Sitting Down With the Secret Gucci Love Child

From Harper's BAZAAR

Everything changed for Patricia Gucci on that late summer day in 1973. She was 10 years old, preparing to leave behind her friends in England to move to Rome with her parents, when her mom sat her down for a talk. The girl's stomach twisted into knots looking at her tense expression.

"Your father has a wife in Italy and three sons," her mom, Bruna, said.

Patricia was confused. "Wait, aren't you married to Papa?" She asked.

Her mom quietly responded, "No, I'm not."

Until then, Patricia thought she was an only child to two happily married parents. Her dad was away much of the time, but it made sense for the head of one of the most respected fashion companies in the world. The serious implications of his double life didn't resonate right away. All she could think was, "I have siblings!"

But when she began asking about these mysterious brothers, her mom explained ruefully, "They don't care much for me and weren't too pleased when they found out about you."

For years, Patricia says she was barred by contracts and non-compete agreements from telling the story of her father, Aldo Gucci - the man who made Gucci what it is, taking it international after his dad, Guccio Gucci, started the luxury brand - and her mother Bruna Palombo, the shop girl he fell in love with.

Now Patricia is coming forward with a revealing memoir, "In the Name of Gucci," out May 10. We sat down with the fashion heiress ahead of the release of her first book to talk about her parents' love story, her dad's legacy, and her life today.

"It was important to tell what he had achieved of this global phenomenon. And I thought it would be nice to show who he was as a human being," says Patricia, who went through her parents' letters and talked to her mom to piece together the history. "I did it for him and I tried to do it in an elegant and respectful way. Nobody could tell this story like I could; I'm his daughter."

Striking a chic figure in all black - leather jacket, sweater, jeans and strappy stilettos - the 53-year-old sets down her Dionysus GG Supreme canvas shoulder bag. The purse perfectly encapsulates current Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele's vision for the brand, a clean rectangle covered in the famous G pattern with bold blue flowers painted on and cartoonish appliques on top of that: classic with a fresh, playful twist. The hottest house of the moment has come a long way since Patricia's grandfather started it nearly a century ago.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Aldo Gucci was 14 years old when his parents opened a small shop in Florence, Italy selling fine leather goods in 1921. As the oldest son, Aldo was eager to learn the family business, clocking long hours at the shop and eventually becoming the company's first-ever salesman. It was in his family's popular store where he met his first wife: Olwen Price, a 19-year-old working for a Romanian princess who popped in to browse.

After Olwen became pregnant in 1927, 22-year-old Aldo proposed. They went on to have three sons. As his family grew, Aldo helped expand the company, persuading his dad to open a second shop in Rome. The name Gucci was becoming synonymous with Italian luxury.

In 1956, Bruna, an 18-year-old beauty with big brown eyes and a sweet smile, wore her best dress for a job interview at the Rome flagship. She impressed the store manager but had to get final approval for the storeroom job from the boss: Aldo. The conversation was brief and with a big smile the 51-year-old said: "You can start next week."

Bruna worked alongside the man she called "Dr. Gucci," watching him charm employees and customers alike with his larger-than-life persona.

"He was explosive back then. He was like an earthquake," Patricia says, gesturing wildly, widening her eyes. "Mama tells me how much he had mellowed by the time I knew him. Back then, at the shop he was," she pounds her finger on the table with an exaggerated stern look.

After a couple of years, Bruna was promoted to Aldo's secretary. Patricia writes in her memoir:

Although Bruna was engaged to another man, Aldo began showering his young secretary with gifts-from perfume to silk scarves. He was 53 years old; she was 20. One afternoon at the office while she was opening his mail, he couldn't contain his passion any longer. He took Bruna by the elbows and kissed her passionately. Shocked, she stepped back.

"You make me suffer!" He declared. "You make me sweat!"

At that point, adultery was illegal in Italy. An affair would have been disastrous for the family business and potentially landed them both in prison.

A SECRET BABY

Bruna tried to ignore what had happened and was successful until a month after the illicit kiss. Patricia writes that Aldo left her mom a note explaining he had to speak to her and telling her to meet him at the place he kept just outside of Rome-a bachelor pad away from his wife and children. When Bruna arrived, he kissed her again. And this time, she kissed him back.

Bruna broke off her engagement and the month she was meant to marry, she lost her virginity to Aldo. Bruna became accustomed to their unconventional situation. She worked alongside her lover while he grew the Gucci empire, making the crucial decision to expand the business to New York.

When Aldo bought her an apartment, Bruna decided she had to tell her mom about the relationship. Her mother responded, "I've known all along." When she met her daughter's married boyfriend who was the same age as her, she gave them her blessing, predicting, "That man will only leave you when he dies."

While Aldo's personal life was complicated-he was juggling a mistress and a wife-business was booming. He had just opened another store stateside in Palm Beach. The opening coincided with a bag named for President John F. Kennedy's stylish wife, Jackie. Aldo had matching shoes made for the First Lady.

To celebrate, Aldo swept Bruna away to Madrid for his 57^th birthday. "Those were some of the best days of their lives," Patricia says, smiling.

