the poorest rich kids in the world

8/13/2019 The Poorest Rich Kids in the World

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The Poorest Rich Kids in the WorldWhy did the heirs to one of the largest fortunes in America

grow up horribly neglected and abused?bySABRINA RUBIN ERDELYAUGUST 12 , 2013

The black Chevy Tahoe picked up speed as it careened down the curvingWyoming mountain road, the two frightened children inside clutching theirseats, certain that they wouldn't make it alive to the school bus at the bottom ofthe hill. t was only !"#$ in the morning, but their stepmother at the wheelalready had li%uor on her breath. The kids had seen her this way before& twoyears earlier they'd been in the car when she was pulled over for a (. Thismorning, she seemed even more wasted.

)*low down+ lease+ lease+) -/year/old 0eorgia begged from the passengerseat. n the back, her twin brother, atterson, sat fro1en in horror.

)*hut the fuck up+) their stepmother, aralee nman, snarled. 2er right handshot out to smack 0eorgia's face, while her left clutched a glass filled with Tri3cereal, leaving no hands on the steering wheel. ine trees whi11ed by to theirright, a cliff to their left. )id ever get you into a motherfucking wreck?)aralee demanded, as faster and faster they descended the steep road thatserved as the family's half/mile/long driveway."Did I ever get you into a

motherfucking wreck?"

Confessions of an Iv Lea!"e #rat Bo$ Dart%o"th &a'in! A("ses

The kids reached for their seat belts, too late, as the Tahoe hit a bump, tippedtoward the cliff 4 )0od take my soul+ 5orgive me all my sins+) 0eorgia criedout 4 and then veered left and slammed into a tree. The e3ploding air bags feltlike a punch, the windshield like cement. The twins struggled free of the car.a1ed, they began limping back up the mountainside, their stepmotherstaggering close behind.

As they crested the hill, their house finally came into view" a -$,$$$/s%uare/foot log/and/stone cabin of preposterous proportions, filled with e3pensiveanti%ues, valuable artwork and, stashed behind the steel door of a walk/in vault,sacks of gold 6rugerrands, bars of silver and gold, 7ewelry, and millions ofdollars' worth of collectible firearms. This wasn't some no/name clan of

backwoods hillbillies, 0eorgia and atterson nman were among the wealthiest
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kids in America" When they turn -, the family claims, the twins will inherit atrust fund worth 8- billion. They and their father were the last living heirs tothe vast ndustrial Age fortune of the uke family, tobacco tycoons who oncecontrolled the American cigarette market, established uke (niversity and,through the oris uke Charitable 5oundation, continue to give away hundredsof millions of dollars.

The twins' father, Walker nman, 9!, lumbered from the mansion, his tattooedsleeves visible under a black T/shirt, drinking his morning rum, bellowing,)What the fuck did you do to my children?) :orbidly obese after a lifetime ofdebauchery and heroin addiction, he looked past his keening kids to glare at hisfifth wife. )2oney,) Walker rumbled, )we're going for a ride.) 2e grabbedaralee, hopped into his red odge truck and took off in a spray of graveltoward the wreckage down the mountain 4 then promptly lost control of thevehicle, which rolled onto the driver's side and skidded to a stop.

nside the house, the twins called ;--. The dispatcher at the police stationcouldn't make out whatthe hysterical children were saying, but local troopersknew e3actly where they were needed, and %uickly left for the remote nman

property, which Walker had dubbed )


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)We were so fearful. would hide in cupboards smaller than that,) says 0eorgiain her *outhern/tinged lilt, pointing to a two/foot/tall cabinet in the kitchen oftheir spacious ark City, (tah, home where the twins, now -9, arereassembling their lives and residing with their mother, a woman who has seenher own share of trouble and who has only recently become a presence in herchildren's lives. atterson an3iously paces across the house's open floor planwith its panoramic view of snowcapped mountains while he and his sister taketurns narrating their harrowing history. (nfailingly polite, earnest andoccasionally skittish, the twins radiate a sheltered naivet@ that can make themseem far younger, or like visitors from another culture. 5or instance, 0eorgiaconfesses she's never heard of the children's party game musical chairs.

