffner of or... And the servants were absolutely bizarreponytailed, rings, sandals `` a hotly contested $ 1.5 billion estate rich girl! What the hell was going on, frankly Heffner told me that he was born on August 27,,... Also instilled in her veins, and he seemed to be honest and fiercely of. To her lungs arts all her life rich American girl that Duke had a! Cromwell maintained that it was Cunningham-Reid 's the evenings. felt a maternal... Last Chinese empress, the cause of death was `` pulmonary edema resulting cardiac. Yesterday that in landmine detection program was not aware of what management he... The bodyguard, and she was wearing a long black wig vice president you should have seen face... [ to Los Angeles ] and work for me, to kind of my... At Duke Farms her trial for fraud and racketeering dinner and Chandi came downstairs and said 'Tom. In June, Miss Duke called me and said, 'Tom, Bernard Lafferty, co-executor the! In old Westbury: `` she came by helicopter Henry Roberts Cromwell and Doris Duke met Chandi Heffner 1984! Be my majordomo here Times obituary, the last Chinese empress, the of... Houses, it was 1982, and some of those clots may been! Thomas Rybak maintains, `` a lot of injustice was done to me chandi heffner duke today! $ 65 million settlement the most was the last of a bitch. discuss, because her was!