Well, That's Pretty Damn Depressing

Obituaries can be pretty depressing. Aside from the obvious reason (read: somebody died), obituaries can be depressing when they lay the person's life out in front of you and it's a pretty sad life.

The Washington Post had an obituary for J. Paul Getty III yesterday, and I started reading it out of curiosity for who he was. The name sounded familiar. The reason the name sounded familiar is because he's the grandson of J. Paul Getty Sr., the billionaire oil tycoon (and the namesake of the California museum). Reading J. Paul Getty III's obituary revealed a pretty depressing story and a pretty messed up family:

Ok, so, the grandson (JP Getty III) is kidnapped in Italy at age 16. It's initially believed that this was just a hoax, because he had previously joked with friends about staging his own kidnapping in order to get money out of his grandfather (who was very tight-fisted about his money).  However, this was no hoax. He was being held in different mountain hideouts and was kept chained up and blindfolded.  The kidnappers demanded a $17 million ransom. His father didn't have that kind of money. In addition, after years of living extravagantly and suffering from drug addiction, the father was undergoing rehab at the time (he was already divorced from his wife at this point). And the grandfather refused to pay the ransom amount! He said, "I have 14 other grandchildren, and if I pay one penny now, then I'll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren." The kidnappers ended up cutting off the grandson's ear and mailing it to an Italian newspaper with a note saying that this is not a joke, and they will continue to cut off bits until the ransom is paid. The kidnappers eventually agreed to a ransom of $2.8 million. The grandfather provided the money, but he told his son that the money was simply a loan and he expected it to be repaid (and at 4% interest!). The grandson was released (he was held captive for 5 months), and when he called his grandfather to thank him, the grandfather refused to take the call!

The grandson ended up having a pretty troubled life after that, as you would expect. He continued to struggle with the aftereffects of the traumatic event, including constant nightmares. He later became addicted to cocaine and heroin. (Interesting trivia: He married the German-born photographer Gisela Martine Zacher and they had a son before divorcing. He was 18 when his son was born. Their son is the actor Balthazar Getty. You might remember him as the guy Sienna Miller had an affair with while he was married). Then in 1981 he (the III) suffered from a narcotics-induced stroke that left him paralyzed and nearly blind. He needed $25,000 a month for around-the-clock nursing care. His father (the II) had become extremely wealthy after his own father died and he got his inheritance. After receiving the money, he (the II) became a generous philanthropist in Britain, his adopted home, and he was even knighted for it. YET, the father refused to help pay for the son's medical care! A California judge ended up forcing him to help his son financially.

And now J. Paul Getty III has died at age 54. No specific reason was given in the obituary, but I assume it was a medical complication.

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This is probably the saddest Washington Post obituary I've come across since Leona Gage's. She lived in Maryland, and she was named Miss USA in 1957. She held the title for a mere 24 hours, and then she was stripped of her title when the pageant officials learned that she lied about her age (she was 18, not 21) and the fact that she was married. In fact, she was married and a mother of two. In fact, she was a mother of two by the age of 16.

She met an airman ten years older than her when she was 13. Leona learned she was pregnant after he was deployed. She became desperate and married another airman. The marriage was annulled days later. She eventually married the original airman when he returned. They had a troubled marriage and he wasn't very nice to her. She had hoped the pageant would be her ticket to fame and fortune, and a chance to escape her life. She was extremely embarrassed and devastated after she lost the title and her truth came out. (Interesting trivia: Miss Utah was given the title after it was stripped from Leona).

Afterwards, she tried to develop a show-business career and she moved to Las Vegas. She lived in a trailer and was a featured act at the Tropicana Hotel. She later toured strip clubs around the country with a singing and dancing act. She suffered from drug addiction and she attempted suicide. All six of her marriages ended in divorce. She eventually lost custody of all five of her children.

She said in a 2005 interview, "There's really no way that this could have a happy ending, is there? Why? Because my dream is dead -- having all my children around the table at one time, and me serving them turkey and all the trimmings."

She also said in the interview that she goes by Leona instead of her first name Mary (her given name is Mary Leona) because "Leona means lioness. Leona is a survivor. She's taking care of Mary because Mary is a wimp. Mary was a sweet little girl who was taken advantage of by every man she ever met."

She died at age 71 from a heart problem.