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The Twisted True Story Behind House of Gucci: See the Cast vs. the Real Life Characters - E! NEWS
Apr 11, 2021 5 mins, 18 secs
Pick a famous Italian brand—Ferrari, Fiat, Versace—and there's an unbelievable story behind it. But few are as wild as what has transpired within the Gucci family, even before an heir to the luxury fashion house's fortune was gunned down in 1995, a murder borne of spite, jealousy and greed.

Scheduled for a Thanksgiving weekend release (and you thought your relatives had issues) after spending years in development, and just in time for the legendary brand's 100th birthday, Ridley Scott is directing an all-star cast that includes Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and Jared Leto in House of Gucci, which focuses on what caused Patrizia Reggiani to want her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci, dead. .

"The Gucci story in many ways seemed much more outrageous than anything I could make up," Sara Gay Forden, whose 2000 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed provided the basis for Roberto Bentivegna's screenplay, told the New York Post when her work came out.

I think the Gucci family is just content to lay low for a while.".

As early as 2000, Martin Scorsese was planning to make a film about the Guccis, inspired by the 1987 book Gucci: A House Divided by British journalist Gerald McKnight, a story still dripping with drama due to the company's fascinating origin story, the glamorous backdrop of the high-fashion world and the seemingly nonstop parade of power grabs and corporate intrigue that punctuated the decades following the death of family patriarch Guccio Gucci.

We have been through horrible things and paid plenty in person," Maurizio's niece Patrizia Gucci told Corriere della Sera in 2007, calling her family "surprised and disconcerted." They would try to block the movie's release if they found it "offensive.".

"She proposed the project, briefly sketched the screenplay, and even raised the possibility that the character of my father Paolo, who died in the same year as Maurizio, could be played by a great actor, probably Nicolas Cage.

Dubbed "the Black Widow" by the Italian tabloids but known as "Lady Gucci" in more genteel circles, Reggiani admitted to wanting her ex-husband dead, livid over his impending marriage to a much younger woman and his $170 million windfall from the sale of his Gucci stock in 1993, two years after their divorce was finalized.

Born in the northern city of Vignola in humble circumstances, she and Maurizio Gucci were both 24 years old when they married in 1973—despite his father Rodolfo Gucci's concerns.

Reggiani persuaded Maurizio to be more ambitious in his role at Gucci, and it was during their marriage that he became head of the company. "As a younger man, he'd looked to Patrizia to support him and give him the strength to stand up to his own father, but as he gained power, he felt oppressed by her criticism," Forden told the New York Post.

First sentenced to 29 years in prison for paying $375,000 to have Maurizio killed, an appeals court reduced her term to 26 years and she was released in October 2016.

A grandson of Gucci founder Guccio Gucci, Maurizio inherited his father Rodolfo Gucci's entire stake in the family business when Rodolfo died in 1983 and set about pushing his uncle Aldo Gucci out.

By June 1988, Bahraini firm Investcorp had bought up 47.8 percent of various family members' shares for a total of $135 million, leaving Maurizio, who succeeded Aldo as chairman, the largest shareholder with 50 percent.

The interior designer lived with Maurizio for five years before his death and, according to Paola, they were planning to get married.

Painted almost as villainously as Patrizia was during the trial, with critics assuming she was after that Gucci fortune, she told The Guardian in 2016, "Oh, they always resort to these stupid [stereotypes].

Five years later, Charly took his own life while visiting his father for Christmas.

"The various schemes in which the Guccis had been involved began to unravel in 1982 when a falling out took place between Aldo Gucci and his son Paolo," prosecutor Stuart Abrams wrote in his sentencing memorandum.

"Ultimately, Paolo Gucci initiated litigation against his father and Gucci Shops Inc.

In addition to Paolo he was also father to sons Giorgio and Roberto with first wife Olwen Price, and had a daughter, Patricia Gucci, with his longtime mistress Bruna Palumbo, whom he married in 1987.

One of Aldo's four children, Paolo was chief designer for Gucci in the 1960s and in 1978 was named vice president of marketing of the American branch of the company.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit. Then in 1982 Paolo sued his father, brothers Giorgio and Roberto, his uncle and cousin Maurizio for breach of contract, emotional distress and assault, claiming he was physically attacked by his brothers and cousin during a board meeting in Italy. .

"The Gucci men are alike—amoral,'' she told the New York Times during Reggiani's trial in 1998. "They are multimillionaire playboys.

Paolo died in October 1995 while he and Jenny were in the middle of increasingly contentious divorce proceedings, though Patrizia Gucci, a daughter from his first marriage, later disputed that they were ever legally married, saying her father and mother were still in the process of divorcing when he wed Jennifer in 1977.

He wanted to do a second line of Gucci which every designer in the world has done and he was the first to come up with that idea.

Pina, meanwhile, was a self-styled psychic on Patrizia Reggiani's payroll (Pina later disputed the categorization that she was any sort of mystic) who moved in with her in 1994, ostensibly to help her write a book about her life with Maurizio and the Gucci family

But he came to fame when he was appointed creative director of Gucci in 1994, later credited with restoring the brand's relevance among the chic set and reviving its future along with CEO Domenico De Sole. Said to be hovering near bankruptcy when Ford first joined the company as chief women's ready-to-wear designer in 1990, Gucci was worth more than $4 billion by the end of the decade. 

A close adviser to Maurizio Gucci, De Sole was CEO of Gucci America before becoming CEO of Gucci Group in 1995

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