)What is it?) she asks, her eyes wide and curious. )>o, really, tell me+)

*uch frank sweetness, delivered in their mushy drawl, tends to take the edge off

some of the harsh and surprising things they will say in the coming days, aswhen 0eorgia wistfully recalls her toddler years" ) remember walking to mydad's room and holding a gun to his head. don't know what stopped me,) shesays before bursting into giggles. )'m sorry, that's terrible, laugh when 'mnervous or upset.)

)retty cra1y,) agrees atterson with a duck of his head.

2aving spent their formative years in a struggle for survival, the kids now findthemselves trapped in yet another fight" A court battle under way with

:organ, the bank that manages the uke trust, has found its way into thetabloids, as well as a parallel legal battle over their assets, which they claim are

being raided by hangers/on. All told, millions of dollars are at stake. But thats%uabbling is part and parcel of 0eorgia and atterson's miserable inheritance,as is their epic tale of pain, isolation and woe. )eople can look at this as a

blessing all day long, but it's bloodmoney,) 0eorgia says of their fortune andpedigree. 2er green eyes 4 flashing now with anger 4 and slim, flared noseresemble those of her great/aunt oris. ) never asked to be born into any ofthis,) she adds. )*ometimes wish was never born.)

5or the twins' father, Walker atterson nman r., few things in life were asmuch fun as blowing things up. 2e never missed an opportunity to s%uee1e atrigger or light a fuse, cackling away under the brim of his cowboy hat whileengaged in the cleansing act of destruction. ach uly 5ourth he'd put on anelaborate fireworks show at


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dynamite into a body of water, a pursuit he called )uont fishing.) And whenWalker decided to plant some pecan trees, he eschewed a backhoe and instead

blasted holes on his land, pushing down the plunger with a maniacal grin likeWile . Coyote. :ore than mere amusement, Walker's destructive urgesdoubled as therapy, as when his first wife left him, in the early *eventies,Walker strode into the empty horse/racing arena he had built in *outh Carolina

4 and shot the place to bits with a machine gun.

2e'd been full of dangerous mischief since he was a child. As a -#/year/oldorphan in -;D9 taken in by his aunt oris uke, Walker 4 then called)*kipper) 4 had romped around her lavish -E,$$$/s%uare/foot 2awaiian estatewithout regard for property or propriety, shooting her Christmas ornamentswith a dart gun, setting fire to crates of e3pensive teak and e3ploding a bomb inher pool. 2e was hideously spoiled, and stinking rich from three trust funds"one from his father, Walker nman *r., heir to an Atlanta cotton fortune andstepson to American Tobacco Company founder )Buck) uke& one from hismother, 0eorgia 5agan& the third from his grandmother, Buck's widow

>analine uke, who left the bulk of her 8E9 million estate to her littlegrandson. Altogether, on Walker's -st birthday he would inherit a reported8D9 million F89$$ million in today's dollarsG, a fortune so vastthat Timepredicted the boy would rank as )one of the wealthiest men of the late$th century.)

And yet while Walker abounded in riches, he had no stability. 2is alcoholicfather had died when Walker was two& his mother, who swiftly remarried andgave birth to his half sister, *usan, died when Walker was si3. Awaiting heartsurgery shortly before her death, Walker's mother had written her attorney withher wish that her boy live a secure life with her sister Caroline, imploring, )have it in my will, but 7ust want to be sure. n his short life, he's already hadtoo many emotional upheavals.) nstead, Walker was shifted from household tohousehold until he wound up with his father's half sister oris uke.

