Françoise Bettencourt, the sought anonymity of the richest woman in the world

She is the richest woman in the world, although those who know her say that Françoise Bettencourt Meyers "it could not be more normal"The statement is that of his friend Olivier Pelat, a French real estate mogul, and it serves to define a woman who says to walk in the park in tracksuit and prefer the Greek mythology ostentatious recreation of the jet set. The heiress of L'Oréal possesses a patrimony of about 43,400 million euros, which in 2018 made it the richest woman in the world, according to the annual list published by the magazine Forbes in its edition of this Tuesday.

Bettencourt Meyers beat American Walmart heiress Alice Walton last year at the top of the standings. If we also count the men, the legatee of L'Oréal occupies the 15th position. Like last year, the first four places are occupied by Jeff Bezos, founder and owner of Amazon; Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft; magnate Warren Buffett and the president of the luxury conglomerate LVMH, Bernard Arnault.

The daughter of the brand's founder, Eugène Schueller, considered as the inventor of hair dye, Bettencourt Meyers appeared for the first time on this well-known list in 2018, a few months after the death of his mother, Liliane Bettencourt, who led the clbadification of women. multimillionaires for decades. Since then, the heiress has been at the forefront of the French cosmetic empire and has managed to increase its profit margin. It is only last year that her fortune would have increased 17%, or more than 7,000 million euros, thanks to the spectacular results of the group, of which she and her children hold 33% of the capital. In addition, Bettencourt Meyers directs the philanthropic foundation of the family, through which he donates for scientific and artistic projects. In recent months he has funded research projects on children's neuroscience and autism. The multimillionaire is also a writer in her free time and has signed a five-volume book on the common roots of Christianity and Judaism.

Bettencourt Meyers was educated in a prestigious Franco-American institution, the Marymount School of Neuilly-sur-Seine, the rich city attached to Paris where live the richest families of the French capital. The young Françoise attended school trips accompanied by a bodyguard: it was the time of kidnappings of grand masters, such as that of the heir to the Peugeot family , who says he traumatized his mother. Since then, Françoise has worked hard for avoid pumping and waste at all costs. At age 65, he continues to preserve his anonymity, prefers to take flights online and spend weekends playing sports in the Bois de Boulogne, the large park that marks the western border of Paris. His only excessive luxury? The luxurious Chinese restaurant Tong Yen, which was the favorite of Jacques Chirac, known for his Lacquered duck 100 euros.

Her husband is Jean-Pierre Meyers, grandson of a well-known rabbi murdered in Auschwitz. They say that the decision to educate their two sons, Jean-Victor and Nicolas, to Judaism, would have led to the gradual removal of their mother in the 90s, in a family that has always weighed hint of anti-SemitismIn the 1930s, Liliane Bettencourt's father financed the fascist group La Cagoule (although, after the war, he was finally acquitted of any suspicion of collaborationism with the Vichy regime).

Other voices point out that the confessions of the Meyers have never been a problem for Liliane, but rather the "off" character of her son-in-law. The proof is that Jean-Pierre Meyers occupied a reserved seat on the L'Oréal Board of Directors, a group which today occupies the Vice President, and also directed the family holding Thety.

In fact, the relations of the richest woman in the world with her mother strained during the long legal battle begun by Bettencourt Meyers in 2007, when she accused photographer Françoise-Marie Barnier of other people from take advantage of your mental fragility get money and gifts.

After a lengthy trial involving former President Nicolas Sarkozy, both parties reached an agreement a few days before Bettencourt's death, according to which put an end to their mutual demands. Barnier was sentenced to four months in prison, exempt from compliance and fined 375,000 euros.