Nicole Buffett Disowned by Billionaire Warren Buffett (Video, Photos)

Posted on: December 17th, 2008 by: Meg7 comments

Nicole Buffett is a 32 year old painter who lives in Berkeley, California. The petite bohemian artist has a name that resonates with people around the globe but the money it infers is not forthcoming. In fact, her grandfather Warren Buffett disowned the young woman two years ago.

Nicole was interviewed for the new issue of Marie Claire in which she shares details of her entry into the Buffett family and the rift that has torn them apart. She was four years old when her mother married Warren Buffett’s son Peter Buffett. He adopted Nicole and her twin sister.

Warren’s wife Susan Buffett was especially close to her adopted granddaughters. An artist herself, she fostered Nicole’s talent and was an early buyer of her granddaughter’s art. Susan died in 2004 and named the young woman in her will, calling her “my adored grandchild”.

Things went south for Nicole in 2006, when she agreed to appear in The One Percent, a documentary by Johnson & Johnson heir Jamie Johnson. His mission was to focus on the gap between rich and poor in America.

Nicole, with the blessing of her father, provided the following sound bites that forever changed her relationship with her grandfather. “I’ve been very blessed to have my education taken care of, and I have had my living expenses taken care of while I’m in school.” When asked how her grandfather might react to her interview, she offered: “I definitely fear judgment. Money is the spoke in my grandfather’s wheel of life.”

It wasn’t long before she received a letter from the billionaire, in which he cautioned her about the pitfalls of carrying the Buffett name, saying “People will react to you based on that ‘fact’ rather than who you are or what you have accomplished. I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin.” He signed the letter Warren. Just a year earlier she said she received a card from him that was signed ‘Grandpa’.

Photo gallery below and a video of the documentary The One Percent below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV34oF2EEvA[/youtube]

Related Articles:

Filed under: Across the Nation

7 Responses to “Nicole Buffett Disowned by Billionaire Warren Buffett (Video, Photos)”

alice lake, on December 18th, 2008 at 1:08 pm Said:

Warren Buffett should be ashamed He had two grand children that loved him and he has thrown that away for a man with all of his money he never really knows who loves him…his children got money from him and their mother, he gave his other grandchildren money per “Snowball” and this makes him a greedy mean cruel miser. The fact that he wrote her that horrible letter is appalling, to say you dis-own her is one thing but to say that you don’t love her and never did is beyond human.
He and his companies should have an expose on what they do to our enviroment and how he became the richest man, it wasn’t because he was nice, I’m sure. i love Nicole’s art and hope everyone buys it, I am contacting her about that. Warren you are worse than a pig.
Jinxy, on December 31st, 2008 at 12:43 am Said:

Well it would seem that pointing out the obvious about Warren got him angry. How Emperor with no clothes of him, what is sad is that his granddaughter was beloved by Warren’s wife, the one he cheated on and had a 20 plus year open relationship on, breaking her heart. Warren’s current wife, the one he cheated with looks like the front end of a Mack truck, so kudos to him for no buying the obligatory 22 year old bimbo, his ho looks like an old lesbian nun. But it just shows the amount of disrespect he dishes out with a rather thin skin of his own. Nasty old codger. I googled Nicole’s art and she’s very talented. Other wealthy patrons will surely love to support her works.

I feel any man with wealth who uses it to punish is indeed a very poor man. It pleases me to no end that he lives in a dorky house in nowhere’s ville KS to seem down to earth and for him it really is all about the money. He’s supposed to be leaving most of it to the Gates Foundation. Another winner.
Pilar, on February 5th, 2009 at 10:08 am Said:

woe…wooooooeeeeeee

Waren gave away BILLIONS, before his death. Remember he worked
very hard for everything he made, and comes from a different era. I don’t
agree with what he did with Nicole, but after helping her and then having
said about you that ‘money is the spokes in your wheel of life’, well,
I”m sure it hurt his feelings, not to mention, his good will reputation.
Nicole gets my respect for being so up front and down to earth…and
she’s more prepared for life, come what may, than the other wealthy
snobs who are catered to.
Christina, on February 15th, 2009 at 11:49 pm Said:

Based on the article, she sounds like just another Berkeley hippie who is disappointed not to float through life by taking money from someone else. I’ve never heard of Nicole Buffett before, but she’s just like any other would-be heiress – an attention seeking fame whore. It’s what drove her to be a part of a documentary and her consequence is well deserved. I laugh her “pitiful” $40K/year, which is more than plenty to live comfortably in Berkeley, land of the self-entitled.

I don’t feel sorry for this spoiled brat, whose bad art is only marketable because of her name.
Isabelle from Washington State, on April 5th, 2009 at 11:20 am Said:

Nicole, try not to let it get you down. I have had a similar experience myself with my parents from early on when I was a child. They treated my younger brother like he was the special one, and I was treated like a burden. As time went on, I eloped, knowing that my mother would not have participated in the wedding because she was always concerned about money (even though she always had enough to go on mutiple European and Hawaiian vacations.) She then expressed a fake disappointment for not being at the wedding, and never gave me a wedding gift. Of course, when my brother got married, it was a big event. A couple years later I had two sons. She made the sad comment about how she felt closer to one child and not the other, even though I named him after her. Oh, and about my brother, she suceeded in turning him against me for absolutely no reason, even though all we had was each other when we were younger. I have not talked to him for years. And as for my mother, she is so selfcentered that I have not talked to her for years also. I have come to figure out that all I can do is make my own happiness in life. I have been married 28 years and both my sons love me and care about each other. That simple fact makes me very happy. It’s a sad fact that most rich people are snobs and only care about themselves.
Curu, on July 5th, 2009 at 4:06 am Said:

Jinxy, maybe you should learn the facts before you start to talk from your ass. Warren’s late wife Susan had an ongoing relationship with her tennis coach long before Warren met Astrid Menx (the “Mack truck”), which is what prompted her to move away from him (her tennis coach is even quoted saying that he believed she was going to divorce Warren and marry him). In her will she left that tennis coach $8 million.

In fact, it was Susan who sent Astrid Menx to take care of Warren, so she really has no one to blame but herself.
Chris, on November 6th, 2009 at 4:11 am Said:

In Snowball, Buffett admits his wife had good reason to leave. He adds it was 95%, no 99% his fault. It seems to me he ignored his wife and family largely. What was likely the staw that broke the camels back was Katherine Graham who Buffett showered with attention. It’s absolutely true that his current wife Astrid didn’t cause the break-up. Mr. Buffett is the world’s greatest investor, but not such a great husband and father. His two sons didn’t show up for his wedding to Astrid.