[0.00-6.80] Francesca Hilton was the only daughter of Conrad Hilton and Gia Gia Gabor. Not only was the alleged
[6.80-17.06] story of her conception disturbing, her tragic fate was horrifying. For most people, the Hilton
[17.06-22.42] family came to prominence in the early 2000s, when Paris Hilton emerged as a celebrated
[22.42-28.82] socialite and minor celebrity. However, the Hilton's wealth and prestige spans generations
[28.82-40.98] and is marked by shocking twists and turns. Augustus Halverson Hilton emigrated to the United
[40.98-49.06] States from Norway in 1870, settling in San Antonio, New Mexico. There he and his wife Mary raised eight
[49.06-54.26] children, including Conrad, the son who would set the family on the road to riches.
[54.90-61.30] At the start of the 1900s, Augustus listed his profession as a dry goods merchant. This must
[61.30-66.98] have provided the family with a modest amount of wealth, for Conrad spent his childhood comfortably
[66.98-73.30] attending three well-respected schools before setting his eyes on a lofty prize, politics.
[74.82-82.42] By 1916, he was tired of the bureaucracy, slowness, cheating, lying and inside deals of politics.
[82.42-91.41] Therefore, he pivoted to a field always known for its integrity and honesty, business. Conrad
[91.41-97.33] headed to Texas at the peak of its oil boom, first he attempted to buy his own bank, thinking that
[97.33-102.69] the oil men would need somewhere to put their newfound wealth. When that idea fell through,
[102.69-108.69] he bought the Mobley Hotel in Cisco. Business proved to be so busy that Conrad began to run
[108.69-116.22] out of space for guests, lining up outside the door. By 1930, he owned at least four
[116.22-125.31] other hotels throughout Texas. However, good times never last. Starting with the stock market crash
[125.31-132.19] of 1929, the Great Depression plunged Americans coast to coast into financial ruin. Suddenly,
[132.19-139.47] no one had money to spend on the frivolity of a hotel. Against all odds, Conrad managed to
[139.47-145.23] hold on to both his sanity and his business during the crushing loss of the Great Depression.
[145.55-151.71] During the rise, fall and rebirth of his hotel chain, Conrad also busied himself with a far more
[151.71-160.51] personal project, building a family. He met and married Mary Adelaide Barron in 1925.
[162.51-169.71] Mary gave Conrad three sons, Conrad Jr., Barron and Eric. Only a year after the birth of their
[169.79-176.51] third son, the couple decided to divorce. Fortunately, this emotional upheaval didn't
[176.51-182.91] seem to set Conrad back in the slightest. As the depression ended, he continued to grow his empire.
[186.19-193.23] He married Hungarian socialite and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor in 1942. Although she gave Hilton
[193.23-198.99] one more child, their marriage proved to be a fraught one. Gabor went on to become one
[198.99-205.63] of history's most glamorous and infamous stars, marrying nine times and capturing the imagination
[205.63-213.31] in films and TV shows throughout the 50s and 60s. However, in April 1942, when she married Conrad,
[213.31-218.59] she'd only been in the United States for about a year, having fled Hungary and the conflict
[218.59-225.55] that raged across Europe. During their marriage, Conrad appeared to diminish Gabor, perhaps
[225.55-232.19] taking more pleasure in possessing her than loving her. From Gabor's perspective, it seems fairly
[232.19-237.39] clear that she and Conrad had a doomed marriage from the start. They finally faced that fact when
[237.39-244.19] they divorced in October 1947. A few months before they finalized the divorce, Gabor gave birth to
[244.19-250.99] their only child, Francesca Gabor Hilton. While this birth tied them together forever, it proved
[251.07-258.19] to be a disturbing connection. Gabor dropped a bombshell in her 1991 biography that changed the
[258.19-264.35] way everyone looked at not just Conrad, but their child as well. Gabor claimed that Francesca's
[264.35-274.29] conception was without her consent, with Conrad forcing himself upon her. Conrad's eldest son,
[274.29-280.93] Conrad Nicholas Hilton Jr., known as Nicky, proved to be trouble from the start. He had no
[280.93-287.01] interest in the family business as a child, and dropped out or was kicked out of most schools he
[287.01-292.93] went to. His true passions appeared to be what any good wealthy son's interest should be,
[292.93-299.97] parties, drugs, and women. In some ways, he took after his father, sharing the same appetites,
[299.97-306.53] and maybe even the same women. Among the many bombshells that Gabor dropped over the years,
[306.53-312.45] few of them were as scandalous as the one about Nicky. She claimed to have had intimate relations
[312.45-318.53] with Nicky at some point during her marriage to Conrad. Whether this story is true or not,
[318.53-323.65] Nicky shared his father's taste in starlets who possessed a serial marriage habit,
[323.65-329.25] and Nicky's marriage went no better than his father's. He married superstar Elizabeth Taylor
[329.25-336.85] in October 1949 to much fanfare. Taylor's employer at the time, MGM, paid for their public
[336.85-343.25] ceremony, making a spectacle out of their young star's nuptials. Taylor, only 18 at the time,
[343.25-349.73] had already been engaged twice. She'd mistakenly equated marriage to love thanks to her puritanical
[349.73-354.69] upbringing, and with Nicky she quickly learned how dangerous that mistake could be.
