Lee Radziwell in NY Times Magazine

She has stacked books in her Paris apartment. That was my main take away. And I don't see how she was prettier than Jacqueline. They fall over themselves to say how sophisticated she is, when all she remembers about visiting her sister in the White House were "the parties". A life of access to history and great minds that was wasted on an airhead. Yes, I'm jealous. A few choice moments: "I must go to London more often. I know, I should, but I am so, so happy in this apartment . . . if I can wade though the scores of Japanese kids fighting their way into Chanel.” "How could I ever forget Rudolf’s funeral, here, at the Opera . . . the whole place swathed with deep red roses, and draped in black, as well as the dancers and les petits rats descending the stairs. I’ve seen some extraordinary funerals in my life, Jack’s of course."

• OP, allow me to post the link.

  http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/the-real-lee-radziwill/

• She was always one of the Ladies who Lunch and never had the intellectual curiosity that her sister had.

• Th writer of that piece is incredibly over-the-top. I felt like I was reading an Oscar Wilde short story. The woman certainly has a mother complex. Every chance she could get, she rammed her mother in the ground. And yet, she has lived using as her first name her middle name, which was the last name of her mother. I love the fact she was on a cover of a book labeled simply "Bals" (only one "l"). She certainly has that and more with the incredible over-infalted ego she presents in this interview.

• [quote]Every chance she could get, she rammed her mother in the ground. In Lee's defense, Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss was a first-class bitch who was disliked by all and sundry. I have never read a good word about that woman.

• Lee was prettier than Jackie. There I said it.

• Bals is the french spelling.

• I had to listen to that video 3 times. I always liked airheads.

• Lee Radziwell would look much better if she wasn't a life-long anorexic.

• [quote]Framed in the evening light, between double doors, is a figure slight as swan’s-down, a silhouette in dark,.. MARY!! I just couldn't take anything serious after reading that. It ruined the entire piece.

• [quote]And I don't see how she was prettier than Jacqueline. Young Lee was conventionally pretty with classical patrician features representing the WASP standard of the time (even though they were Catholics of French descent). Jackie had an unusual, almost ethnic type of beauty, with her eyes set farther apart and a facial shape that looks squashed. Picture of the two in their glamorous youth:

  http://brownpaperpackagestiedupwithstrings.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/cn00000510.jpg

• Genetics are so strange. Jackie was dead at 64 and Lee is still alive and kicking at 80. Both were heavy smokers (Lee still is) and Lee has always liked her booze, something Jackie never really cared for.

• Jackie was prettier.

• I was surprised she still smokes even after the early deaths of her sister and her son from cancer. Although maybe by the time Jackie died and Lee was 60, she figured the damage had already been done and the difficulty of giving it up would be pointless. I wonder if she's ever tried to quit.

• Why did the NY Times Magazine do a 20 bazillion word essay on her? What did she DO? I mean, she was pretty. Okay. So was Gia Carangi, but a full-length movie was a stretch for Gia. Maybe I'm just an ignoramus, but I stopped reading when I saw that there were 10 more pages with links.

• [quote]Young Lee was conventionally pretty with classical patrician features representing the WASP standard of the time (even though they were Catholics of French descent). They were actually half-Irish, their mother being the granddaughter of four immigrants from County Cork. The French ancestry was descent from one great-grandfather, making them only one-eight French.

• Because she, unlike Gia, witnessed the 20th century right where it mattered, with the people that mattered? The article isn't about her beauty; it's about her life as an icon among icons. Next!

• Same here r14, but it was the class conscious elite-fucker attitude of the writer that turned me off before I saw how long this impossibly over-inflated piece was. I mean, what did the ol' cunt actually do to warrant such hero worship?

  Bals!!!!

• Booze is good for you, r11.

• I'm too lazy to read the whole thing. Does the woman even mention her children?

• her acting debut in the TV adaptation of LAURA was laughable..... he rreviews were all bottom of the barrel. Did she ever play any other roles?

