英语一日谈：What do you think about gold diggers - 2010.10.01

floraz

I came across this article while browsing and thought it could be something interesting to share and discuss about.

World's Best Gold Diggers (source: http://fooyoh.com/menknowpause_lifestyle_living/1219136)
Their true love is money. Love them or hate them, they have made themselves legends. Menknowpause compiles the biggest names in modern gold-digging history. Some of them did it with style, while others struggled till death. Through tragedies, struggle of power and media scrutiny, these legendary gold diggers have proven that it takes more than just looks to become a succesful gold digger.

While we can quantify their love and dignity through their devorce settlement and spouse's will, it is possible that gold diggers married for love. But if you're not conveniently loaded to the gills with money, you won't even make it to their list of 'potential spouse'.

While they smell nice and probably have surgically-enhanced breasts, they’re also looking to latch onto a celebrity and never let go. Another popular gold digger tactic is to get pregnant and then live off of the child support payments.

6.) Jackie O

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, served as First Lady during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Jackie is said to be the most beautiful and stylist first lady in the world.

Following Kennedy's death, Jacqueline was romantically linked by the press to a few powerful men in both corporate and politics world, notably David Ormsby-Gore and Roswell Gilpatric. But nothing came out of it until the news of her marriage to Greek's shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis broke out. Her motives for the marriage are open for debate, but beyond financial security, it is widely speculated that point in her life she desperately needed an escape from the Kennedys and the United States, as she came to fear for her life and that of her children after the assassination of her brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968.

Her marriage to Onassis lasted until his death in 1975. But Jackie's quest to enjoy his fortune didn't come easy; Onassis's only son Alexander died in a plane crash in January 1973, causing the once loving husband turned a broken and disillusioned man and consequently, the marriage turned sour. His health began deteriorating rapidly and on March 15, 1975, he passed away. Following Onassis's death, Jackie struggled against Greek law to claim her inheritence, which limited how much a non-Greek surviving spouse could inherit. After two years of legal battle, Jacqueline eventually accepted from Christina Onassis, Onassis's daughter and sole heir, a settlement of $26,000,000, waiving all other claims to the Onassis estate.

5.) Anna Nicole Smith

Playboy bunny, erotic dancer, actress, model, TV star, you name it, she's done it. At fairly young age, she has generated more scandals than any other big names in Hollywood, mostly stirred by her highly publicized second marriage to oil business executive and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, 63 years her senior. Speculation that her marriage to the octogenarian for his money was denied by her.  

Smith and Marshall met while she was performing at Gigi's, a Houston strip club, in October 1991.  Shortly after that they began a relationship, which lasted for two years before their marriage. Smith, who was married during that time, was reportedly spoilt with jetsetting lifestyle. On June 27, 1994, Smith, 26, and Marshall, 89, married in Houston. Smith is said to have never lived with him, though she maintained that she loved her husband, and age did not matter to her. Thirteen months after his marriage to Smith, Marshall died on August 4, 1995, in Houston.

This incident lead a life-long battle between the former stripper with E. Pierce Marshall, Howard's eldest son. Smith claimed J. Howard orally promised her half of his estate if she married him. In September 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded her $449,754,134. But ongoing legal fights since this jawdropping decision contiues in different states, and as a result, no firm resolution has been achieved until both Anna Nicole Smith and E. Pierce Marshall have passed away.

4.) Wendi Deng Murdoch

Hailing from China, wife of News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch is not your average gold digger bees.

With model-esque posture and MBA title from Yale under her belt, she has highten the standard for international gold digging market. But a glimpse of her past, as reported by Wall Street Journal in November 2000, may provide clearer insight of her tactics: In 1987, at the age of 18, Deng met 48-year-old Jake Cherry, an American working for Guangzhou Engineering Factory, and his wife Joyce, who was Deng's English teacher. A year later, Mr and Mrs Cherry sponsored a student visa for Deng and she moved to America to live with the Cherrys.

And then the classic Woody Allen case happened: Deng, who was studying at California State University then, married to Jake Cherry in 1990, shortly after Joyce Cheery found photos of Deng in a Guangzhou hotel room taken by Jake. Cherry and Deng divorced after two years and seven months of marriage. Deng went on to apply to and be accepted by Yale University, where she received an MBA.

Thanks to her MBA title, she landed a job in Rupert Murdoch's company and on June 25, 1999, the couple got married. Murdoch was 68 and Deng was 31.