[355.25-360.93] Four years older than Taylor, Nicky was 23 when they married, and already deeply dependent on his
[360.93-368.53] various vices, including drink, drugs, and gambling. What must have started as a fairy tale for Taylor,
[368.53-376.42] quickly descended into a nightmare when Nicky began to show his true colours. His playboy
[376.42-381.70] lifestyle and sinful dependencies turned him into a temperamental and aggressive husband
[381.78-388.34] who'd lash out at Taylor at any sign of provocation. Not long after their marriage, Taylor became
[388.34-393.62] pregnant. During one of his rages, Nicky brutally kicked Taylor in the stomach,
[393.62-399.14] leading to a miscarriage. It's no mystery why their marriage lasted less than a year,
[399.14-402.58] and they ultimately divorced on grounds of mental cruelty.
[405.33-410.21] Before 1951 was over, Nicky announced his engagement to another actress,
[410.21-416.53] Betsy von Furstenberg. According to reports, she shared Nicky's wild partying ways having
[416.53-423.41] started drinking when she was 14. Von Furstenberg appeared to find Nicky's wild ways a fascination,
[423.41-428.93] just another party that she could go along with. At only 18, she was awestruck by the
[428.93-434.93] Hilton's and their chaotic lifestyles. In her words, I was so amazed that they were so
[434.93-441.01] uneducated. A tiger doesn't change its stripes, and Nicky appeared to have learned nothing from
[441.01-446.93] his first marriage. Initially, Von Furstenberg recalls laughing at her reflection in a mirror
[446.93-452.05] after Nicky blackened her eye. But eventually that amusement faded, and the couple's
[452.05-457.25] engagement ended before a marriage ever took place. Conrad's marriages may have never
[457.25-462.77] taken flight, but his business only continued to soar. After recovering from the struggle
[462.77-469.17] of the 30s, he spent the 40s and the 50s expanding the Hilton name, building or collecting hotels
[469.17-477.90] across America, including the historic Waldorf Astoria in October 1949. In acquiring the
[477.90-483.50] managing rights to the Waldorf Astoria, Conrad absorbed the legacy of another historic American
[483.50-489.42] family, the Astors. Unlike the Astors, however, Conrad had no intention of allowing
[489.42-494.78] his legacy to implode through his descendants' carelessness, not if he could help it.
[495.74-500.06] Owning a chain of hotels in America alone offered him no contentment,
[500.06-506.78] not when a whole world was there for the taking. He formed the Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1946,
[506.78-513.82] and the Hilton International Company in 1949, making his chain the first international hotel
[513.82-520.78] chain. Ultimately, Hilton owned 188 hotels in 38 cities throughout the United States,
[520.78-528.06] and 54 hotels abroad. Although Conrad eventually included Nicky within the Hilton legacy,
[528.06-534.22] making him vice president of the Hilton Corporation in 1951, and the manager of the Bel Air Hotel,
[534.22-539.10] he surely had concerns about what might become of the Hilton name if his wayward,
[539.10-544.62] partying son had any true control over it. Nicky couldn't keep hold of anything,
[544.62-549.42] except his drink. What would he make of a multimillion-dollar corporation?
[552.69-557.17] Ultimately, the matter of Nicky and his uncontrollable ways settled itself before
[557.17-563.41] Conrad was forced to fully address the matter of inheritance. Nicky lived life to the fullest,
[563.41-570.13] he partied hard, and he consumed substances even harder. A body can rarely sustain such
[570.13-575.57] constant damage. As a consequence, Nicky pre-deceased his father by 10 years,
[575.57-581.57] succumbing to a heart attack at the age of 42. What Conrad's first son lacked,
[581.57-586.93] his second son made up for in spades. Baron Hilton proved to be everything that his father
[586.93-592.29] could have hoped for in a son. He became involved in the hotel business at an early age,
[592.29-596.93] and exhibited his father's business savvy when he received control of the Hilton Hotels
[596.93-603.73] Corporation. Under Baron's guidance, Hilton expanded into Las Vegas, which resulted in the
[603.73-609.73] corporation becoming the first hotel chain to also involve itself in gambling. Surely with all
[609.73-614.37] he'd done for the business, Conrad would want to leave his legacy in Baron's hands.
