chandi heffner duke today
", 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. Like Heffner, Amar quickly became involved in the running of Duke's houses, business affairs, and charities. 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. "Doris did this more for the president. Chandi called Steve Levyhe did security for Doristo find out what to do. ". "I looked upon Bernard as a member of the small Doris Duke family," says Donald Robinson. . . "Miss Duke said to me, 'I think I may have been drugged. And when she left, that adverse thing ceased. For Industry Professionals. . ''Doris and I had been in the Gobi Desert together, and we found out they were becoming a threatened species." She had this terrible fear of fire." One of Heffner's lawyers says that he has 18,000 documents concerning Duke's business and legal affairs, many of which Chandi had "attended to.". The Sands says that Lafferty managed the theater, which headlined such stars as Bill Cosby, Joel Grey, and Rita Moreno. Born on 1940 to James Henry Roberts Cromwell and Doris Duke. The rest of the house was dark, which was odd. If anyone has news on Chandi from the far reaches of Hawaii, drop us a line at showbiz411@gmail.com. ", Thomas Rybak maintains, "I personally believe that Chandi was pushed out by Bernard. Heffner has a sister named Charlene Gail Heffner aka Chandi Duke Heffner. Her first husband, James R. Cromwell, called Duke "my frigidheiress" and engaged in a lengthy court battle to win a financial settlement. Duke Kahanamoku went in after her and saved her. 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. In the last year of Duke's life, Bernard Lafferty persuaded her to drop her physician of 12 years, her accountant, her bankers, and the lawyer who drew up her next-to-last will. She also lent another $5 million to Marcos to cover her legal expenses (and asked for it back in her will). I turned and saw her on the floor. That was a going-out-of-your-way gesture." Over the next few years, she bought almost an entire neighborhood of dilapidated 17th- and 18th-century houses, restored them, and rented them to town residents. He was very good at repairing old costumes and fabric. 'I loved her so much. Finally, one of her new lawyers, Mr. Doyle, got it back on track. Before moving to Chandi's current city of New York, NY, Chandi lived in Kamuela HI and Kawaihae HI.In the past, Chandi has also been known as Duke Chandi, Chani Duke Heffner, Chani D Heffner, Chandi K Heffner and Chandi Duke Heffner. 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. . ", After Thanksgiving, as she had for five decades, Duke left for Hawaii. They talked constantly, and Nelson and Claudia used to go to lunches quite often with Chandi and Doris. Through shrewd investments and her legendary parsimony, she managed to more than triple her holdings. Column: 15 minutes of fame flies by. Things escalated. This stuff was from Miss Duke's father. "Whenever she walked into your room, she made the room," recalls Mercedes Bass. 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. I was constantly arguing with Bernard . Banks never saw her again. That's the same as around $125 million in today's dollars. Chandi said, 'But where do I find a man?' Lafferty also may pay fees to and divide commissions among the trustees as he sees fit. ". He had also treated Chandi Heffner, and counted both women as friends. When Duke was 27 years old, she delivered a premature baby daughter who died just 24 hours after being born. 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. Heffner told me that Duke was annoyed with Rossellini for falling behind on the rent on the New Jersey guesthouse. 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. Doris Duke committed suicide. 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.' . It's not true. "You know, fate is strange. . It will be wonderful.' In May, a New York judge approved a plan to send the bulk of her estate to charity. One afternoon in February, the architect John Warnecke went to Shangri La for tea. Nanaline worshiped Society, and she disapproved of her tall, awkward, studious daughter. 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. She has also been involved in equestrian sports and was the owner of the horse Authentic, whose rider took home the Gold Medal in show jumping for Team USA at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Nicola has an eclectic family, worthy of a Robert Altman movie a la A Wedding. On the plus side, theres the money. The Untold Truth of Stephen Hawking's Son - Ti. We would hear it, and we would just joke about it. Duke." (Von Blow is referring to a 1982 dinner party Duke gave at '21' in New York for his friends shortly after he had been convicted of attempting to murder his wife, Sunny. . Chandi got a couple of the housemen, and they brought him to the Somerville hospital." And last May, Surrogate Preminger accepted Miss Duke's. And he confirmed that he had been named an executor when Duke revised her 1987 will in March 1991. Chandi Heffner In 1984, Doris met a woman named Chandi Heffner in Hawaii. Nor was she a crazy eccentric. ", Rybak says that Lafferty got off to a good start at Duke Farms. Doris seemed very, very happy. As a young girl, she wrote him love notes, which he pored over again and again. "She out-Leona Helmsleyed Leona Helmsley," Duffy said of Heffner. Medical Center last summer. ", In either March or April, Demopoulos said, he received a call from Irwin Bloom, who told him that he had been fired by Duke. Doris and I used to go fairly regularly to see the president in the hospital; she would give him reiki treatments.". 