The Amazing Life Of Gloria Vanderbilt

You know those designer jeans you love so much? You have Gloria Vanderbilt to thank for them.

Yes, that Gloria Vanderbilt. Anderson Cooper's mother. The Vanderbilt heiress. The socialite. The artist. The woman who lived a dozen lives before most people finish one.

But long before celebrity fashion lines became a normal part of American retail, Gloria Vanderbilt helped invent the idea. In the 1970s, she was at the forefront of the designer jeans craze, persuading women to trade in their basic Levi's for stylish, fitted, expensive denim with her signature and swan logo stitched on the back pocket. Those jeans did not just make her famous all over again. They made her independently rich.

Vanderbilt died in 2019 at the age of 95, just one week after being diagnosed with cancer. Her life had already been the stuff of novels: inheritance, scandal, custody battles, marriages, art, fashion, business, tragedy, and reinvention. She was born into one of the richest families in America, but she ultimately became much more than an heiress. She became a brand.

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The Original "Poor Little Rich Girl"

Gloria Laura Vanderbilt was born in New York City on February 20, 1924. She was the only child of railroad heir Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and his second wife, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt. Her father was a grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the shipping and railroad tycoon whose family name became synonymous with Gilded Age wealth.

Reginald died of cirrhosis when Gloria was just 18 months old. Upon his death, Gloria and her half-sister, Cathleen, each inherited a $5 million trust fund. Adjusted for inflation, Gloria's inheritance was worth tens of millions of dollars in today's money.

Because Gloria was a child, her mother controlled access to the income from the trust. Gloria Morgan was only 21 when she became a widow, and she used the money to live a glamorous, freewheeling life between New York, Paris, and the European social circuit. Gloria traveled with her mother, her beloved nanny Emma Sullivan, known as "Dodo," and her mother's identical twin sister, Thelma Morgan.

Thelma had her own place in history. She was the mistress of Edward VIII, then the Prince of Wales, and was reportedly the person who introduced him to Wallis Simpson, the woman for whom he would eventually give up the British throne.

The Custody Battle That Transfixed America

Gloria's childhood became national news when her paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, sought custody of her. Gertrude was not just a Vanderbilt by marriage and bloodline; she was also an artist, philanthropist, and founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art. She and Gloria's maternal grandmother, Laura Morgan, argued that Gloria's mother was an unfit parent and should not control either the child or the trust money.

The custody battle began when Gloria was 10 years old. Depression-era America was fascinated by the spectacle. At a time when millions of families were struggling, the public was given a front-row seat to the private world of one of the country's richest dynasties. Newspapers dubbed Gloria the "poor little rich girl."

The trial was sensational. Testimony portrayed Gloria's mother as a reckless socialite who spent lavishly, stayed out all night, and exposed her daughter to an unstable household. Witnesses described parties, lovers, alcohol, and inappropriate material left around the home. At times, the testimony was considered so scandalous that the judge cleared the courtroom before allowing young Gloria to speak privately.

Gloria eventually told the judge that she had been lonely in her mother's care and wanted to live with her aunt Gertrude.

In the end, her mother lost custody. Gloria was sent to live with Gertrude at her estate on Long Island, where she was raised in enormous privilege, but also under the shadow of one of the most public family dramas of the 20th century.

When Gloria later came of age and gained control of her trust, she cut her mother off financially.

Model, Actress, Artist, And Wife

Gloria began modeling as a teenager, appearing in the pages of "Harper's Bazaar" when she was just 15. At 17, she dropped out of school and ran away to Beverly Hills to reconnect with her estranged mother.

That same year, she married agent Pat DiCicco. The marriage was turbulent and unhappy. In her 2004 memoir, Gloria described it as "like walking on a tightrope," never knowing what might trigger one of his violent outbursts.

She divorced DiCicco in 1945 and, the very next day, married conductor Leopold Stokowski. She was 21. He was 63. They had two sons together, Leopold Stanislaus Stokowski and Christopher Stokowski, and remained married for a decade.

During her marriage to Stokowski, Gloria began painting, writing poetry, and acting. She later left him while pursuing stage work and, during that period, had a romance with Frank Sinatra.

In 1956, Gloria married director Sidney Lumet. That marriage ended in 1963. Later that same year, she married writer and editor Wyatt Cooper. He became the great love of her life. Together, they had two sons, Carter and Anderson Cooper. Wyatt died of a heart attack in 1978 at the age of 50.

The Jeans That Built A Fortune

Gloria Vanderbilt was born rich, but in the 1970s she made a fortune of her own.

At the height of the disco era, Vanderbilt launched a line of designer jeans inspired by the fitted Italian denim she loved wearing. At the time, American jeans were still largely viewed as casual workwear. Vanderbilt saw an opportunity to make denim fashionable, feminine, and aspirational.

Her jeans were tighter, more flattering, and more expensive than the standard denim of the era. The back pocket featured her embroidered signature and a swan logo. The branding was elegant, personal, and instantly recognizable.

The jeans were a massive success. Vanderbilt helped prove that women would pay a premium for denim if it felt fashionable and had a designer name attached to it. In the process, she became one of the first celebrities to turn her name into a major fashion licensing business. In 1980 alone, she reportedly made $10 million from her jeans line.

Tragedy And Later Life

In 1988, Gloria suffered the most devastating tragedy of her life. Her son Carter Vanderbilt Cooper died after falling from the terrace of the family's 14th-floor apartment in New York City. He was 23. Gloria later spoke and wrote movingly about the loss, which remained a defining heartbreak for the rest of her life.

After Wyatt Cooper's death, Gloria had a long relationship with photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks, which lasted until his death in 2006. Over the years, she was also romantically linked to Marlon Brando, Howard Hughes, Frank Sinatra, and Roald Dahl.

Vanderbilt remained a socialite throughout her life, but she was never only that. She painted, wrote books, designed fashion, acted, and became a cultural symbol. Truman Capote was said to have drawn inspiration from her when creating Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

She was survived by her sons Anderson Cooper, Stan Stokowski, and Christopher Stokowski, as well as three grandchildren.

She began life as the "poor little rich girl," trapped inside a famous last name and a family fortune she did not control. But by the end, Gloria Vanderbilt had transformed herself into something far more interesting: an heiress who became an artist, a survivor who became a businesswoman, and a woman who turned her own signature into an American fashion empire.