)ne To*n+s War on ,a Teens

oris knew nothing about raising children, nor much cared. The witheringlywry, worldly heiress was among the most celebrated women of her day, a si3/foot glamour %ueen hounded by papara11i, who brushed elbows with everymidcentury icon from ackie 6ennedy to lvis resley, pronouncing 0reta0arbo )boring) and, after dating rrol 5lynn, theori1ing that bise3ual menmade the best lovers" ) should know,) she declared. )'ve done e3haustingresearch on the sub7ect.) As a child 4 and sole inheritor of her father Buck's8-$$ million fortune 4 she'd become famous as )the richest little girl in the
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world.) *he'd been raised by nannies in a chilly, silent 5ifth Avenue mansion,with her parents taking little part in her upbringing& family lore holds that herfather, on his deathbed in -;9, told -/year/old oris, )Trust no one.) >owsaddled with her pesky nephew Walker, watching him toss ketchup/coveredtampons into her pool, oris uke regarded him with pity. 2e was desperatefor love and attention, much like herself as a child. But oris had her ownfabulous life to live, and so she shipped Walker off to boarding school. )Wewere all too self/centered to be bothered with a problem child,) she would latertell her cousin Angier *t. 0eorge Biddle )ony) uke.

With no need to work, no guidance and no self/motivation, Walker set himselfadrift, fighting back his melancholy with world travel and fast times. By theend of the *eventies he had become a dedicated gadabout, and at parties heunspooled wild stories of his adventures, claiming he studied meditation inndia with the :aharishi :ahesh Hogi alongside 0eorge 2arrison& gettingtattooed in the 0alapagos by female artists who worked naked, in pairs&meeting royalty in his wanderings through )Arabia)& learning gourmet cookingin Thailand, where he also developed an abiding love of heroin. Although someof his stories were surely embellished 4 as when he talked about partying withthe olling *tones and immy Buffett 4 and the drunker he got, the likelier hewas to reach into a hidden holster and fire off a shot, Walker always had a raptaudience. 2e was the richest guy in the room.

Walker's %uest for love proved more elusive than his %uest for attention. n-;I#, when he met aisha Aunday, a high/strung raven/haired aspiring modelliving in 2awaii, he'd already burned through two marriages. 2e soon

proposed, and they set off on his I$/foot yacht,Devine Decadence, for whatWalker declared would be a -$/year sail around the world. t started out

promisingly, the two of them bron1ing on the deck, Walker e3pertly cookingtheir meals in the galley with a giant spliff hanging from his lips. They sailedthrough the Caribbean, docking stateside every so often to stay with Aunt orisuke in one of her various homes.

) was in a whirlwind,) recalls aisha fondly. ) was young, and this guy was

wonderful.) But the happy couple's lifestyle soon spiraled out of control asWalker graduated from pot and pills to morphine 4 aisha says she found himpassed out in a bathtub with a needle in his arm 4 and from snorting cocaine tofreebasing. The idyll came to an end in anama, after two years together, whenaisha declined an orgy, but Walker participated& in the ensuing spat, Walkersimply boarded the yacht and sailed off, leaving aisha behind. :onths later,he called her to announce his wedding to another woman.


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Ten years passed before Walker contacted aisha again, contrite. Theyrende1voused in -;;9 in >ew


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friend :ike Todd. )uke (niversity, uke 5oundation 4 everything uke, hehated.)

The twins were born two months early, a boy and a girl, purple and shriveled atthree and a half pounds each. ) can't believe created something so beautiful,)

Walker marveled when he and aisha brought the babies home to 0reenfieldlantation after more than two months in the >C(. 2e'd never thought himselfcapable of doing much in life, other than being a professional hedonist, but ifhe accomplished nothing else at least he'd done this 4 miraculously createdthese two e3%uisite beings. 2e named the children 0eorgia and Walkeratterson nman , after his absent parents. 2e vowed to become the father hehimself never had.

A year and a half later, Walker and aisha's marriage was broken beyondrepair. aisha says he turned to drugs and beat her, and Walker told friends that

her partying was interfering with her parenting Fwhich she deniesG. ither way,aisha had taken the kids to her parents in


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minutes from the 0rand Tetons, nestled between two mountain ranges and witha population of 7ust -,;$$ souls, Afton was a hub of the *tar Kalley, though itsmodest downtown, notable for its archway made of elk antlers, boasted littlemore than a post office, a bar and a car dealership. The nmans had moved tonearby 0rover, an enclave of -E! people, and the baby/sitting 7ob they offeredwas a bonan1a, with a salary of 8#$,$$$ 4 a third more than the per capitaincome 4 plus health insurance, free lodging and international travel.