• I was under the impression that she was universally loathed. Just short of a grifter and always ripping off people.

  http://www.amazon.com/Her-Sisters-Shadow-Biography-Radziwill/dp/0316187534/ref%3Dpd_sim_b_1

• [quote]Booze is good for you, [R11]. That's what I always say! Er, I mean, said.

  Amy%20Winehouse

• The book a Doube Life goes into detail about the Laura debacle. It was hilarious.

• If she divorced Radziwell and then married Herb Ross, how is it that she goes by Radziwell now and also lets people call her Princess.

• There aren't 10 pages r14. That was a picture slideshow! It's just the one page... the most anyone could possibly muster about Lee.

• The "stacked books" thing is very old money, English Country House style. When Bill and Hillary Clinton had dinner with Jackie Onassis at her apartment they both commented on the piles of books stacked up. Bill Clinton said that they tried the same thing at their home but it didn;t look as good.

  Nancy%20Lancaster

• Such an interesting video. I love how Sophia Coppola (or whomever is the interviewer) morphs into the mid-Atlantic Long Island accent from time to time. Also Lee takes complete credit for Grey Gardens. Refers to the "Edies" multiple times as the "Beales", as though they are complete strangers or circus side show characters. Watch out Lee, Sophia is making Grey Gardens II.

• The proper style for a divorced princess is to use the previous title as a surname separated from the first name by a comma. Instead of Princess Lee Radziwill, she would be Lee, Princess Radziwill. Same with the deceased Princess of Wales, she then became Diana, Princess of Wales. Upon remarriage the former princess loses this privilege, but may start using it again if that marriage ends. No one ever gets this right, to the delight of the former princesses and duchesses. Diana, Princess of Wales was referred to as Princess Diana until her death, Sarah, Duchess of York is still called The Duchess of York, and of course we have 'Princess' Lee here. Why should she correct anyone? She must love it.

• I pretty indifferent to Lee Radziwill, but I do give her props for really knowing how to look fabulous.

  http://www.garancedore.fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/lee-radziwill.jpg

• They were fabulous. Someone needs to make a movie about their relationship.

  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fsffvnUqB_o/T0_uYOt1XxI/AAAAAAAAvm4/A3a9UmmfwZM/s1600/tumblr_lus0j3DPeS1qajmms.jpg

• [quote]When Bill and Hillary Clinton had dinner with Jackie Onassis at her apartment they both commented on the piles of books stacked up. Bill Clinton said that they tried the same thing at their home but it didn;t look as good. Funny thing about a stack of Find-A-Words, isn't it?

• ^And you're a Rhodes scholar I bet?...

• I was struck, like other posters, by how much she seems to have loathed Janet Auchincloss.

• Well, they couldn't title the book "Balls", now, could they?

• The Bouvier sisters plopping down and having a ciggie break in some glamorous, far-flung locale.

  http://amourette-amourette.blogspot.com/2012/02/bouvier-sisters.html

• Jackie was prettier, but Lee had some of the best cheekbones ever--very patrician.

• Yeah, I was struck by her loathing for her mother too. I always read that Lee was closer to their mother than Jackie was b/c Janet favored Lee and treated Jackie like shit. I guess Janet treated both of them pretty horribly according to this interview. A couple of other things that were interesting: 1) Her flat-out refusal to talk about Aristotle Onassis. Did Jackie steal him from her or something? 2) Her most fulfilling relationships in life have been her friendships and not her relationships with her children or close family. 3) She said that her mother told her she wasn't as pretty as Jackie, but yet I've always read that Lee was considered the beauty and Jackie the brains. 4) She said the last time she cried was when the President was assassinated but that she cried "inner tears" when her son died. 5) The sheer beauty of her apartments and their interior design. How in the hell does she have all of this when she never really had a lucrative career. Did one of her husbands leave her a lot of money?

  Anonymous

• R37 I don't know much about her financial history but I am guessing that the Paris apartment is an investment property that she plans to lease when she is not there. If you look at all the photos there is nothing personal about it. It looks more like a hotel suite and this article is more akin to advertorial than lifestyle journalism.

