Nobody lived quite like the stupidly rich **Vanderbilt family**. They spent millions on mansions, yachts, fashion, and parties. On the surface, it seemed like a fairy tale. But the reality was far darker than anyone realised.
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A man named **Jan Aertson** came to America from the Netherlands in 1650. He was a servant and began working for a rich family known as the **Van Kouwenhovens**. This new life led to a new name—one that would become one of the most recognised in history.
For his new last name, Jan took the Dutch word **“van”** (meaning “from”) and combined it with the name of his hometown, **De Bilt**. But it would be a long time before the Vanderbilt family gained its infamous reputation.
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It was Jan’s great-great-great-great grandson who was the first to become wealthy: **Cornelius Vanderbilt**, a.k.a. *The Commodore*. He rose from a lower‑class existence on Staten Island and became rich in the **shipping** and **railroad** industries.
Around the mid‑1800s, he moved his family to Manhattan and built a house in what is now the affluent **Greenwich Village**. By 1877, the sickly Commodore found himself restricted by his ailments and spent eight months rarely leaving his house.
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By the time he was on his deathbed, he had amassed over **$100 million**—more than **$3 billion** in today’s money. Before he died, he had some important decisions to make. What was he going to do with all his riches?
The Commodore first gave **$1 million** to found **Vanderbilt University** in Nashville. Next, he had to decide how to divide the rest among his rather large collection of potential heirs.
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When they finally read the will, they likely couldn’t believe their eyes. The Commodore shocked everyone by leaving almost **everything** to just one of his heirs: his eldest son, **William Henry Vanderbilt**, also known as *Billy*.
Unsurprisingly, the rest of the family was furious—and more than that, suspicious. After all, there was another son and **nine daughters** who received almost nothing. They weren’t going to take this lying down.
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Three of Billy’s siblings went to court. They accused him of hiring a spiritualist who had supposedly duped their father into leaving him all the money. Billy wanted to spare his family the public humiliation of a trial, so he settled with his siblings, although he didn’t offer them very much.
As it turned out, Billy had precious little time to enjoy his grand inheritance. In 1885, just eight years after his father, Billy died of a stroke.
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The remarkable thing was that in that short time, he had **doubled** the money his father left him. Billy was good at amassing money, but he had little need for it. He often said that money made him anxious.
He blamed his poor health on being wealthy and was prone to looking at his poorer neighbours and feeling envious. Most of Billy’s fortune went to his two oldest sons.
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First, there was **Cornelius Vanderbilt II**, who did not increase the family wealth due to his great generosity. Then there was the second son, **William Kissam Vanderbilt**, who was more interested in horses than amassing a fortune.
In 1875, William married **Alva Erskine Smith**, who many thought was simply after his money. Alva had extravagant taste.
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She had her husband buy her a **yacht**, and she enjoyed collecting mansions—so much so that she eventually boasted **nine** of them. But this still wasn’t enough. She wanted something that money couldn’t directly buy.
New York high society didn’t accept the Vanderbilts because they were **new money**, their fortunes not strictly accumulated through generations of inheritance. Alva decided to buy her way in through architecture.
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She spent three years and **$3 million** building a spectacular home. By this time, William and Alva had welcomed a daughter, **Consuelo**. Alva was a strict disciplinarian with Consuelo, striking her with a riding crop and forcing her to wear a steel rod to correct her posture.
One thing Alva really wanted was a **regal title** to go along with her regal lifestyle. Her idea was to press her daughter into marrying royalty.
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The opportunity presented itself with **Charles Spencer-Churchill**, the **Duke of Marlborough**. The Duke also had ulterior motives. Neither Consuelo nor the Duke wanted to be together, but that didn’t stop the marriage.
With this union, Alva got her connection to royalty, and the Duke gained access to the Vanderbilt fortune to save his dukedom from financial ruin. Surprisingly, the marriage lasted **26 years**.