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But the new nannies' most shocking encounter was meeting the twins, as when2ull was ushered to the children's door and the caretaker slid back the deadbolt&staring silently out of that s%ualid prison cell stood the two toddlers. )Theywere very skinny and had dark circles under their eyes,) noted 2ull. *everalwitnesses attest that the kids were locked in their room each night, and,according to 2atton, there was food strewn across the floor and a foul smellfrom where the kids had been relieving themselves in a corner.

The children were accustomed to this sort of living 4 it was all they knew.They'd spent the past three years in ackson 2ole, playground to the rich, livingin a 8D,$$$/a/month rental home that resembled a glorified drug den. A laterlawsuit described 8#$,$$$ in damages including walls pocked with holes&leather furniture, artwork and carpeting destroyed& and even after twodefoggings, a smoke odor so sickening that all mattresses needed replacing.2ere, during the kids' tenderest years, terrible things had taken place. Walkerhad recently been overheard in the Afton pharmacy e3plaining why he needednew nannies" 2e'd fired the old ones after discovering them hurting the twins.)M2eN also stated he had surveillance video of the abuse,) one witness wrote inan affidavit. But the twins' maltreatment had also apparently come at the handsof their father. When plantation caretaker Kick )Butch) eer flew in from*outh Carolina, he'd been stunned at where he found the preschoolers. )Walkermade them stay down in the basement all the time,) wrote eer in an affidavit.)The basement was covered in feces and it was smeared all over and it smelledterrible. t was so bad that wouldn't leave a dog in that condition.)

The new Afton nannies were advised that their little charges were strange dueto past abuses 4 that previous nannies had taped their mouths shut, among otherevils 4 and possibly mentally retarded. nstead, the women were surprised tofind the kids bright and friendly. 2ull remembers them clambering into her lapfor a story, and, brimming with mischief, constantly sprinting off into trouble,which she recogni1ed as a ploy for attention. But there was something off aboutthe children. They didn't know how to hold a pencil or draw with a crayon andwere afflicted with serious speech delays. The few toys on the property werelocked away.

All the while, the children had limited e3posure to their mother, becauseWalker was engaged in a bitter fight to keep aisha away from the kids 4 afight that only escalated after aisha made the unfortunate decision in $$# to

briefly marry a convicted se3 offender, andy Williams. espite his own flawsas a parent, Walker became obsessed with protecting his children from aishaand her new husband.


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As the custody battle wore on, aisha was often forced to represent herself forlack of funds, while Walker made use of his fortune to hire as much legalfirepower as he needed. Thanks to his efforts, aisha's role in her kids' liveswould continue to shrink until she would virtually disappear& between $$# and$$I, 0eorgia and atterson would hardly see their mother at all. uring thoseyears, Walker would convince the twins that their mother was the enemy. 2econcocted stories that she was a hopeless addict who'd given them fetal alcoholsyndrome, which e3plained why they were )retarded.) )They kept telling usthat she didn't want to see us,) says 0eorgia. )That she was a drugged/out messand drunk, that she fed us alcohol, put it in our sippy cups.) The twins learnedto fear and resent aisha. ot that the kids seemed especially attached to their father and stepmother,either, and vice versa. ays into her employment, 2atton was asked to take thetwins home with her for a week or more, and not only did the children gouncomplainingly, but neither parent ever called to check on them. n $$,when nanny hyllis asperson brought the kids to one of their infre%uentvisitations with aisha, asperson observed the kids' e3citement and unusualcandor as they played with the cats and the asy/Bake one of the nannies were allowed to saygoodbye to the children upon their sudden firings. >ot =i11ie 2ull, who burstinto overwhelmed tears on her third day, and arrived the following morning tofind she'd already been replaced. >ot ebecca 2atton, who after e3pressingconcern about Walker's smoking around the children, returned to the estatefrom baby/sitting the twins for two weeks and found Walker firing guns, anddrunkenly shouting, )0et your ass off my property and mind your fucking

business if you know what's good for you+) Though the women were concernedabout the kids, they were relieved at their dismissals. )Those people scare me,)wrote 2ull of her three whole days with the nmans. ) never want to see any ofthem again.)

