L’Oréal heiress keeps her counsel as she awaits her riches
SHE is about to become the richest woman in the world, but Françoise Bettencourt Meyers appears more interested in studying the Bible and playing the piano than running the L’Oréal cosmetics empire she is due to inherit.
The reclusive 64-year-old has remained true to form and said little publicly since the death of her mother, the scandal-tainted Liliane Bettencourt, was announced on Thursday.
That grand old dame, who bowed out at the age of 94, was the only child of the founder of L’Oréal, controlled 33 per cent of the company – the biggest shareholding – and had a personal fortune estimated by Forbes magazine in March at $39.5billion (£29.2billion).
That made her the world’s 14th richest person and its wealthiest woman.
Her will has yet to be made public, but there is little doubt that Ms Betten- court Meyers – again, an only child – will soon inherit most, if not all, of her mother’s vast wealth.
She made sure of that a decade ago when she began a legal battle against her mother which turned into a family, financial, and political scandal that was dubbed “L’Affaire Bettencourt” and sent French media into a frenzy.
“My daughter could have waited patiently for my death instead of doing all she can to precipitate it,” Liliane Bettencourt, who reportedly had fraught relations with her daughter ever since she was a teenager, said in a television interview recorded in her later years.
Ms Bettencourt Meyers filed a suit in 2007 accusing one of her mother’s closest friends, the society photographer François-Marie Banier, of manipulating the elderly widow into giving him artwork and life insurance policies worth in total around € 1billion.
She argued that her ageing mother was mentally unfit and had been manipulated by her entourage, especially Mr Banier. The labyrinthine case dragged through the courts for years, at one point even dragging in former president Nicolas Sarkozy, until in 2015 eight members of Liliane Bettencourt’s entourage, including Mr Banier, were finally convicted of fleecing her.
With her mother’s death this week, Ms Bettencourt Meyers’ grip on the family fortune now appears complete.
Little is known about her, and she shuns the spotlight, unlike her mother, whose glittering social life for decades fuelled gossip in the pages of society magazines.
Ms Bettencourt Meyers is said to play the piano for several hours most days, and is the author of a book on Greek mythology and a five-volume study of the Bible that aims to find ways for Jews and Catholics to better understand each other.
She steps into the spotlight amid speculation on the future of L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty company, which employs nearly 90,000 employees in 140 countries and whose market value is around €100billion.