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Just before Consuelo’s marriage to the Duke of Marlborough, Alva announced that she wanted a **divorce** from William Vanderbilt. Divorce was unheard of in high society at the time, and she claimed her husband had cheated on her.
Some people believed William hadn’t actually committed adultery, but instead hired a woman to pose as his mistress. The question was: why? Apparently, he thought it would help him get out of his tumultuous marriage to Alva.
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William eventually remarried and moved to **France**, devoting himself to the horses he adored so much. He didn’t really like money. He reportedly said, *“Inherited wealth is a real handicap to happiness. It has left me with nothing to hope for, with nothing definite to seek or strive for.”*
So far, Billy Vanderbilt’s children had not done well with the family fortune. Cornelius II had given too much away, and William was more into horses than business. Then there was the younger brother, **George**.
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**George Washington Vanderbilt II** had an idea to make a real name for himself—no matter what the cost. He wanted a big house. A **really big** house.
He bought **125,000 acres** in North Carolina and hired an architect. He wanted a house with **250 rooms**, covering over **175,000 square feet**.
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It’s no surprise that the **Biltmore Estate** remains the largest house in America to this day. But it soon became a problem. Building a house this colossal made a deep cut into the Vanderbilt fortune, and maintaining it wasn’t cheap either.
George and his wife **Edith** were in over their heads with this massive mansion. Then, in 1914, tragedy struck when George died during a routine **appendectomy**.
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Suddenly, Edith had the monumental house all to herself, along with the financial responsibility. Eventually, the family had to do something that most Vanderbilts would once have turned their noses up at.
Edith’s daughter **Cornelia** opened the Biltmore Estate to the public in 1930, allowing anyone to come and see the Vanderbilts’ world up close.
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Speaking of lavish homes, in 1934 **Gladys Vanderbilt** inherited a summer residence called **The Breakers**. The 70‑room, 138,000‑square‑foot palace had been built in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
Gladys eventually began leasing it to the **Preservation Society of Newport County** for **$1 per year**.
Gladys’s brother was **Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt**, who had a reputation for gambling away the family fortune and was also a notorious womaniser.
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Reggie had a brother named **Cornelius Vanderbilt III**, who went by **Neily**. Neily spent loads of money trying to keep up appearances in high society. He bragged that he was the first Vanderbilt heir to **decrease** the family fortune.
In 1896, Neily fell in love with **Grace Graham Wilson**. Since his father opposed the relationship, they eloped. This made his parents so angry that they **disinherited** him.
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When the time came, Neily received **$500,000** of the family fortune, while his brother **Alfred** received almost **$70 million**. **Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt** seemed to have a good head on his shoulders—except when it came to marriage.
Seven years into his marriage to **Ellen Tuck French**, she abruptly moved out, allegedly because he’d been having an affair. He may have seemed like a cad, but Alfred would eventually become a hero.
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In 1915, Alfred boarded the **RMS Lusitania** on a business trip to Liverpool. Off the coast of Ireland, tragedy struck. A German U‑boat sent a torpedo into the ship, causing irreparable damage.
The Lusitania was sinking fast, and it looked like Alfred was going down with it. As the ship sank, he **gave his life vest** to a terrified woman clutching her baby.
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Over 1,000 people lost their lives that day, and Alfred was one of them. That meant one fewer Vanderbilt, but still no shortage of heirs.
The Vanderbilts were growing in number, and that meant more people stood to inherit from the family fortune. Since the new generation didn’t seem particularly interested in running the business, the money was quickly drying up.
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The fortune came chiefly from the **railway industry**, but America was rapidly changing. Railroads were no longer the only way to move people and products.
In the 1930s, the **Great Depression** hit America hard, and it wasn’t kind to the Vanderbilts either. By this time, Reggie Vanderbilt had ended up in an early grave because of his drinking.
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Now his wife and daughter—both named **Gloria**—had little to live on. His wife, **Gloria Morgan**, wasn’t born a Vanderbilt, so she couldn’t count on anything from the family trust.