3.) Ivana Trump

Ivana is the female version of her ex-husband. Like Donald Trump, Ivana is a very good learner when it comes to business. Started off as a gold digger/trophy wife to the less-than-attractive New York business magnate, young Ivana has learnt early the art of being ugly, rich and powerful - which she used tramendously well these days. Now wrinkly, fat and divorced, Ivana is the ultimate symbol of successful gold digger.

Her hardwork in Donald's gold mine has earned her:
1.) $20 million in cash
2.) $14 million family estate in Connecticut
3.) $5 million housing allowance
4.) 49% of Mar-A-Lago, a Palm Beach mansion serves as an elite private club.
5.) All of her jewelry possesions
6.) Gold-digging second husband Riccardo Mazzucchelli
7.) Another gold-digging ex-husband, Rossano Rubicondi, who's 24 years her junior
8.) Unlimited supplies of botox injections
9.) 22-year-old French model, John-David Dery

We bet your girlfriend can't top her.

2.) Kevin Federline

As the only male contender on the list, Kevin Federline deserves a round of applause. His gold digging tactic may be classic, but apparently it's effective; he's using child support as the main missile. FYI, Kevin is one of those guys whose sperms would turn into babies even in the most fertile womb.

So the guy came into Britney Spears' life when he was banging actress Shar Jackson, with whom he has a daughter and a son. Federline and Jackson separated shortly before the birth of their second child, in which time he began dating Spears. And two years and two kids with Britney later, he had enough. He let Spears filed for divorce on November 7. The highly publicized divorce caused Britney a-year-long drunken nights and media ridicule (or should we say, her sanity?) And due to Britney's public breakdown, On 26 July 2008, court papers were filed stating Federline would retain sole legal and physical custody of the children, while Spears would get visitation rights which would increase over time. In addition to this, Federline will receive $20,000 per month from Spears in child support, as well as additional funds to cover any custody-related legal expenses.

1.) Heather Mills

If you're a sucker for British media - both mainstream and untrusted rags - you would know that Heather Mills is kind of the postmodern Femme Fatale. Combining the charm of self-funded activist, borderline feminist, disabbled former model and compulsive liar, it is just so easy to imagine her kicking men's butt with her prostetic leg. And that could very well be true if you talk to her victims.

During her amatuer days, Mills met Alfie Karmal, whom she had squeezed fairly to fund her trips to Paris and Croatia. But poor Paul McCartney met Mills when she's a trained gold digger. After a brief meeting at a Pride of Britain charity event, the two were married on 11 June 2002. Mills' financial security came when she gave birth to Paul's child, Beatrice Milly McCartney.

As expected, the couple seperated in 2006, which led to a highly publicized divorce, in which she was awarded a lump sum of £16.5m, together with assets of £7.8m, which included the properties she owned at the time. The total was £24.3 million, plus payments of £35,000 per annum, for a nanny and school costs for her daughter.

If you are not familiar with the other 5, I think you must more or less have heard of Wendi Deng Murdoch. Gold digging is a common phenomenon across all ages and countries.

So, what do you think about gold diggers? Disgraceful or successful? Tactical of tricky?
Of course, it’s about money, I have no doubt about that. However do you agree that it's all about money? Do you believe there is/was true love and emotional attachment in these relationships?

If you don’t have a view on gold digging, maybe share some thoughts on cradle snatcher. Gold digging often involves age disparity in relationships, if not always. What do you think about this kind of relationship. Woody Allen and Demi Moore are both typical cases. What’s in there for them?

[ 本帖最后由 floraz 于 2010-10-1 12:53 编辑 ]

xingbu

Oops, just understood this “gold digger” better off to have the quotation marks on after finishing the whole article!

Always dreaming this sort of “gold diggers” should have had some true love out of the wealth and the fame, otherwise the fairy tales would not attract most of our eye balls. However, the payback is they are all rope-walkers with no balancing pole! Any accidents will ruin their lives and they will soon slide down from the clouds to the earth!

floraz

原帖由 xingbu 于 2010-10-2 19:33 发表
Oops, just understood this “gold digger” better off to have the quotation marks on after finishing the whole article!

Always dreaming this sort of “gold diggers” should have had some true love ...

big reward, big risk

xingbu

to be frank, every girl dreams to be Cinderella

bulaohu

Madonna once said that power is the best love potion. I was still quite young when I heard it, and had lots of trouble understanding it. Now at a more mature age, I start to realize not everyone thinks like I do, and some stuff that I see as ridiculous or meaningless could be totally worth dying for in other people's eyes. So marriage can be a tool. one's own body can be a tool too. Money, ridiculous amount of it, can be a lifetime goal, too.