IN MY GLORY

Forget about Gloria Steinem. Gloria Estefan, too. Even Gloria Swanson or Allred. The only Gloria that matters in my book is Gloria Vanderbilt! OMG. What a woman. Seriously.

I never wore her jeans but you can be sure I adored her since my early 30s. Wealth, fame, and influence has always been my favorite go to attributes and believe you me Gloria V. has them all. Way before all the others did, too. I can not beLIEVE she is now 92. Who said money can't help extend life?

It was about 35 years ago that I first read POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL. Maybe even longer. Man did I love her tragic story. And of course her rise to fame. Gloria Vanderbilt has suffered more than any 15 people I can think of and still and all, she has come out it with such grace, such beauty and such dignity. Besides.... she is one of the wealthiest women in America and that alone perks my ears up but plenty. Yes, I'm totally jealous. Not only that... her kid is Anderson Cooper!

In the meantime Gloria was but 10 years old when her mother (also named Gloria) and her aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney went to court, both fighting for custody. Apparently Gloria Sr. was a very young run around, shall we say, when she married Reginald Vanderbilt who was way older. Boom. Shortly after the marriage Reggie died from chirrhosis  of the liver, given he was not only a playboy, huge gambler, etc. but also a major alcoholic. In Reggie's world, money grew on trees yet when he died he was totally penniless. Hence Gloria Sr. was screwed but good. Not only that... all the hordes of money that Reggie would have inherited did not pass to wife but instead to daughter... today's Gloria Vanderbilt.

I could go on and on about Gloria since I've read everything there is connected to her and in fact, I even saw her in person when she was on a book tour with her first book. Basically it all boils down to Gloria having had to withstand a horrible custody battle (her mother lost custody) a crap ass mother, several marriages, a beloved husband's death and then a tragic suicide of Anderson's brother, which Gloria actually witnessed. What impresses me the most btw, is that Gloria basically withstood this all without drugs and/or alcohol.

Instead she turned to writing, designing, painting and earning zillions of bucks on her own. But don't imagine Gloria came out of all this unscathed, however. She was in fact deeply affected by many things... thus she is terribly shy, even childlike at times. On the other hand... her many many paintings are BEAUTIFUL, showing her true talent yet even in those, you can often see some sort of muted, distanced figures in them. She married some mighty impressive men too, btw. In any case, she lives quite glamorously which naturally, is so up my alley. 

All I know is that Gloria is one hell of a woman... I would kill to become her friend. Which I guess would easily happen were I to ever befriend Anderson first. If only, right?? Okay... so that won't happen, damnit but still... Gloria is just so remarkable that she clearly lives on my list of alltime favorites along side Jackie O., Princess Diana and Tina. She may even have to move up to No. 1 now that I think of it since a.) she is oldest and b.) she has had to overcome odds even bigger than the others, which is no easy feat, trust me. 

NEWS FLASH: you SO have to watch Gloria's 2 hour special with Anderson btw... NOTHING LEFT UNSAID. So f'ing amazing. As we speak, I am reading Little Gloria and you can only imagine how much I'm loving each and every word in this book. Am also reading TransAtlantic btw, which is no comparison if you ask me. I am not enjoying Trans all that much but I'm stubborn... so will continue to finish it; but I won't like it. Anyway...

I do have to say that I find it astounding that given all of Gloria's money... PLENTY of it, I might add... she is not giving any of it to Anderson when she kicks the bucket. WHAT?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? WTF IS THAT ALL ABOUT?? Granted, Anderson says he's totally fine with it since first he doesn't need a dime of it and second he feels that inheriting money definitely keeps one from developing a strong sense of working ethics.

I of course would slit my wrists were my parents to have had hundreds of millions of dollars and not left me a thing, but hey. That's just me. I LOVE inheriting easy money although Anderson does have a point. I AM the laziest person you'd ever want to meet but then again... were I on CNN's payroll and I had a show all my own, I'd be thrilled to bypass an inheritance in exchange for a huge television paycheck. Well, maybe. 

In the meantime, my recommendation for the day is to clearly learn more about the Vanderbilt family. Beginning with Gloria's Great Great Gramps... Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt. Not only are the men in this lineage unbelievably amazing but whoa... the women are equally so! I have biographies on all the big players in this family, men and women, and I totally treasure them. I also adore Biltmore House btw, which is about a half hour away and I'm so telling you... this is SOME summer home that George Vanderbilt built, alright. You can't even imagine the opulence. 

I so would use this shot to claim as my own home. COMING TO TOWN? GREAT. COME VISIT ME! I'LL LEAVE THE LIGHT ON.