Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers is the undiscussed richest woman in the world, let’s see how she managed to reach these levels.
For some strange coincidence, in 2023 the richest man and richest woman in the world are both French nationals. While the world’s richest man (and person) is Bernard Arnault with his luxury brands empire, his female counterpart is also a large shareholder of an important French company.
I’m talking about Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, whose net worth stems primarily from her 33% stake in L’Oreal. The personal care company is one of the main players in the industry, and has been part of the Bettencourt family for generations.
Françoise has been on the board of L’Oreal since 1997 and she started playing a larger role inside the company after her mother’s passing.
Indeed the richest woman in the world inherited basically her entire fortune from her mother, Liliane Bettencourt. Françoise was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a wealthy town on the outskirts of Paris, and received a strict catholic education.
Her current net worth is $83.8 billion, over $20 billion more than the second richest woman in the world: Alice Louise Walton.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is also an author and pianist, having signed books like “Greek Gods. A genealogy” and “A Look at the Bible”.
Françoise’s life has not been free of controversies. Indeed, despite owing her entire fortune to her mother Liliane, the two have had their… differences.
Motherly love
The Banier-Bettencourt affair could be the perfect subject of an Oscar-nominated movie. A family feud amid some of the richest people in the world, with love affairs, deception and betrayals.
It all started back in 1987, when Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers’s mother Liliane took part in a photoshoot for Egoiste, a French magazine. The piece, curated by photographer François-Marie Banier, would be just the start of a decades-long friendship between him and the multi-billionaire.
Eventually, Liliane’s daughter Françoise discovered that her mother had been giving quite a lot of… benefits to this new friend. Apparently, Liliane donated almost one billion dollars to the photographer over all the years they spent knowing each other.
Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers then decided to bring the matter to court, claiming that Banier had exploited her mother’s “mental weakness”. Of course, Liliane did not take being called crazy by her own daughter very well.
Liliane said in an interview that she was a “free woman” and could do with her money whatever she wanted.
Then, however, Liliane’s own butler testified that she was being clearly abused by Banier. Furthermore, he also showed that whoever inside the house would criticize Banier’s actions would simply be fired.
Eventually, Banier was forced to give back some of the money gifted by Liliane, who would pass away later in 2017 at the age of 95.
Since then, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers remained the world’s richest woman, a record that will hardly be topped any time soon.