[614.93-622.37] Reality turned out slightly more complicated. Conrad Hilton died in 1979 at the age of 91.
[622.37-626.93] He left behind a multi-million dollar business and three surviving children,
[626.93-632.93] his two younger sons and his daughter. But shockingly, his children received very little.
[632.93-639.09] Instead, Conrad left 97% of his estate to the charitable organization that he'd founded
[639.09-645.97] over 30 years ago, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. He'd forgotten about his children entirely,
[645.97-653.25] or had he? He left 13.5 million shares to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation,
[653.25-657.89] but in his will, he gave Baron the right to purchase those shares, which would enable him to
[657.89-663.81] keep the company in the control of the family. Unfortunately, Conrad failed to anticipate
[663.81-669.41] that the Foundation wouldn't want to give up those shares so easily. The Foundation challenged
[669.41-675.01] the clause in Conrad's will, sending the entire affair to probate and locking the funds in
[675.01-678.77] Limbo for years until the matter could be settled once and for all.
[679.97-686.21] The appeals court finally ruled in Baron's favor in March 1988, almost a decade after his
[686.21-691.65] father's death. During that time, Baron continued to steer the company in the right direction,
[691.65-696.53] meaning that by the time he received the Foundation's shares, they'd quadrupled in value.
[697.09-702.05] However, other members of the family weren't nearly as pleased with their inheritance.
[702.05-707.41] Baron's half-sister, Francesca, was in Conrad's will. However, despite the millions of dollars
[707.41-714.29] that he'd amassed by that point, her father left her just $100,000. Francesca wasn't happy,
[714.29-719.73] nor was she going to take this slight sitting down. She was the only child out of all three
[719.73-725.17] wealthy Gabor sisters. It's possible Conrad presumed that Francesca would one day inherit
[725.17-730.61] the Gabor wealth and have no need for the Hilton money. Regardless, the sum that he left
[730.61-737.09] proved too paltry for Francesca's tastes. She, too, contested the will unsuccessfully.
[739.60-744.96] Conrad was Zha Zha Gabor's second husband. Throughout her life, Francesca had seven
[744.96-750.88] stepfathers. However, none of them appeared to give her as much grief as her final stepfather,
[750.88-757.76] Frederick Prince von Anhalt. Gabor was paralyzed in a car crash at the end of 2002.
[757.76-763.52] Her health continued to decline, which gave her husband, von Anhalt, increasingly more control
[763.52-769.44] of her life. By 2012, Gabor's health had deteriorated so far that she could no longer
[769.44-775.20] care for herself. Francesca sued for an independent conservatorship to be set up,
[775.20-780.56] intending to have control over her mother's estate. Unfortunately, the judge granted that
[780.56-786.64] power to von Anhalt, leaving Francesca out in the cold. Despite being the daughter of two
[786.64-792.48] wealthy families, Francesca ended her life in poverty. Reportedly, she was homeless a month
[792.48-797.60] before her death due to complications from a stroke, tragically bouncing between apartments
[797.60-804.56] rented by the week and her car. Both of Conrad's younger sons married and built stable families
[804.56-810.40] of their own. Baron married Marilyn June Hawley in 1947, and they remained together
[810.40-815.60] for their entire lives, having eight children in the process. Most of those children have
[815.60-822.32] lived quiet lives and little is known about them. The exception is Baron's sixth child, Richard Howard
[822.32-828.24] Hilton. Richard followed his father into business setting up the Hilton Realty Investment, which
[828.24-835.84] continued to expand the Hilton Empire. In 1979, he married Katie Avanzino, an American socialite
[835.84-842.72] and actress. Despite their youth, Richard was 24 and Kathy was 20. Their marriage proved one
[842.72-847.68] for the ages. Not only are they still together today, but they've had four children, including
[847.68-854.96] the names that everyone already knows, Paris and Nikki Hilton. Although Nikki's a recognizable name,
[854.96-861.04] she still lives in the shadow of her sister, Paris. During her meteoric rise in the early
[861.04-867.84] 2000s, many felt Paris gained fame simply by being rich and, of course, scandalous.
[867.84-874.32] She proved that there's no such thing as bad press. Today, the Hilton family have continued to
[874.32-879.68] hold on to not just their wealth, but their prestigious status. However, for anyone who
[879.68-886.64] believed that Paris Hilton came out of nowhere, now you know she's just one part of a lasting legacy.
[901.71-905.47] Join our membership program through the link in the description for
[905.47-911.87] exclusive perks and check out the videos on screen for more amazing fact-in-8 stories.