Who Is Eileen Getty, The Billionaire Funding ‘Activist’ Attacks On Works Of Art

Granddaughter of an oil tycoon in the 60’s and owner of a huge fortune, Eileen Getty seems to be sponsoring the ubiquitous activists of the “Just stop oil” movement who are recently attacking works of art around the world.

The figure behind this movement that in recent weeks has divided public opinion seems to be a billionaire, scion of the well-known Getty family, one of the richest families in the US, with Irish roots. But who is Eileen Getty?

The climate activist

The emergency to save the climate is the new battle for Eileen Getty, granddaughter of American oil magnate J. Paul Getty. In an article published in the Guardian, the 60-year-old “applauds courageous activists”, such as those of the Just Stop Oil collective, who are multiplying spectacular actions targeting famous works of art (Van Gogh’s sunflowers and the wax statue of Charles III in London or Johannes Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl in The Hague, Holland). This kind of action is “a wake-up call that takes us out of the status quo,” she says, adding that she is “proud” to fund the Climate Emergency Fund. This organization, which he co-founded in 2019, has distributed more than $4 million to movements such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil. Knowing that her ties to the oil industry may be questionable, she said in 2019: “I’m trying to figure it all out on my own (…) I want to do what’s right and fair.”

The rich heiress

Her grandfather, founder of the Getty Oil Company, was described as the richest man in the world in the 1960s. Married five times and with five children, the industrialist was the founder of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, to which he bequeathed much of the fortune upon his death in 1976. His children also inherited a large sum of money. Eight years after the patriarch’s death, they turned a page in family history by selling Getty Oil. According to Forbes magazine, their wealth amounted to $5.4 billion in 2015. This made them, at the time, the 56th richest American family.

The unknown sister

Eileen Getty has long lived in the shadow of the men in her family. While her younger brother, Mark, is known for co-founding the photography agency Getty Images, her older brother, John Paul Getty III, made headlines in 1973 when he was kidnapped at the age of 16 by the Calabrian Mafia. Their grandfather, who was known for his money, refused to pay the $17 million ransom. The kidnappers were forced to scale back their ambitions and an Italian newspaper received a message from the teenager before the ransom was paid. In 2017, Ridley Scott used this story as the basis for the film All the Money in the World.

The dedicated survivor

In his book Growing Up Getty (Gallery Books, 2022), James Reginato describes Eileen’s childhood in Italy, the aristocratic boarding school in Britain where she was educated, and the rebellious adolescence that threw her into alcohol and drugs. In 1981 she married Christopher Wilding, son of Elizabeth Taylor, with whom she had two children and later divorced. At that time, she was diagnosed as HIV positive. “If it weren’t for HIV, I’d still be a victim,” he explained in 1996. “A victim of my parents, my heritage, life.” Staying close to her former mother-in-law, she became involved with AIDS patients and the homeless while struggling to overcome her addictions before taking up the fight to save the planet.