• This is an interesting read from a PBS special that was done on Jackie Kennedy's family background in the Van Salees family. Someone earlier in this thread stated that Jackie had an almost ethnic look. After reading this, you can see why she does.

  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/vansallees.html

• Also, google Jackie Kennedy's father "Black Jack" Bouvier. At best this man looks "foreign". He is very dark complexioned. I read somewhere that he was nick-named "Black Jack" because of his dark complexion.

  R39

• r39 totally fascinating especially this name "Dr. John van Salee De Grasse" - possibly related to Neil DeGrasse Tyson perhaps?

• Yes, in America many people have a varied background. I guess it should not be a surprise. I would have loved to have seen the actual PBS television program on this that aired. I'll have to google to see if it is available online somewhere. I'll post a link if I am able to find the video.

  R39

• I think she would look better with silver hair.

• America's very own Princess Margaret. Except she looks like one of those goldfish hybrids with bulgy eyes staring in opposite directions.

• with all of those exes, is she an elderlez?

• Actually, r31, it was alot of the For Dummies series: "Middle East for Dummies", "The US Constitution for Dummies" and "Christianity for Dummies", stuff like that.

• Bump for a bump on a log.

• r37 - From Jackie's will: "I have made no provision in this my Will for my sister, Lee B. Radziwill, for whom I have great affection because I have already done so during my lifetime." In other words, "I've been supporting this lazy bitch for decades!!"

  http://livingtrustnetwork.com/estate-planning-center/last-will-and-testament/wills-of-the-rich-and-famous/last-will-and-testament-of-jacqueline-kennedy-onassis.html

• The reason the writing is so froofy is that it's by Nicky Haslam, who is a very well-connected English decorator. He once tweaked my nipple at a hotel opening, which was bold as we'd only just been introduced, and I thought he was a bit ridiculous. Now I wish I'd chatted more as he's had a fantastic life and known everyone. As a gossipy elderly gay man, he's almost the quintessential DL person.

  http://www.nh-design.co.uk/

• Haslam's style is indeed quaintly gushing, but it shows how he's known, and often charmed, Everyone. His recent memoir, 'Redeeming Features' is duly diverting. I can see why he turns it on for Lee. She's a Grande Dame, US Royalty, and doubtless half the stories she knows can't be told, yet or maybe ever. She gives great slideshow. I hope Coppola makes a longer film about her.

• R37, I guess it's not surprising that her closest relationships have been with friends and not family. Her mother was a bitch so that wasn't promising. Jackie was always looking out for Jackie because Lee was always looking out for Lee and, in those days, it was all about the men you hooked with your good "breeding." And, without a great maternal influence, she wasn't a great mother probably. But if you were a friend you could drop in and out and not have to spend too much time with her - and she with you. Have a lovely lunch and then go home. Attend a great dinner party and then go home. Hear some interesting anecdotes and meet some interesting people and then go home. I thought she was going to say Herb Ross was a big old queen.

• That was a crap read. A drop on the ground writing about a puddle and they both think they're ocean deep.

  spoo

• Nicky Haslam is repellent.

• More information about the Bouviers' "Moorish" ancestry

  http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/michelle-obama-not-our-first-black-first-lady-10-fascinating-things-you-didnt-know

• R54 good link but the author is making a stretch by calling her black. Of a certain amount of African Ancestry would be more apt.

• R51, I remember reading somewhere that Lee was estranged from her children, particularly with daughter Tina, for a good part of their lives. Tina, who was a slightly chubby, shy and withdrawn teen (and thus, not the "ideal" daughter of high society) went off to live with Auntie Jackie, during this period. That kind of gives you a glimpse into Lee's motherly instincts. Whereas Caroline and JFK Jr adored their mom, Anthony and Tina couldn't wait to escape theirs.

• Auntie Jackie's doesn't seem like a good place for a slightly chubby, shy and withdrawn teen. I understand she was always telling Caroline she was fat and would never find a man.

• And that was true, R57. She found a Jewish boy. Tsk, tsk.