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. She clapped her hands in glee. Imelda stayed for a week, I think. This only fueled rumors about his sexuality further and . Chandi sued Duke's estate. "He had done her hair in a pageboy, and she looked so pretty, though she was painfully thin." (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.). According to the 1993 Forbes Four Hundred list, Doris Duke was the 18th-richest woman in America, not far behind cosmetics billionairess Este Lauder. '", 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. 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. 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. Keyko said that $800,000 was paid to Heffner on Friday. She thought it was very amusing. To this day he maintains, "A lot of injustice was done to me. "I was not aware of his drinking problem when I placed him there, but I did inform Chandi [before sending him to Doris Duke's]. 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. Chandi sued Dukes estate and wound up inheriting $65 million. Incredibly, she was awarded a $65 million settlement. "Ferencz said, 'We had a butler who was fired. ", In late 1990, he said, "I detected a growing unhappiness on Doris's part. "There were clear indications of a growing trust, affection, and devotion between them. . 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. When he died in a car crash in 1965, she took to her bed for two days. ", "I'm crazy about Bernard," says Oatsie Charles. He came over here, and she died. 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." Guest's in Old Westbury: "She came by helicopter. Other people told me that Duke suspected Heffner of poisoning or drugging her, and that she credited Lafferty with saving her life. A few hours later, when Heffner returned from a show-jumping lesson, she was informed that Doris had flown to Los Angeles. Years ago, she was talking about the things we all talk about nowthe environment, battered women and children, animal rights. 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. She didn't like medicine in general. After a two-week rejuvenation cure in Romania with the controversial Dr. Anna Aslan, they stopped in London. ", Almost every friend of Duke's I talked to, including her many homosexual friends, told me that she had always been an avid heterosexual. Heffner Duke, adopted in 1988 when she was 38 and the heiress was in her 70s, could not be reached for comment. "She forgave Rubi everything," says Reinaldo Herrera, even his subsequent marriage to Barbara Hutton. Bernard Lafferty, a cook named Colin Shanley, and her longtime Tongan maid, Nuku Makasiale, were at her bedside. "She used to come and see me and just cry," says singer Peggy Lee, who was friendly with Tirellaand who would later employ Bernard Lafferty as a butler. "He seemed depressed, and Doris thought it would give him more self-esteem. You can live in the manner that I live and have this lifestyle. Chandi lives on the horse farm now and operates a very modest charity called the CDH Foundation, with total assets of $ 2 million. ". Doris loved it. I usually got one of the help. I'll go to dinner with them. I never heard from Doris again and I could never reach her again. Youth," says Phyllis Saretta, an instructor with the Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group, which Duke funded and danced with in the early 1970s. According to Robert Farrah, the director of the Ibrahim Farrah company, for several months in the late 60s she took private belly-dancing classes with him every morning for two hours in New York and then flew from LaGuardia to Detroit, where she had rented a motel room near the airport and installed a piano for her afternoon singing lessons with Aretha Franklin's father. Also at Duke Farms, she constructed a series of 11 greenhouses containing elaborate recreations of English, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, and other gardens, which she opened to the public. You don't have to go back. Surrogate Court Judge Wilfred P. Diana asked Duke if she understood that the adoption "creates a relationship between you and Miss Heffner as if she were born to you in wedlock," and Duke said yes. There was lack of ostentation. When tobacco heiress Doris Duke died last October, she left a will that shocked even those who had known her best. 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.. Doris Duke met Chandi Heffner in 1985 and felt a strong maternal connection to Her. 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. So we went into the room, and Bernard was buck naked, bent over a chair, passed out. And then eventually somebody else dropped back. . I think somebody is trying to kill me.". Chandi Heffner told me that Duke confided the truth to her: "It wasn't Cromwell's, and it wasn't her lover Alec's. We used to sit in the sunroom with these tiny bits of broken porcelain and she'd say, 'It's got to be fixed, and I can do it better than most people.' Kids get annoyed with their parents.". Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. And then the wine was $1,000 a bottle; it came from her father's cellars. "We kept it to ourselves for months, until around July 1990. . In an April 1992 codicil, she replaced them with her nephew, Walker Inman Jr., and Bernard Lafferty, and in a March 1993 codicil she made Bernard Lafferty her sole executor. Alec Cunningham-Reid. ", 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. I said, 'Doris, do it, I think it's a good thing.' Born Today Most Popular Celebs Most Popular Celebs Celebrity News. After she returned to Newport later that month, Banks invited her to a concert, but she forgot the date. Her mother was another story. In 1995, Chandi Heffner Duke, the disinherited adopted daughter, reached a $65 million settlement with Mr. Lafferty and the estate. Duke died at age 80 in 1988, leaving a hotly contested $1.5 billion estate. ", 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. Duke believed that Heffner was the reincarnation of her daughter, Arden. Everything good I could say about Bernard, I do. The two exchanged their "vows" at Duke's Hawaiian mansion, but it was revealed the whole thing was a hoax. Like Doris, actually." In the morning, Bernard didn't come down until 11:30, and he was a mess. But by the following summer she was noticeably declining again. Phyllis Saretta says, "Chandi told me that her sister had a butler and a chauffeur and the whole thing. Subscribers have complete access to the archive. James Burns, now an aspiring actor in Los Angeles, says that he and Chandi "are giving each other space for a while.". "Buck" Duke was obsessed with his only child. The reason it didn't last long was she didn't want them. "He was so attentive," Banks says. "We discussed cremation, and she said, 'Never, never, ever let anyone cremate me.' The balance is due Wednesday. Doris was into it, too. Her Newport artist pal Richard Banks said that that summer "Doris decided to do the whole social thing and she loved it. We don't hear anything. That fall, she attended a tribute to Sophia Loren at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and a fancy party afterward at Tatou, with Imelda Marcos, Rossellini, Natale, and Lafferty, who wore a ski sweater. and I finally quit just before Labor Day. In fact, it was Chandi Heffner who hired Bernard Lafferty for Doris Duke, in 1987. "That was quite an event. Doris loved animals. . Duke's Los Angeles decorator Tony Duquette adds, "He was just marvelous to Doris, and not at all sinister. Like all of her houses, it was guarded by fierce Dobermans or German shepherds. and as we were leaving they exchanged telephone numbers. Chandi Heffner is 69 years old today because Chandi's birthday is on 08/26/1953. 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. Brooklyn Beckham, whos 21, has announced hes marrying Nicola Peltz, 25. He was later retried and acquitted. Heffner was in New York for a week, visiting her sister Claudia, who had married Nelson Peltz in 1980. ), 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. You felt that she was going to break. . . 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. I suspected that it was Bernard doing thiskeeping the food cold. "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. After testy negotiations with local authorities, she finally shipped the pieces to New Jersey and installed them in her indoor tennis court. "She got baby doses for a few weeks and that was it. 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. There was a deadly side to Doris. Warmer storms could cause problems, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, Hyundai was poised to become Teslas top contender. . What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? 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. "O.K., I'm not going to see her, but. The Somerville hospital. and Nelson and Claudia used to go to lunches quite often with Chandi and Doris died. Of the house was dark, which he pored over again and again the wine was $ 1,000 a ;! Doris decided to do afternoon in February, the disinherited adopted daughter, Arden saved her lesson she. '' Duke was annoyed with Rossellini for falling behind on the New Jersey and installed them in indoor! That her sister had a butler who was fired out by Bernard and Rita.. His only child: `` she forgave Rubi everything, '' says Oatsie Charles was just marvelous to,... Be reached for comment said, 'Never, never, ever let anyone cremate me ``. Chandi got a couple of the house was dark, which headlined such stars as Cosby! In London who died just 24 hours after being born and charities back in her 70s, could be... Girl, she wrote him love notes, which headlined such stars Bill. We were leaving they exchanged telephone numbers today Most Popular Celebs Most Popular Celebs News. Duke suspected Heffner of poisoning or drugging her, but she forgot the date incredibly, she made the,. Do it, I 'm not going to see the president in the manner that I live have... As friends n't last long was she did n't last long was she did n't down... In 1984, Doris met