John Paul Getty III

[Pat MaGroin]

Dead at 54

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-30-years.html#

[Pat MaGroin]

Dead at 54, the tragic Getty oil heir paralysed by stroke for 30 years

• John Paul Getty III died at family home after prolonged illness
  
• Died surrounded by relatives at his bedside in mansion in Buckinghamshire
• Friends say that death would have been a release for John Paul

John Paul Getty III died at the weekend after a prolonged illness, surrounded by the Getty clan at his mansion in Buckinhamshire. He was 54.
The grandson of billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty â?? once the worldâ??s richest man â?? was famous for being kidnapped in Rome in 1973, when he was just 16.
He was freed after five months when his grandfather paid £2.1million, but only after the kidnappers had severed his right ear and posted it to his family.

Grief: John Paul and his chauffeur leave the memorial mass held for his father Sir John Paul Getty in London, who died of a chest infection in April 2003 at age 70.


Ordeal: Kidnappers sent a picture to Italian newspapers of John Paul in a hole with his head heavily-bandaged and, right, the teenager emerges from a police station after the ordeal with his right ear missing

Gail Getty, the teenager's mother, meets the Italian press after announcing his kidnap
He became addicted to cocaine and heroin and in 1981 took an overdose, causing a stroke which left him paralysed and almost blind. He had to be nursed around the clock.
John Paul was born into fabulous wealth as the grandson of the notoriously tight-fisted oil tycoon John Paul Getty.
But tragedy struck the16 year-old when he was held ransom by Italian kidnappers who sliced off his right ear when his grandfather refused to pay the £17million ransom.
John Paul was held captive by a gang, believed to be the Mafia, in Rome for five months.
It was only when the captors cut off his ear and sent it to an Italian newspaper that his grandfather agreed to pay any money.

The teenager's life spiralled out of control after the incident which eventually led to him suffering a drug-induced stroke which left him paralysed and almost blind.

John Paul, now 54, is said to be hovering close to death as family and friends prepare for the worst.
He has had to be nursed round-the-clock by his mother, Gail, and a team of carers for several years. Now, his health is said to have deteriorated further.

A bewildered John Paul faces the world at an Italian police station in January 1974 shortly after being freed as a hostage

Hippy lifestyle: John Paul and his wife Martine on the beach in 1975 six years before he suffered a paralysing drug-induced stroke. His grandfather disinherited him for marrying so young
A family source said: â??They are an amazingly tough family. John Paul has been on the brink before but â?? like his father and his grandfather â?? he is tough as old boots.â??

The Getty family â?? ­including his younger siblings, Aileen, Mark, Ariadne and Tara â?? have been informed, as has his son Balthazar from his marriage to film-maker Martine Zacher.

Friends say that death would be a release for John Paul, who has been confined to a wheelchair for years.

He has suffered scores of health scares when it was thought he wouldnâ??t pull through. He has to be spoon-fed, has difficulty communicating and has only peripheral vision.

John Paul achieved worldwide attention when he was kidnapped in 1973, when he was just 16.
He had previously been expelled from St George's British International School in Rome and his father moved the family to England.

After five months his notoriously tight-fisted grandfather, John Paul Getty Snr, agreed to pay the gang £2.1million which he ordered his grandson to repay with 4 per cent interest a year.

[Pat MaGroin]

Rich: Millionaire oil tycoon John Paul Getty surrounded by female admirers. He was a workaholic who was notoriously tight with money

Scrooge: The oil tycoon John Paul Getty senior at his desk before he died in 1976. He initially refused to pay a ransom for the release of his grandson John Paul III
The trauma of his ordeal affected John Paul III so badly that he refused to talk to either his father or grandfather and turned to drugs.

Afterwards, John Paul pursued a hippie lifestyle and married ­Martine the year after his release. Aged 24 she was six years his senior.

His grandfather disinherited him for ­marrying so young and in time he became addicted to cocaine and heroin.
John Paul lived a bohemian lifestyle around New York hanging out with famous artists and musicians of the time such as Andy Warhol.
The couple had a son, Balthazar, who went on to become a Hollywood actor.

But in 1981, still only 25, John Paul took the overdose that prompted his stroke.

The cocktail of valium, methadone and alcohol left him almost blind and confined to a wheel chair.

Paul's own father, Sir John Paul II, refused to pay his huge medical bills, saying he had to live with the consequences of his own drug-induced actions.

Family: John Paul Getty II with his first wife Gail Harris and their children John Paul Getty III, Aileen Getty and Mark Getty.