Soon after, Bruna found out she was pregnant.

THE NEW FACE OF GUCCI

Aldo had his mind made up: He arranged for his mistress to move to London and declared their child would carry his name. Bruna couldn't stay in Italy for risk that someone would find out about the pregnancy.

Patricia was born March 1, 1963. She was christened and Aldo marked down "Aldo and Bruna Gucci" as her parents when he logged the birth. But when mom and baby moved back to Rome, they were hidden away for months. Bruna and Aldo continued their clandestine rendezvous and, during the first months of her life, Patricia only left the apartment with a nanny.

"Nobody knew about me for that first year," Patricia says.

In spite of their efforts, the secret got back to the real Mrs. Gucci. She sent an associate to Bruna's home to confront her, which enraged Aldo. He spoke to his wife, and Bruna didn't hear from her again.

From then on, the relationship and Patricia were an open secret. They celebrated holidays together and Aldo publicly referred to Bruna as his wife.

"Our family was solid as a rock in my eyes," she says making a fist. "Of course, I know Mama didn't always feel that way. In a lot of ways, she was tortured by their situation. But he was just my father. I never once questioned anything."

Fittingly, shopping and fashion was a big part of their father-daughter relationship, though Bruna never showed much interest in the subjects.

One of Patricia's early memories is going into the Gucci store where her parents met to shop with her mom afterhours. Her dad encouraged her to try on shoes: Her first pair of Guccis.

Not much changed for Patricia after finding out about her father's other family. Meeting her brothers was anticlimactic: They were much older than she imagined, closer in age to her mother and much too old to be playmates.

It wasn't long until Patricia would take an even more public role in the famous fashion family. When she was 15, Aldo began toting her along to company events in places like Hong Kong where she rubbed shoulders with stars and dignitaries like Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, Nancy Reagan and Prince Charles. "Prince Charles was so charming. I wasn't ever star struck; I was a bit cocky maybe," she says. "That was just my life."

When she was 19, the role progressed to Patricia taking a place on the company's board, the first woman in the family to get a seat, and becoming the new face of the brand: Modeling the new line for ads and in magazine spreads.

"It was fun," she says of her time in New York as the brand's ambassador. "He liked to show me off; He was really proud. I was a breath of fresh air, and he thought I could inject that into the brand."

In a 1982 New York Times article, Patricia is referred to as "the most eligible girl in the world." The article makes no mention of her family's unconventional situation. Patricia says: "Media was different then. It wasn't salacious."

END OF AN ERA

In 1984, Patricia told her parents she was pregnant and would marry the father, Santino, a man she met at a cocktail party.

"My upbringing was a bit unorthodox, no question," she says. "For my life, I wanted something normal. I wanted a legitimate situation when I became a mother. I thought, I want my daughter to be born with me being married to her father."

On January 19, 1985, Aldo proudly walked his only daughter down the aisle.

Meanwhile, the company he worked so hard to grow into an international brand was facing mounting challenges. The IRS was investigating Aldo for conspiring to evade taxes and his nephew was maneuvering to hoard shares of the family company, eventually becoming the brand's chairman. In that role, he terminated Aldo's role in the company. Patricia, however, remained on the board as her father's trial loomed.

In September 1986, the 81-year-old was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison.

Patricia writes:

Though she'd been named one of Gucci's creative directors, Patricia left the company in the late '80s. With a portion of the company sold to investment company Investcorp, Patricia says that, due to contracts, she was barred from talking about what she knew or getting involved in any Gucci ventures for a decade. (When reached by Bazaar.com, Investcorp had no comment on the allegation.)

Things went from bad to worse when Aldo was diagnosed with terminal cancer shortly after Patricia found out she was pregnant with baby No. 2.

Playing with a charm of a bronze coat of armor given to her by her father, Patricia remembers: "That last week of his life was such an incredible memory. I went to see him in his [hospital] room and he said, 'I want you to take me out into the corridor.' He wanted to feel the sun. I had to take him in a wheelchair because he was very weak. He said, 'Go get me my briefcase,' and he pulled out these envelopes. I opened it and I saw that it was his last will and testament. I said, 'No Daddy, I don't want to know!' He was adamant: 'Open it up now.' I opened it and saw, 'I name Patricia my sole and universal heir.' It was symbolic, to tell his family, 'This is my daughter.'"

On January 19, 1990, Aldo died with Bruna by his side. Before his death, Patricia says in her memoir that he wrote his own obituary, which read that he left behind "his wife Bruna Palombo and his companion Olwen Price," as well as his four children. However the New York Times obituary made no mention of Patricia or her mother-only Olwen and his sons.

Today, Patricia spends her time visiting her mother in Rome and two daughters in New York and London. She has a boyfriend and lives in Switzerland. Her mom, she says, is hesitant to have her love story go public. "She isn't 100 percent into it," Patricia admits.

When it comes to her relationship with the brand with which she shares a name, Patricia says: "I'm a customer. I'm very faithful to Gucci."