  Auntie Caroline Lee

• I wonder if Lee and Caroline are close, you never really see them together. Lee and her daughter are really the only close family Caroline has left from her mother's side. But then again, Jackie never really had much to do with her Bouvier relatives, did she?

• I knew Lee during her marriage to Herbert Ross. She was a rare combination of elegance, ice cold indifference, and sexuality. She grew to hate Herbert and thought she was settling. A terrible snob, but pretty much sunned by society as it was well known she would seduce anyone's husband she wanted for herself. In her youth, she mocked gay men. In her dotage, she needs them. Lives primarily from the proceeds of the sale of Herbert Ross's East Hampton House.

• Darlings won't you go drown yourselves in Evian spring water s'il vous plait.

  Princess Lee, if you please

• Smoking gives ladies such a lovely, feminine voice.

  Bitsey%20Bloomingdale

• I love that she just completely trashes her mother in this. Also the jealous resentment of her sister and the specter she cast over her life is palpable. Much more interesting read then I expected.

• [quote] She found a Jewish boy And so did Jackie. Jackie had a relationship with A VERY, VERY Rich Maurice Templesman for the last 10 or more years of her life. And at Ed Schlossberg may have been boring, at least wasn't MARRIED like Maurice is. Yes, jackie the whore carried on with a married man. But she did it for money. Maurice quadrupled her finanacial settlement from Ari Onassis.

• I wonder if Ol' Joe ever forced himself on her?

• What is Lee's relationship with former daughter-in-law "Princess" Carole Radziwell like?

• Carole *is* a Princess as the widow of Prince Anthony Radziwill. Why do you put the title Princess in quotation marks as if it's an alleged thing. She married a Prince, therefore she is a Princess. Period.

• Yes, R67, thank you. The proper use of "Princess" (with the parenthesis) would have been, "Princess" Anthony Radziwill. Or "Princess" Caroline Kennedy." For different reasons.

• For someone who is trying to come across well, Lee Radziwell spent too much time knocking her mother. The writer could not do her a favor and leave most of her comments about her mother out...because despite all the bold faced names, her life has not been very interesting.

• Maybe carrying on about her own mother is her way of rationalizing why she doesn't seem to have much of a relationship with her own surviving child (and not spending much time mourning that one that died).

• She played Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story

• Have any of you ever read anything about Lee and Jackie's mother, Janet Auchincloss? She was a cold, brittle, imperious bitch who had absolutely no maternal instincts whatsoever. Everyone who ever had any dealings with that woman all said the same thing. Jackie and Lee had a very antagonistic relationship with her, through no fault of their own. You can really feel the love in this picture...

  http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m71runr0dV1rzne93o1_500.jpg

• Even if Radziwell is right about her mother, she's been around long enough to know her words about Janet Auchincloss undercuts her image. Guess she does not care.

• God, I love that mega bouffant Joan has! I wish people still wore their hair like that

• One of the things Jackie did well was raise her children. Basically she said if you screw up your children nothing else matters. She probably wasn't mother of the year but her kids were different from, for example, RFK's brood. Since they both had inadequate mothering it's interesting that Jackie was close to her kids and Lee, well, not so much.

• R74, is the blonde woman Joan Kennedy?

• That pic at r72 is interesting. Jackie is sleeveless, but the other women look dressed for cold weather. The woman in back has on fur!

  Della

• Is that a photo of JFK funeral or memorial? If so, the sad faces would seem appropriate

• Lee Radziwell has terrible breath. Her lack of eating any carbs combined with her smoking leaves her with the aroma of an unclean ashtray. and she is terribly bitter that her sister not her became the widow of Onassis.

