Text | Mi Li's mother
I'll tell you a horror story, it's the fourth day of work after the holiday, look at the calendar, today is only Tuesday.
Let's let Mi Li's mother take everyone to eat a melon.
It is said that there are many grievances and grievances of wealthy families, and the most common disputes are brothers who do not agree and sisters tear each other apart.
Mi Li's mother wrote about several major chaebol groups in South Korea before, and almost every family has a bloody drama.
For example, the brothers and sisters Lee Jae-yong and Li Fuzhen of Samsung Group have been fighting for decades
There is also a family business of the LG Group branch, the elder brother relied on the inheritance of the eldest son to act mischief, guarded and stolen, and made a mess of the company, while the younger sister spoke with strength and turned the tide to pull up a loss-making company
But have you ever heard of your mother and daughter?
Generally speaking, the relationship between mother and daughter between family members should be the best, and Mi Li's mother has many friends who are as close as best friends with her mother.
But there is such a pair of mothers and daughters, who quarrel with each other every day to break up, and even make trouble until the president personally comes forward to mediate, and behind all these disputes, it is only because of a man?
What Mi Li's mother wants to tell you today is the "love and killing" of Liliana Betancourt, the former female head of L'Oréal Group, and her daughter, Françoise Betancourt Mayer.
Beauty giant L'Oréal has a thunderous reputation, but the family behind them has always been low-key and mysterious.
Eugène Schulaire, the founder of the brand, had the opportunity to become a pastry chef to succeed his father's cake shop, but with the economic crisis, his father went bankrupt and Eugène had to drop out of school to find another way to make a living.
After trying several trades, Eugène discovered that he was particularly interested in chemistry, so he went back to school and enrolled at the Institut de la Chemista in Paris, where a new chapter in his life began.
After graduating from the graduate school, he began to create his own brand, from technology to industry, and developed the first ace product, a new type of harmless hair dye.
The product was very popular as soon as it was launched, and Eugène began to write his own business legend with this product.
Not only is he good at R&D, but he also has a lot of experience in marketing.
He once created a tailor-made advertisement for his hair products, in which the young and beautiful female model turned her head and her colorful hair swayed in the wind, which brought a great visual impact to the people at the time, and they described the film as a "comet advertisement".
It also made his brand a household name.
In 1922, when Eugène was 41 years old, his only daughter, Liliana, was born.
As soon as she was born, her father had high hopes for her to take over her company.
So Liliana started her internship at her father's factory at the age of 15, starting with the most basic labeling work and working her way up to supporting the entire company.
Since she was a child, she has been exposed to her father, and she also knows people well.
She has appointed three presidents of L'Oréal Group, and with their efforts, she has gradually acquired brands such as Lancôme, Maybelline, Vichy, and Ralph Lauren, gradually building L'Oréal into a super business empire.
After Eugène's death, Liliana became the sole heir of the group.
Inheriting a huge fortune and the professionals she hired to run the company well, Liliana's worth skyrocketed.
But she is very risk-aware, and she doesn't plan to put all her assets in one basket.
Liliane exchanged nearly half of her shares in L'Oréal for the shares of the multinational company Nestle.
Holding a large stake in two industry giants, she became the richest woman in the world.
is not only proud in the mall, but Liliana's love scene is also smooth.
At the age of 28, she married André Betancourt, who was of aristocratic origin.
Like Liliana, André has also made great achievements in the political arena.
In the second year of marriage, André became a member of parliament, and since then he has been a minister and has been in politics for decades.
Their marriage was not united solely for the sake of profit, as is the case with ordinary political or business marriages.
Both of them lost their mothers at an early age and went to boarding school, and their similar upbringing experiences made them resonate with each other and cherish each other.
A business tycoon, a political celebrity, the two couples are an eye-catching landscape wherever they go.
The two have always kept a low profile in charity, donating a donation every year for research on epidemic prevention and control, and never publicizing their good deeds.
They often attend various celebrity banquets inseparably, dress gorgeously, wear valuable jewelry, and deal with various occasions with ease, and have always been the most popular figures and model couple in the eyes of the media.
In particular, Liliane showed the elegance of a French lady to the fullest with her gestures, and her noble and elegant image has become the best business card of the brand.
Not long after their marriage, their only daughter, Françoise, was born.
But this little only daughter is not keen on such activities, she does not want to be a celebrity as her mother expects, she loves reading and writing, playing the piano, full of literary and artistic atmosphere.
On weekdays, she doesn't focus on dressing up, everything is based on comfort.
Often a pair of big-framed glasses, long hair is draped, and a T-shirt or sweatshirt is casually put on and goes out.
Although the attitude towards life is different, this does not affect the feelings of the family.
The family of three will get together whenever they are free and organize family trips every year, but this beautiful family relationship came to an abrupt end with Andre's death.
