From the moment she was born, ‘million dollar baby’ Doris Duke captured the world’s attention.
Her father James Buchanan Duke’s vast American Tobacco empire meant she was always destined for a life of luxury.
Her standing only increased upon his death in 1925, when at age 12 she inherited his $80 million fortune, equivalent to about $1.4billion today.
The sum earned Duke the moniker ‘the richest little girl in the world’ and sparked an enduring fascination her with her life, which turned out to be as outsized as her fortune.
From becoming a competitive surfer to a turn as a World War II spy, Duke’s colorful antics and statuesque beauty ensured she remained a celebrity until her death in 1993 at the age of 80.
Amid the glitz and glamor lie murkier episodes, including a fateful night where she fatally ran over her best friend but mysteriously avoided murder charges.
Now her family has been thrust back into the spotlight again, after one of her heirs was ordered to pay his mom’s ex-husband $2.2 million over claims he stole from him.
Walker Patterson Inman III, 26, was accused of stealing a movie manuscript and an unfinished book from his former stepfather, Randy Allen Thompson, 60.
Inman and his twin sister, Georgia Inman, are both heirs to Duke’s vast Lucky Strike fortune, which remains significant despite dwindling over the decades.
Thompson was briefly married to the twins’ mom, Daisha Inman, and says he had written the drafts based on the her life story and the twins’ chaotic upbringing at the hands of their biological father.
The legal battle is just the latest saga in the family’s storied history.
Duke was born in New York City in 1912 to her parents ‘JB’ Duke and his wife Nananline Holt Inman, who already had a son from her previous marriage.
While JB lavished his ‘little duchess’ with gifts and attention, his wife was cold and withdrawn – favoring her son Walker Inman in spite of his tearaway tendencies.
Duke spent much of her childhood growing up on her father’s New Jersey estate, Duke Farms, and became so attached to the property that she sued her mother in 1927 to prevent it from ever being sold.
Upon receipt of her initial chunk of inheritance, Duke began the first of her philanthropic endeavors, which covered everything from horticulture to heritage preservation.
In the 1980s, Duke donated $2 million to her namesake university to help with research into the AIDS crisis.
She was also a huge benefactor of the arts and enjoyed friendships with the likes of Andy Warhol.
In the 1930s she built Shangri La, a Honolulu estate that housed prestigious works of Islamic art she had amassed while on her world-tour honeymoon with first husband James Cromwell.
The trip culminated with a stay in Hawaii, where Duke developed a love of surfing, a craft she learned from master surfer Duke Kahanamoku.
While the heiress was not the first female surfer, she was among the most prominent and helped pioneer the sport.
Her days were spent flitting between her palatial homes across the US, collecting art and plants in a private Boeing jet she had redecorated.
But Duke was also committed to a life beyond excess. During the Second World War, she joined up with the United Seamen’s Service and was shipped off to Egypt to help run staff canteens working for $1 a year.
She thrived in her life overseas and relocated to Europe, where she enlisted as a spy.
But she became disinterested with the assignments and began writing dispatches for International News Service, and was often seen zipping around Rome on a bicycle.
Duke’s style and beauty meant that she was beloved on the social scene.
But the death of her best friend interior designer Eduardo Tirella threatened to blight her reputation forever.
On a fateful night in 1966, Tirella had jumped out of a car to open the wrought-iron gates to Duke’s Rhode Island mansion.
As he did so, Duke shifted from the passenger seat and the vehicle lurched forward, crushing 42-year-old Tirella to death.
The incident was officially ruled an accident just hours later, but many have harbored suspicion over what really happened.
Tirella, who had helped curate Duke’s homes and art collection, was an up-and-coming set designer who was reportedly growing tired of only working for the wealthy heiress.
She was never formally charged and the death continues to inspire speculation.
Duke married twice during her life, but was known to have many dalliances over the years.
Her first marriage to aspiring politician Cromwell produced a daughter, Arden, who was born premature and died a day after her birth.
Duke then wed Dominican diplomat and notorious playboy Porfirio Rubirosa in 1947, although they divorced a year later.
Duke’s other lovers included actor Errol Flynn, jazz pianist Joe Castro and writer Louis Bromfield among others.
She died of a stroke in following several surgeries in 1993. She was cremated and her ashes were spread in the Pacific Ocean, per her last request.
Upon her death, she left nearly all of her $1 billon estate to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which remains a major force in the philanthropic world.
Since she had no surviving biological children, part of the Duke fortune went into trust funds for the Inman twins that were not accessible until they turned 21.
The trusts were previously the subject of a legal dispute between the bank JP Morgan and the twins’ mom, Daisha, who was accused of frittering away the fortune before her children were of age.
The siblings’ upbringing was tumultuous, with both reporting immense cruelty and neglect at the hands of their addict father, Walker Inman Jr.
It was their mother’s plot to liberate them from Inman Jr.’s sprawling Wyoming estate following his death from a methadone overdose in 2010 that inspired their former stepfather to produce his ‘stolen’ manuscripts.
In his lawsuit, Thompson alleges that Walker P. Inman III stole the copies from his art studio in Lincoln City, Oregon in 2020.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai found that Inman III, who had not responded to the court action, was liable and ordered him to pay $2 million in damages as well as $200,000 for emotional distress.
Inman III and his mom told Oregon Live they were never notified of the lawsuit and denied any wrongdoing.
‘My son never stole or broke into anywhere,’ Daisha told the outlet.
The heir added he came into possession of the manuscript via a friend of Thompson’s, who told him he found it in a box containing other paperwork related to a custody battle over him and his sister.
‘This box – it’s my life. It became my property,’ Inman III said.
However, Judge Kasubhai noted that Thompson had reported a burglary from his studio and that the door had been ‘forcibly opened’ and a filing cabinet was stolen, with several valuable items left behind.
‘Plaintiff has presented uncontroverted evidence that Defendant was one of only two people Plaintiff was aware of that knew what was in the filing cabinet taken from his art studio,’ Judge Kasubhai wrote.
He added that Inman III appeared to have posted images of the artifacts on Facebook.
As part of his filings, Thompson submitted emails which he claimed showed Inman taunting him about having the manuscripts in his possession.
Thompson also submitted a copy of a 2007 contract between him and Daisha handing over the rights to write about her story.
Daisha has since said she was ‘naive’ as to what this really meant. She and Thompson were married for less than a year and a half and broke up after she found out he was a registered sex offender.
Thompson was convicted of unlawful sexual contact with two minors in Washington in 1986.
However, he has continued to live at a Lincoln City home owned by Daisha. She has since said she plans to try to evict him.
Meanwhile, Thompson claims he tried for several years to get the manuscripts back, to no avail.
It may still prove challenging for Thompson to collect, as he must demonstrate that Inman III has the assets to pay up.
The heir and his mom maintain they were not contacted about the lawsuit, despite court records indicating that emails were sent to several attorneys associated with the family.
Utah-based attorney Justin D. Heideman, who represents the family, also insisted he did not receive notice and told Oregon Live he plans to file a motion to have the judgement reconsidered.
‘Obviously we disagree,’ Heideman said. ‘We will be moving to set it aside.’