Scandals of Hilton

Barron Hilton






By David Edwards 29/12/2007
http://www.mirror.co.uk

If the gossip in Los Angeles' most exclusive haunts is to be believed, Barron Hilton is giving his huge fortune to charity for one reason - his disgust at the antics of his granddaughter Paris.

But if 80-year-old Barron believes Paris has dragged the Hilton name through the mud, he's plainly lost sight of his family's scandalous history.

While the blonde heirhead may have appeared in an internet sex video and done jail time, compared to the sins of some of her relatives, Paris is a vestal virgin...

The rise of the Hilton clan could have come straight from the pages of a Harold Robbins blockbuster.

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In the 137 years since Paris's great-great grandfather emigrated to America, the Hilton family has been plagued by drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence and even alleged Mob connections.

The House of Hilton really found its feet in 1870 when young Gus Hilton sailed to the US from his native Norway. After marrying a local girl he ran a grocery store, and the couple had eight children.

But it was their second child, Conrad, who was to have such an impact on 20th Century America.



Born in New Mexico in 1887, the budding tycoon bought his first hotel in 1919, shortly after serving in France during the First World War. The Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, was a run-down two-storey building in the middle of nowhere, but Conrad realised there was big money in the state's oil boom.

He bought the 120-room establishment for Û40,000 cash - and by cannily renting rooms in rotating eight-hour shifts to riggers, was soon on his way to his first million.

His personal life was less successful. His first marriage, in 1925 to Mary Barron, lasted just nine years thanks to his constant philandering but produced two children, Nicky and Barron, Paris's grandad.

In 1942 he married his second wife, a Hungarian starlet called Zsa Zsa Gabor who, at 25, was just eight years older than his eldest son Nicky.

But the relationship was not to last. Conrad's Catholicism and guilt over his earlier divorce had rendered him virtually impotent - the couple had separate bedrooms - and he was too busy building his hotel empire to pay attention to his young bride.

Zsa Zsa found solace in the arms of her husband's son...

After he saw his father kissing his young bride, Nicky had quipped, "Dad, what must a fellow do to get a kiss like that from Zsa Zsa?" When the couple separated in 1944 he had a chance to find out by beginning a secret affair with his stepmother. As Zsa Zsa later recalled: "It lasted through my divorce from his father... and beyond Nicky's betrothal to Elizabeth."

The Elizabeth in question was Elizabeth Taylor. A romance between the hotel heir and Hollywood's brightest star was manna for gossip columnists and as rumours of an engagement spread, she wittily told one journalist, "Nothing comes off until the ring goes on."

Those who knew the rugged Hilton heir were less excited by the romance.

One of her friends, Doris Lilly, knew of a model who'd been unfortunate enough to date him and had "got used to hearing hair-raising tales about how he drank too much and then beat her up, how he kept a loaded revolver by his bed and would shoot the lights out while high on drugs".

Despite the omens, the wedding went ahead in May 1950, at Beverly Hills' Church of the Good Shepherd - or Our Lady of the Cadillacs as it was waggishly known. It was attended by stars including Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds while 200 police held back 10,000 cheering fans.

Yet the dazzling spectacle was in complete contrast to their honeymoon. Journalist Art Buchwald, who was staying at the same venue, said Hilton spent his wedding night drinking at a bar until 4am.

"Rumour had it he didn't consummate his marriage until their third night together," he says. "She found him extremely appealing, but I'm not certain he found her so irresistible."

Carole Doheny, a former MGM starlet, says: "Nicky was spoiled silly, while she exuded the air of a pampered prima donna. He resented her fame and she envied his wealth."

Later, the antagonism exploded during a trip aboard the Queen Mary. After blowing Û100,000 at the luxury liner's casino, Nicky punched Elizabeth in the stomach.

The Duchess of Windsor, who was aboard the ship, later remarked: "You'd have thought they were at the end of a marriage, rather than the beginning."

The inevitable end came in late 1950 when he kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach and Taylor later revealed how she lost their baby.

"He was drunk. I didn't know I was pregnant, so it wasn't a malicious act... I had terrible pains. This is not why I was put on earth. God did not put me here to have a baby kicked out of my stomach." Nicky died, ravaged and booze-sodden from a heart attack in 1969 at the age of just 42 and it was left to Nicky's brother, Barron, to continue the lineage, eventually having no less than eight children.



The sixth, born in 1955, was Rick who now runs a real estate company and is father to four children, including Paris, 26, and her 24-year-old sister Nicky.

It will never be an ordinary family. Although Rick was smitten when he met his future wife Kathy Richards in the late 70s, the wedding almost never happened

Author Jerry Oppenheimer claims Kathy's mother was married to a man with Mafia connections and she was so worried it might scupper her daughter's wedding to the fabulously wealthy Hilton heir she divorced him, clearing the way for the 1979 marriage.

In the same year, Conrad Hilton died, leaving his entire fortune to charity. Barron challenged the will, eventually winning a 10-year legal battle to get his hands on most of it.

Ironically it is that same Barron who is now planning to leave the Hilton fortune to charity. And while Paris is no longer in line for a share of his billions, she has parlayed her own notoriety into millions of dollars.

In fact, given her remarkable ability to turn any situation into an earning opportunity, perhaps Barron would have been well advised to leave her the entire Hilton family fortune.