In 2007, André Betancourt passed away, losing her husband who had been with her for more than 50 years, and the 85-year-old Liliana was like losing the most reliable crutch, and the whole person collapsed mentally and psychologically.
But at this time, someone set his sights on the fragile Liliana, intending to take advantage of the situation.
This "close friend" with ulterior motives is the famous fashion photographer Barnier.
At the age of 16, he was the guest of honour of the famous surrealist painter Dalí, and he accompanied the President of France on a foreign trip to photograph the Queen of England.
Barnier really has two brushes in the mixed circle, a plate in the fashion circle, the entertainment circle, and the literary circle, and well-known designers, celebrities, etc. are all his friends.
Tracing the relationship between Barnier and Liliana, Barnier also became acquainted when she helped her shoot the cover of the magazine, and they gradually became close friends.
Since they are friends, they must be supported in all aspects of their career and life, and over the years, Liliana has helped Barnier organize exhibitions, sent him Picasso, Matisse's authentic works, sent him a huge amount of insurance, and even gave him a small island...
After decades of acquaintance, Liliana has given Barnier gifts worth nearly 1 billion euros, which is jaw-dropping even for the richest man in the world.
Although her daughter Françoise was reluctant to make friends with her mother, she felt that Barnier could provide her mother with enough emotional value, so she went with him.
To her surprise, not long after her father's death, the family's maid came to report that she had overheard Barnier instigating Liliana to adopt him and change the testamentary heir so that he could legally inherit her estate.
As soon as Françoise heard the news, she was furious on the spot, she couldn't imagine that Barnier's appetite was so big, and the gift of more than 1000 million euros was not satisfied, and she even wanted to enter the house and embezzle the family property!
Françoise then took Barnier to court, accusing him of inducing his elderly and delirious mother to make a wrong decision with the intention of embezzling her property.
At the same time, she asked the relevant authorities to assess her mother's mental state, believing that she was no longer suitable to continue to be in charge of L'Oréal.
After such a fuss, Liliana's face couldn't be hung up.
The old lady has been elegant all her life, and when she turned her head and was torn by her only daughter to expose her "Alzheimer's disease", how embarrassed she was, so she also openly shouted to the media, saying that her daughter has been a "cold child" and "unfilial daughter" since she was a child, and once said "Even if I step into the grave, I will climb out and strangle her to death." ”
What a grudge... Could this be the power of "Blue Face Disaster Water"?
When the daughter saw that her mother scolded herself so much for an outsider, she simply didn't think about it, and the backhand was another wave of blockbuster revelations, and she actually took out her mother's daily recording as evidence.
The content of the recording is varied, but it can be heard that the richest woman is indeed mentally sane, and she also complains about Barnier's insatiable greed.
What's more, this recording also involves the issue of her political donation with then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
This recording, which was supposed to be a top-secret document, somehow fell into the hands of the media, and this revelation frightened the president.
Sure enough... The fight against corruption depends on the family.
If Liliane and Françoise mother and daughter don't stop again, their old bottom will also be exposed, Sarkozy quickly stood up to mediate, so the mother and daughter were half under pressure, half suddenly remembered to maintain their brand image, and on the surface they eased their relationship outside the court.
The daughter almost won the game at the cost of a dead fish, and then the head of the group quickly changed hands, and Barnier was naturally removed from the heir column in the will.
A ridiculous farce came to an end, and a few years after the court, 94-year-old Liliana died at home, and all grievances and grievances disappeared.
Throughout Liliana's life, she was once noble and elegant, glamorous; But she liked her reputation the most, but she ended up with a bad reputation and became the talk of others after dinner.
And the only daughter, Françoise, did keep the family business and did not fall into the hands of others, but at the cost of tearing up the perfect image that her mother had whitewashed all her life, she lifted the robe with her own hands and exposed lice.
The peace that needs to be whitewashed is not Taiping after all.
However, even if the gossip of the wealthy family is bloody, it is not without reference.
After writing so many bloody stories of the grievances of wealthy families, Mi Li's mother feels more and more that for us ordinary people, how long a family can prosper and how long it will be inherited really does not depend on how much wealth, how high status, and how much power.
Always remember that whether it is a relationship of family, friendship or love, it is not a bottomless giving, unconditional trust, it is precisely a plan and mutual need, but also know how to control the balance and keep the boundary.
Moreover, never use money to test human nature, never let yourself fall into a passive situation, and always leave yourself a way out.
Personal profile: @米粒妈频道 (welcome to follow), Mi Li's mother, American returnee, Haidian parent, the author of "Parent-Child English Books That Affect Children's Lives" ranked first on the Dangdang New Book List. Focus on learning dry goods, educational experience sharing, education and further education for children aged 5-12, English, mathematics, science enlightenment, and novelty recommendations from all over the world, welcome to pay attention! (0~5 years old, please pay attention: @米粒妈爱分享)