Heir to Getty Billions Accused of Addiction, Adultery

By PopEater Staff Posted May 26th 2010 02:45PM

Billionaire heir Peter Getty and wife Jacqui (née de La Fontaine) are splitting in what The Daily Beast calls "one of the ugliest divorce cases Los Angeles has seen in years" -- which, considering the tumultuous and scandalous love lives of Hollywood, is saying a lot.

Peter, the grandson of billionaire oilman John Paul Getty and heir to an estimated $2 billion fortune, faces allegations of adultery, cocaine use and Internet porn addiction in the messy divorce. His estranged wife, Jacqui, is gunning for $300,000 per month for her expenses and $200,000 in pocket money. (To put things in perspective: The couple shared a brand-new $30 million San Francisco home -- complete with a bed that cost $1 million.)

"We had a lifestyle that I am certain is beyond what most people could imagine or will ever be able to enjoy," Jacqui said in court. "But as I was told, that was 'just the way it is' when your name is Getty."

Jacqui is a stylist and costume designer who worked with Wes Anderson on 'The Darjeeling Limited.' Her daughter, Gia, 23, was conceived during her marriage to Francis Ford Coppola's son Gio, who died before the child's birth. Peter met Jacqui during Gia's childhood and treated the girl like a daughter.

Jacqui wrote in court documents that Peter was physically abusive, choking her and breaking her arm during a drug-fueled rage in 2008. "He told me, 'I could kill you and get away with it.'"

Peter has admitted cocaine use in court. Jacqui struggled with a Vicodin addiction herself after back surgery, but sought help and kicked the habit. Failed attempts to get her husband to seek help culminated in Jacqui leaving. "When she left, she thought the family would step in and say, 'OK, go to rehab' and they'd get back together," a friend tells The Daily Beast. Another friend says Jacqui never expected to be divorced, but hoped for "a reality check" for Peter.

That ended up never happening -- court documents report Jacqui saying, "He wanted to live a 'rock 'n' roll party life' and I would have to decide whether I wanted to stay married to him. His words were, 'It's my way or the highway.'"

Jacqui's friends say she found a nude photo of a family friend on Peter's computer -- and that the woman in question lived nearby in a house Jacqui suspects her husband paid for.

Adultery runs in the family -- Peter's father, Gordon P. Getty, "kept a secret from his wife and the world for more than a decade -- a second life with a mistress and three children," a 1999 report reads.

The brutal split may have spilled into Peter's parental role with Gia. According to a New York Post source, "Peter not only missed Gia's graduation from Bard College in May 2009 after promising he would attend, but shortly thereafter stopped paying her health insurance and car insurance. Peter has also not responded to numerous calls and e-mails from Gia."

When the court case began earlier this month, "Peter fell asleep in court and dozed throughout the proceedings," witnesses told the Post.

In the heyday of her marriage, Jacqui told Harper's Bazaar that she and her brainy husband were "so opposite. I'm like, Hey, let's go have fun! And he's like, By the way, the science theory on this is..."

Peter's legal representation is Laura Wasser, an attorney who has counseled Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie. Jacqui is backed by Stephen Kolodny, whose services have been utilized by Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand. Neither lawyer commented for The Daily Beast's report.

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Tags: Jacqui Getty, Peter Getty

Comments

(88)

Wednesday 26 May

By SALVY

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Like his grandfather said forty years ago," A million isn't what it used to be"!!!

Friday 28 May

By bdyftns

Gee, they must of gotten tired of taking about Tiger and Elin Woods......for now.

By mamagordo

Actually, Eileen Getty DOES help the homeless and the hungry. She heads an organization called GettLove, and my organization has had dealings with this outfit. They are for real, they do wonderful work, and Eileen is very much hands-on involved.

By JOHNNIE

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Isn't Grampa J.Paul the guy who had a payphone installed in his house? I guess those dimes and quarters added up.
I don't know the law, but do pre-nups over-ride everything, or does California still give the wife gets 1/2 of the fortune?

By bill

Move on lady.

Thursday 27 May

By Teri

The Getty's and the Hilton's and the rest of the mega-rich should take a page from Warren Buffet and not give their millions to a bunch of spoiled brats with a sense of entitlement. He says that he wants to give his kids enough so that they feel they can do anything, but not so much that they feel they have to do nothing.

By mary schacht

Wisely said! No children should be taught to have their noses in the air, that it makes it impossible to see the poor far below them.

"Let me live in a house, by the side of the road, so I can a friend of man" is my father's favorite poem. and one of his favorite sayings was "I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet"

there should be a law a cetain amount...but that's socialism, and I'm for that!

By Babyboomer

Do I care?....no of course not. Let them feed on each other and be done with it then they'll go away

Ugly people, ugly divorce, whud you expect? Troll found a woman that'd marry him because he was so rich. Even she couldn't take it. Pay her and move on.

By Trish

Those Getty's have a way of getting into the new's quite often. One would think with SO much money a person would help the poor, that's probably why their having so much trouble..they are disgusting with money and don't think of other's. They could each help the poor and not even miss the money. There is so much need out there and they are just squandering good money to use for bad, very bad things, this is why they will never have any happyness. I know people who work VERY hard to just get buy and they find a way to buy food for the needy, me included, I try to buy extra groceries and donate it at least 3 times a year, how I wish I could do more!

By june seley kimmel

A million dollar bed??!! I don't usually object to over-the-top but that's pathetic. Help the Haitians, give to finding a cure for SOMETHING. With all that, they're still miserable! Sad.

By eddiemylove

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A fine example of worthless dreck. Throw them both out with the garbage.

By Mike

I aint saying she's a gold digger....but she aint messin with no broke broke....

By jill

Did you mean Broke bloak... perhaps???

By lissa

He's reciting Kanye West lyrics... the original line is "but she ain't messin' with no broke Ni**a" but the version played on air says "broke broke" with the second broke covering the controversial word... hope that helps

Tuesday 01 June

By jay

AGAIN, MORE IGNORANT RICH SPOILED HOLLYWOOD PEOPLE. WHO THE HELL CARES, ESPECIALLY WHEN I READ THAT THEY HAVE A MILLION DOLLAR BED. I FOR ONE HAVE A BED WITH A MATRESS THAT WAS HANDED DOWN PROBABLY FROM SOMEONE GREAT GRANDFATHER.
GET REAL LOSERS.

By Scott

so what, who cares?????

By fopaa

I detest these sort of people and their decadence. A million dollar bed????? There are Americans out there without beds who are sleeping floors and park benches. Have these greedy losers ever thought about how many people they could help with just a fraction of what they spend in a month? Tsk tsk tsk.

By JimDaddyBlueEyesDavis

Apparently Mr. Getty uses the oil for what eye do,not in the automobile,for sex.

By sam

jewish princess and june...why do you fools say feed the hungry children and send money to haiti? They are entitled to spend their money anyway they want INCLUDING a million dollar bed (love to see that!). I love the way everyone tells everyone else how to spend their money.

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