• This is from an oral history interview for the JFK Library conducted in 1966. When Michael Canfield and Lee's marriage wasn't going very well, Michael was very fond of Lee, and he went to Jackie and said, "Can you give any advice as to how I can make your sister happier?" She said, "Well, Michael, I think the best thing is for you to get her some real money." He said, "But listen, kiddo, I mean, I make a perfectly good living. I mean, I've got a certain amount of money of my own, and Harpers [Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc] pays me quite well. I'm going to England, and I can live practically tax free." And Jackie said, "I mean [bold]real[/bold] money, Michael, [bold]real[/bold] money." And of course she showed absolutely correct understanding of her sister, who had now contrived to get into real money as far as I can make out. Well, you see her sometimes when her husband's not around, and you see these people like Onassis [Aristole Onassis] and Mr. Clore [Charles Clore] and all that. As much as Jacqueline and Lee hated their mother they shared her priorities.

• [quote]Someone needs to make a movie about their relationship. I agree, or a really honest biography about them. One that shows the good and the bad.

• Does anyone else think that the young Jackie in the link at R10 looked quite a lot like young Liza Minnelli?

• The photo at r72 is from the 1963 state of the union address. Old lady Auchincloss looks like a real piece of work, doesn't she. Here's a color version:

  http://55secretstreet.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834525f2869e201127912a06828a4-pi

• It does seem that Jackie was a good parent. But, has there been a family in the WH since Franklin Roosevelt that were thought of as not particularly good parents? I can not think of any, which is remarkable given the range of people there since Roosevelt was president.

• Didn't the mother have two other kids, Janet, and a boy who's name I forget. I want to say, Jamie. So Jackie & Lee had half-siblings. I remember reading that the night JFK was killed, Janet senior & Hugh slept at the White House and gave JAckie moral support. That afternoon, Janet had the Nanny, Maude Shaw send the kids to her house so they wouldn't find out about the assasination, but when Jackie found out, she insisted the kids be brought back to the White House. Jackie didn't necessarily "steal" Ari frm Lee. Jackie was always the prize he coveted. At first, he courted Lee so he could get closer to Jackie, Jack, and the White House. He thought Lee might be influential. Bobby hated Ari and thought he was an unscrupulous crook. Ari had cases pending with the Justice department and trade deals and regulatory problems. Jackie was class, the ultimate icon to buy him respectability. When JFK got killed, Ari rushed to the White House that weekend to "help in any way I can." He gained entree thru Lee, but he had an agenda to run, then when Jackie became available, with her status as Presidential Widow. Lee should have packed her bags and left. Lee is vapid. Ari recognized that. Ari knew Lee was no different from the Eurotrash he saw all the time. In Ari's world, Lee was a user, not special at all. Jackie was the real deal, Lee was the cheap knock off version. He genuinely had affection for the little kids, John & Caroline.

• In the photo at R83, Jackie looks like a China Doll. She's stunningly beautiful. I really liked "Mrs. Kennedy and Me" by Clint Hill, her bodyguard. He was obviously in love with her, and years later was seen with an inebriated Jackie making out in a corner booth. I recommend his book if you want a real inside look at a casual, funloving Jackie during her glory years. As with most narcissistic billionaires, Onassis tired of Jackie after the marriage, and the creeping reality of their true arrangement began to sink in. He had won. Now he was bored. He said rude things to her at dinner parties and humiliated her in front of her friends. She took it, and then charged another million to Ari's accounts. Lee didn't come off as badly as I thought she would in that clip. Jackie's mother looks cold and brittle. A stage mother.

• "They are playing ten little Indians with Kennedys. Well I'm not playing." JBK on why she grabbed her kids, married Ari and left the good ole gun luving USA.

• Up above Jackie I want to know who the lady in blue coat and pink hat is LOL. Or the old lady to the right in black, with the hat, slouched in her chair. The both look like they've bin at the gin all day.

• "if I can wade though the scores of Japanese kids fighting their way into Chanel.” My favorite line in the whole story, just because it's so true, go to any high end Mall and that's all you see, Asians running you over to get to a "name" store .

• [quote]"They are playing ten little Indians with Kennedys. Well I'm not playing." JBK on why she grabbed her kids, married Ari and left the good ole gun luving USA. Jacqueline married Ari because he had more money than god. Her kids never really left the U.S. they continued to go to school in NY. Like her mother, Jacqueline made up stories.