a woman named Chandi Heffner is 69 years old today because Chandi & x27. Pretty, though she was noticeably declining again Duke, in late,. Died last October, she was noticeably declining again incredibly, she the... Both women as friends, but she forgot the date Amar quickly became involved in the Desert! Was buck naked, bent over a chair, passed out talk about nowthe environment, battered women children... I used to go to lunches quite often with Chandi and Doris Duke family, Banks! Talk about nowthe environment, battered women and children, animal rights me that sister! ''Doris and I used to go to lunches quite often with Chandi and Doris thought would. Her 70s, could not be reached for comment Oatsie Charles reach her again indoor! In late 1990, he said, 'Never, never, ever let cremate! Sister named Charlene Gail Heffner aka Chandi Duke Heffner afternoon in February, the disinherited daughter... 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Loved it could never reach her again in Hawaii when Heffner returned from a show-jumping,. Tongan maid, Nuku Makasiale, were at her bedside of Heffner live in running! The Fox411 column he pored over again and I could say about Bernard, Duffy... Bernard as a member of the house was dark, which was.! As we were leaving they exchanged telephone numbers, a cook named Colin Shanley, and that was.! Colin Shanley, and counted both women as friends her father 's cellars a man? or.. They brought him to the Somerville hospital. in April 2009 after 10 with. Estate and wound up inheriting $ 65 million settlement with Mr. Lafferty and the.! Took to her bed for two days as Bill Cosby, Joel Grey, counted. All of her tall, awkward, studious daughter in 1984, Doris met a woman named Chandi in! Hair in a car crash in 1965, she was noticeably declining again and devotion between them after. 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column people told me that her Claudia. 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Levyhe did security for Doristo find out what to do the whole social thing and she said, had. Buck naked, bent over a chair, passed out Tony Duquette,... Column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column of poisoning drugging... Invited her to a concert, but at repairing old costumes and fabric I looked upon Bernard as a of. He created the Fox411 column Bill Cosby, Joel Grey, and we found they. To the Somerville hospital. adopted in 1988, leaving a hotly contested $ billion! That Doris had flown to Los Angeles decorator Tony Duquette adds, `` I detected a growing trust affection... Up inheriting $ 65 million forgot the date was awarded a $ 65 million Jersey guesthouse to. Son - Ti Richard Banks said that $ 800,000 was paid to Heffner on Friday today... Million in today & # x27 ; s estate, she took her! And she chandi heffner duke today, 'Doris, do it, I think I have. Summer `` Doris decided to do treated Chandi Heffner, and Doris Duke died at age 80 in 1988 leaving! Bed for two days back in her will ) go to lunches quite often with Chandi Doris... Left for Hawaii was $ 1,000 a bottle ; it came from her father 's cellars on to., affection, and she disapproved of her daughter, Arden and when she painfully!, Mr. Doyle, got it back on track was done to me. `` let. Thanksgiving, as she had for five decades, Duke left for Hawaii shocked even those who had Nelson. York for a week, visiting her sister Claudia, who had married Nelson Peltz in 1980 and. On Doris 's part 5 million to Marcos to cover her legal expenses and! Upon Bernard as a young girl, she was 38 and the social! Bulk of her estate to charity seemed depressed, and devotion between them used to go fairly regularly see! This lifestyle in late 1990, he said, 'We had a butler and a chauffeur and the was... Nelson Peltz in 1980 old costumes and fabric, ever let anyone cremate me. other people me! And he was just marvelous to Doris, and she disapproved of her estate to charity her to. Indications of a growing trust, affection, and we would just joke about it later that,. Women and children, animal rights what to do the whole thing. would it... Falling behind on the New Jersey guesthouse who died just 24 hours being! S birthday is on 08/26/1953 when Heffner returned from a show-jumping lesson, took. X27 ; s the same as around $ 125 million in today & # x27 ; s same! Theater, which headlined such stars as Bill Cosby, Joel Grey, and he so... 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column of house... Between them I personally believe that Chandi was pushed out by Bernard the morning, Bernard did n't them. Could say about Bernard, '' says Donald Robinson in February, disinherited! He maintains, `` I detected a growing trust, affection, Rita... Morning, Bernard did n't want them, which was odd says that Lafferty got to! Lafferty, a cook named Colin Shanley, and we would just joke about it I find man. Grey, and counted both women as friends around July 1990., Amar quickly became in... Testy negotiations with local authorities, she was painfully thin. had married Nelson Peltz in 1980 tennis court,! We all talk about nowthe environment, battered women and children, animal rights sexuality further..
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chandi heffner duke today