Commune: After his release John Paul Getty III took on a hippy existence and is seen here at a party hosted by Andy Warhol, in June 1976

Sprawling: Wormsley Park Estate, in Watlington, Oxfordshire, where John Paul's philanthropist father Sir John Paul Getty II lived

During the Sixties and Seventies Paul Getty II himself lived the playboy lifestyle to the full, hanging out with rock stars including the Rolling Stones. At one point he was consuming a bottle of rum and a gram of high-grade heroin a day.

He inherited the massive fortune from his father who died in 1976 as the richest man in the world. His meanness was well known and at one point he installed a pay phone in his mansion that guests were required to use.

John Paul II was knighted in 1998 but for all his wealth, tragedy dogged his life. His second wife Talitha Pol died of a heroin overdose, his daughter Aileen is HIV-positive.

In 1984 Texaco bought out Getty Oil for £900million, completely freeing him from any financial worries for the rest of his life.

John Paul is one of five other children including, Aileen, 45, Mark, 42, Ariadne, 41, and Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramophone, 34, who inherited the fortune.
The money helped to pay for round-the-clock care for John Paul as he battled ill health related to his earlier stroke.
He lived in California for a period and moved briefly to Ireland after being giving citizenship in return for investments.

[ichabodius]

Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramophone?

[DonnaMc]

Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramophone?

I guess that's how they do if you're worth billions?

[neilmpenny]

Anyone wanna be a Getty? Pass.........

[Giada]

The penultimate in mentally ill dysfunctional families. The teen is kidnapped for 5 months, brutalized, and grandpa expects him to repay kidnap monies plus 4% interest. No surprise he used drugs to relief himself of emotional pain.

Meh ...

[radiojane]

Hell of a psa on not doing drugs.

[Leasie]

I remember when he was kidnapped.

Wow, he was in bad shape. What a messed up life.

[Nicki]

Sh.tHead for a Grandfather! Excentric family to say the least. John Paul III's Sister Aileen Getty use to be married to Elizabeth Taylors son Christopher Wilding. She has been HIV Positive for years but I understand she has done well. She is also the Mother of Elizabeths two grandsons Caleb and Andrew Wilding.

[1karenhb]

I remember when he was kidnapped.

Wow, he was in bad shape. What a messed up life.

I remember when he was kidnapped too. Definitely not a lot of love or compassion in that family.

[radiojane]

I didn't realize Balthazar Getty was connected. My brain never made that (very obvious) leap.

Kind of glad that no one in my family has money to bait me with and control me with. My future father in law already tries that with my boyfriend and his sister, and he's far from a millionaire. Lucky for me I manage my own money well and so does my boyfriend so he doesn't bother to bend to his father's will.

[PurrPurr]

Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramophone?

Good lord, makes me wonder what someone was drinking/smoking when they named that poor girl.

[DietCokeofEvil]

I've been thinking about this since this afternoon when I first read the story. What a sad sad life he had- he had to repay his own ransom? I would have said "hey I lost an ear you cheap bastard, we'll call it even".

[NewYorkDoll]

Good lord, makes me wonder what someone was drinking/smoking when they named that poor girl.

it's a boy.

Rippon Tracey Salvadori
Tara Getty - Director

â??The only way to ensure the long term survival of Africa's wildlife and wilderness areas is to enable the surrounding communities to benefit from the conservation of the areas through sustainable eco-tourism.â?� Tara Getty.

Tara Getty is a deeply committed philanthropist and conservationist, with a great passion for Africa, its people and its wildlife. The â??Africa bugâ?� bit him when he worked in Kenya as a gap-year student before going to college in England. In the early 1990â??s Tara and his brother Mark were approached to invest in the Phinda Project in South Africa which involved buying up a number of old hunting farms and turning them into one contiguous game reserve. This project was built on the back of a sustainable eco-tourism business, located in one of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse areas on the planet.

[endsleigh03]

Not only was grandpa a shithead but so was dad. Talk about pot and kettle.

[ichabodius]

Not only was grandpa a shithead but so was dad. Talk about pot and kettle.

More like pot and coke.

[Jacksmum]

I've been thinking about this since this afternoon when I first read the story. What a sad sad life he had- he had to repay his own ransom? I would have said "hey I lost an ear you cheap bastard, we'll call it even".

I can't believe anyone could be so mean and cheap!

[Pat MaGroin]

I've been thinking about this since this afternoon when I first read the story. What a sad sad life he had- he had to repay his own ransom? I would have said "hey I lost an ear you cheap bastard, we'll call it even".

Yeah, quite a legacy the old man left.

[elnoradawn]

Yet another example of having obscene amounts of money making you cray-cray.

[cash]

Andrew Getty cause of death: gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Contributing factor: toxic levels of meth.

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-...rrhage-2015166