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“He was out of it and useless.”įor weeks, Gail spun her wheels in trying to raise the money. “He lived on heroin and chocolate-chip cookies,” said Pearson. Meanwhile, John Paul Jr., in London to escape Italian drug charges related to the death of Pol, was oblivious. Even the Italian media headlined it a hoax. In fact, Paul had bragged to friends about a plan for the perfect fake kidnapping. Don’t do anything stupid.”Ī day after the abduction, his mother, Gail, received a phone call asking for a ransom of $17 million.Īt first, she wondered if perhaps the police were right in their assessment that he had himself “kidnapped” to bilk his family for money. A captor said, “Listen, kid, you’re going to be here a long time. The men - part of a ragtag group that included Mafia members, a carpenter and a hospital orderly - drove Paul to a cave in southern Italy where he was tied to a stake. Paul got chloroformed and smacked in the head with the butt of a gun before passing out. As he told writer Joe Eszterhas, during a 1974 Rolling Stone interview, “I didn’t know if I had f–ked somebody’s chick or whether they were the cops or whatever.” He stopped at a newsstand to purchase the coming day’s paper and a Mickey Mouse comic book.Ī car pulled up and three men jumped out, brandishing pistols. July 10, 1973, the Golden Hippie was drunk and strolling home along the Piazza Farnese. Local media dubbed Paul “the Golden Hippie.”Īround 3 a.m. At 16, he was mostly known for partying and nude modeling. “But idolized his father, thought he was a cool guy - even though he was dysfunctional and an emotional wreck,” said Pearson.īelieving that freedom would help her son, Gail allowed Paul to quit school and live in an apartment in Rome so he could pursue a career as a painter. In the aftermath of a 1971 heroin binge, Pol fatally overdosed. According to the 2013 biography of Paul, “Uncommon Youth,” by Charles Fox, Gail suspected that Paul “had a 24-hour really bad trip on whatever it was that had given him.” They bounced around Rome and Morocco, hung out with the Rolling Stones, and smoked opium.īy the age of 15, Paul had already been exposed to the likes of Andy Warhol, Jack Nicholson and Mick Jagger.

His father, John Paul Jr., had divorced Gail in 1966 and had been living a bohemian existence with his new wife, model Talitha Pol. It was 1971 and the 15-year-old boy, known as Paul, had evolved into a bellbottoms-wearing hippie. When they met again four years later, however, Old John was less impressed. had with first wife Gail - until the boy was 11 years old.

Old John did not meet his grandson, John Paul III - the oldest of four children whom John Paul Jr. “But he was a drug addict and a layabout.” He particularly disdained his third boy, John Paul Getty Jr., and viewed him as a dope-addled hippie. Old John had five wives and as many sons. Paul Getty in the dining room of Sutton Place Getty Images would have gotten in the way of his mistresses,” John Pearson, author of “Painfully Rich,” on which the movie is based, told The Post. He was equally parsimonious about showing love to his family. So much so that he kept a payphone at Sutton Place, his 75-acre estate in Surrey, England, so as not to get stuck paying for guests’ calls. Paul Getty turned mere wealth into billions by buying oil-rich land in the Middle East.īut “Old John,” as he came to be called, was a notorious tightwad. At just 24, he ended up paralyzed as a result of a drug overdose.Īs it turns out, all the money in the world could not save him.īorn in 1892 to Minnesota parents in the petroleum business, J. The ordeal, coupled with terrible neglect, ruined the boy’s life. His abductors demanded $17 million, which his family wouldn’t pay, leading his captors to cut off his right ear. Paul Getty, then said to be the world’s richest man, worth some $1.2 billion (around $9.1 billion today) - was kidnapped in Rome. In 1973, John Paul Getty III - the 16-year-old grandson of oilman J. Paul Getty APīut the scandal the movie is based on is just as shocking. 22, Plummer was still filming in Italy as recently as this past week. A month ago, the filmmakers decided to to erase star Kevin Spacey - now tainted by accusations of sexual misconduct - and replace him with Christopher Plummer. The upcoming film “All the Money in the World” has been garnering lots of buzz for the scandal around it.