The 18‑month‑old Gloria, the great-great-great granddaughter of the Commodore, was another story. When she turned 21, she was set to inherit a colossal sum of cash.
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The Vanderbilts weren’t fond of Gloria Morgan and her extravagant lifestyle. Reggie’s sister **Gertrude** wanted custody of little Gloria, and so they all went to court.
Because of the wealth and prestige of the Vanderbilts, the media had a field day. It became known as the **“trial of the century.”**
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One of the first witnesses was Gloria Morgan’s nurse, who painted a deeply unflattering picture. She claimed their home was filthy and infested with rodents. The takeaway was that Morgan was unspeakably cruel to little Gloria.
Another shocking testimony came from the maid, who scandalously reported that she had seen Morgan in bed with another woman. The courtroom erupted, and the judge had to clear everyone out before continuing.
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Perhaps the most stunning statements came from **little Gloria** herself, who said she was afraid of her mother. Morgan’s lawyers couldn’t believe their ears.
It later emerged that Aunt Gertrude had **coached** Gloria on what to say. The plan worked, and Gertrude won custody of the child.
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After the trial, Gloria Vanderbilt had very little connection with her mother. Aunt Gertrude wasn’t exactly motherly either, so Gloria turned to her **nanny** for a mother figure.
She took her troubled childhood and tried to build something of her own. She worked in theatre, appearing on Broadway and in both live and recorded TV dramas.
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With her angelic face, she launched a career in fashion as a model at just **15**. But she was more than a pretty face. She was also a skilled **painter**, and her artwork eventually appeared on a line of scarves.
An offer followed to put her **signature and swan logo** on the pocket of a pair of blue jeans.
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At that time, the idea of a **designer jean** didn’t exist. Gloria and Indian designer **Mohan Murjani** had an idea to make their jeans very, very tight. They were a huge success.
After her third marriage (seven years with director **Sidney Lumet**), Vanderbilt married **Wyatt Emory Cooper**. With Cooper, she had two sons, and it seemed she had finally found the right partner.
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She spent 15 years with Cooper until he died on the operating table at the age of 50. Ironically, he was the first younger man she’d married.
On July 22nd, 1988, her 23‑year‑old son **Carter** jumped from the balcony of their 14th‑floor penthouse apartment in New York.
Vanderbilt’s other son, **Anderson Cooper**, made his way through hard work—unlike many Vanderbilts before him.
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Anderson said that early in his life, his mother assured him there would be **no trust fund**. He doesn’t use the Vanderbilt name and rose to prominence without it. He is living proof that the Vanderbilt fortune has **run its course**.
There are a few reasons why. Back in 1973, the Vanderbilts gathered for a reunion. As they looked around the room, they had a stunning realisation: **not one of them was a millionaire**.
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Opulent parties, fashion, horses, yachts—the Vanderbilts had been living deliciously for about a century. Some people believe that the Commodore, the man who built the fortune, forgot to teach his heirs an important lesson.
He made their lives very easy, but he didn’t teach them how to **stay wealthy**. Some say he should have done what fellow tycoon **John Jacob Astor** did: set up a trust split 50/50 between children and grandchildren, requiring the same split for future generations.
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This structure would have forced the family to preserve capital. Another reason for the fall of the Vanderbilts was their **homes**. During their prime, they hired the most sought‑after architects and spared no expense on outrageous mansions and palaces.
The problem was, those homes were often **empty**. Summer homes were occupied only for a few weeks a year. City houses saw similar neglect.
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They also struggled to pass these properties down. No one seemed to want them. They built loads of properties in New York City for extravagant sums—and by the 1940s, they were all gone, reduced to **rubble**.
Even in death, the Vanderbilts did everything with style and a hefty price tag. In Staten Island, there’s a **mausoleum** that serves as the family’s burial site.
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The designer was the famous architect **Richard Morris Hunt**, who took inspiration from a French abbey. The Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum remains a **New York City designated landmark** even today.
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