These 11 Celebrities Were Born Into Billionaire Families, And Some Of These Net Worths Are Going To Leave You Speechless
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We often discuss celebrities who come from well-off or wealthy families, but we rarely emphasize those who come from billionaires.
So, here are some celebs and public figures who come from billion, yes, clock it, billion-dollar families:
Note: Some net worths are coming from Forbes live updates, so the information may vary slightly.
1.Paris Hilton
No list like this would be complete without Paris Hilton. Her great-grandfather, Conrad Hilton, founded the Hilton Hotels chain and died in 1979 with an estimated net worth of a billion dollars. Conrad left most of his fortune to his foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which didn't sit well with his son Barron, aka Paris's grandfather.
Barron contested Conrad's will and ended up with four million shares of the Hilton Hotels corporation. However, in late 2007, Barron donated 97% of his 2.3 billion dollar fortune to his father's foundation; this happened less than a year after Hilton Hotels was sold for $26 billion.
2.Nicola Peltz
Actor Nicola Peltz, who is married to Brooklyn Beckham (the son of Victoria and David Beckham, who have a combined net worth of about $514 million), is also a part of the billion-dollar family club.
Her father, Nelson Peltz, is an 81-year-old billionaire businessman, investor, and founder of the investment firm Trian Fund Management. His firm currently has $8.5 billion worth of assets under management, and he's currently worth $1.7 billion.
3.Nick Kroll
Actor Nick Kroll is the son of billionaire businessman Jules Kroll. Jules founded the corporate investigations and risk consulting firm Kroll Inc. in 1972. The company eventually sold for $1.9 billion (in cold hard cash might I add) in 2004. Nick's father, Jules, is credited with "inventing the modern corporate investigations industry."
4.Delphine Arnault
Would you believe me if I told you that this woman and her family are the biggest heavy hitters in the world of luxury goods and fashion? Delphine Arnault is the daughter of Bernard Arnault, the founder, chairman, and CEO of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy). The 75-year-old French businessman is estimated to be worth $219.7 billion, making him and his family the wealthiest people on earth. All five of his children work for LMVH in some capacity.
Delphine has been working in the family business since 2000. She started off working alongside John Galliano at Christian Dior. Funnily enough, her father got his start in 1984 by purchasing Dior for $15 million. She eventually joined the LVMH board in 2003, becoming the first woman and youngest person to serve on the board. In 2013, she was appointed Executive Vice President of Louis Vuitton, and as of 2023, she serves as the chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture.
5.Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the daughter of French-American businessman Gérard Louis-Dreyfus. He was the chairman of Louis Dreyfus Energy Services, a subsidiary of his grandfather's successful company, Louis Dreyfus Group. In 2006, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $3.6 billion. He passed away in 2016.
However, in 2018, Julia spoke to the New Yorker and had this to say about her father's fortune, "The reports of my father's wealth are, in fact, greatly exaggerated in the press. He's referred to as a billionaire, and I'm referred to by some heinous term like 'billionaire heiress.' It's incorrect! My father, unfortunately, was never a billionaire. Far from it."
6.Kate and Rooney Mara
Acting siblings Kate and Rooney Mara come from not one but two football family dynasties. Their mother, Kathleen Rooney's family, is the majority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Rooney family has owned the team since 1933, when the sisters' great-grandfather, Art Rooney, created and launched it. According to Forbes, in 2015, the Rooney family alone was estimated to be worth $1.2 billion.
Their father is Christopher Mara, whose family has owned the New York Giants since the siblings' great-grandfather Tim Mara founded the team in 1925. After a 1991 feud led to half of the Mara family selling their shares in the team, Christopher remains the Senior Player Personnel Executive, while his brother John is the team's CEO, and the Mara family remains partial owners. According to Forbes, as of 2023, the New York Giants are worth about $6.8 billion.
7.Balthazar Getty
When you see the last name Getty, it's no secret that it's the last name of a family that has acquired billions. Actor Balthazar Getty is the great-grandson of oil tycoon and patriarch of the billionaire Getty family, J. Paul Getty. At the time of his death in 1976, the Getty family mastermind was estimated to be worth about $6 billion.
Now, the family name lends itself to a photo agency, a museum, and a research institute, but that doesn't mean the fortune has dwindled. As of 2015, the Getty family was estimated to be worth $5.4 billion. Balthazar's 90-year-old uncle, Gordon Getty, who headed the 1984 $10.1 billion sale of his father's company and divvied the money into six trusts for the family, is still estimated to be worth over $2 billion just on his own.
8.Megan Ellison
Megan Ellison is a film producer and entrepreneur from a mega-billionaire family. Her dad is businessman Larry Ellison, who cofounded Oracle Corporation. He was the company's CEO from 1977 until 2014 when he shifted to Chief Technology Officer and executive chairman, which he still serves as.
According to Forbes, Larry is currently worth $153.7 billion. He also sat on the board of Tesla from 2018–2022 and still owns millions of shares in the company. Megan found her own success with her production company, Annapurna Productions. She became the first woman to earn two Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards in the same year. She also has a brother named David, the founder and CEO of the very notable production company, Skydance Media.
9.Edward Norton
Actor Edward Norton's grandfather is celebrated businessman, activist, and urban planner James Rouse. He's often credited with inventing the shopping mall and he even built his own city: Columbia, Maryland. In 1939, James founded the real estate development company, the Rouse Company.
While the Baltimore Sun reports that Rouse died in 1996 with a trust fund and estate valued at $21 million, in 2004, the company he built still sold for $7.2 billion in CASH.
10.Lydia Hearst-Shaw
Actor and supermodel Lydia Hearst-Shaw is the great-granddaughter of businessman and newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. He would eventually go on to create the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications.
Success didn't start with her great-grandfather, though. His father, George Hearst, was a gold mine owner and a US Senator from 1886 to 1991. According to Forbes, the entire Hearst family is currently worth $22.4 billion.
11.Liesel Matthews
Finally, this shows how messy a family can really get over money. Child actor Liesel Matthews, who now goes by her real name, Liesel Pritzker Simmons, is the niece of Jay and Donald Pritzker, the cofounders of the Hyatt Hotel chain. In 1998, a year before his death, Jay was said to be worth $5 billion.
Well, here's where the mess comes in. In 2002, Liesel filed a $6 billion lawsuit against her father and other relatives, alleging they schemed on her inheritance. She believed they had "looted" her and her brother out of a billion dollars of their trust funds. Her brother, Matthew, would also go on to join the suit. The story is wild, and her family was allegedly involved in some pretty shady schemes that didn't involve her or her brother. Eventually, the case was settled out of court, and Liesel and Matthew both got paid. According to Forbes, the Pritzker family as a whole is worth $41.6 billion, and Liesel is worth $1.5 billion all on her own.
Did I miss anyone? Let me know in the comments!