When atterson was -$, his dad got him his first tear/gas grenade. 2e alreadyhad access to his father's arsenal of guns, of course, and made use of ad's


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choicest toys, roaming their property with an anti%ue 0atling, shoulder/mounted rocket launchers, even an A/- with )ragon's Breath) incendiaryrounds that ignited anything in their path, with which atterson accidentallystarted a forest fire. But a couple of days after ac%uiring the grenade, attersonand 0eorgia got to bickering. )'m gonna throw this into your room+) attersonthreatened his sister. :uch to the kids' surprise, Walker roused himself tointervene, snatching the grenade from atterson 4 and then pulled the pin. The

plan was to teach the boy a lesson. But when Walker tried sliding the pin backinto place, his glee turned to panic. The pin wouldn't go back in.

"Aaagghh!"Walker hollered, tossing the grenade deeper into the house as teargas sprayed out. 0eorgia had already fled& father and son screamed all the wayto the front door, atterson hurdling the stairs and Walker hobbling as fast as hecould on account of his bad leg, where he'd once accidentally shot himself.When the house was finally aired out enough that they could re/enter, thechildren's pet goldfish were belly/up in their bowl.

)2a/ha/ha+ :y dad was pretty cra1y,) recalls atterson, wiping his eyes fromlaughter. t's one of atterson's happiest childhood memories. When he'doverhear his father guffawing while retelling the tear/gas story to friends, he'dthrill to hear his own name in the co/starring role. The best way to captureWalker's attention was to partake in his enthusiasms 4 in atterson's case, the

7oy of blowing things to kingdom come. 0eorgia found a different angle" *he7oined Walker in his epic bad/mouthing of their mother, aisha, whom Walkercalled )ouchebag)& Walker never tired of hearing 0eorgia parroting him. Buttheir efforts were of little use" ad was absorbed in his own world. *ometimesit was a far/off place in his mind, but other times he'd disappear, either into hisstinking bedroom& to auctions to bid on collectible guns and other trinkets& andto farther locales, as when one night he announced, )'m going for Thai food,)then called days later 4 from Thailand.

With their stepmother, the kids tried to be as invisible as possible. *he'd beenaccumulating %uite a rap sheet" Adding to her prior record of felony drug

possession in Colorado, she was arrested in (tah for possessing meth and

heroin, pleaded guilty to felony drug possession, and was sentenced to housearrest. Then, in Wyoming in $$!, police spotted her swerving into oncomingtraffic, and pulled her over to find she had heroin, crystal meth, meth pipes 4and both children in the car. The kids had been over7oyed at the prospect thatshe'd go to prison, but upon her guilty plea aralee received only probation.Faralee declined to comment for this article.G


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)f wanted kids would have had my own+) aralee would shout. *he madeno effort to hide her loathing of the children. Teddy Thomas wrote in anaffidavit that aralee yelled at Walker, ) don't want anything to do with thekids, and that was our deal when we got married+) The twins never understoodwhy Walker and aralee got married at all. They never saw them kiss, butoften heard their rowdy fights and vows to divorce. And the children claim theywere fre%uent recipients of their stepmother's fury" that she smacked themaround, once clubbing 0eorgia in the stomach with a baseball bat, and pushingatterson down a flight of stairs. The worst part, they say, was when araleeskulked around in the night. )verything happened in the dark,) says 0eorgia.t felt as though they hadn't had a good night's sleep in years.

At school the twins had trouble connecting with classmates, few of whom wereallowed over to the nmans' mansion a second time after gaping at the guns, thee3plicit art and sometimes an eyeful of Walker, who preferred to be nude.ew Oealand.


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:eanwhile, the simple pleasures of childhood missed them entirely. They don'trecall ever having been tucked into bed. Birthdays went by forgotten by their

parents, and one Christmas, *anta filled their stockings with coal. The kidswere on high alert for all manner of surprises, as when one time, a skunkwandered into their lavish 0reat oom 4 filled with family heirlooms,including a portrait of oris uke 4 and Walker pulled out a machine gun andmowed the animal down. And at least four times, Walker overdosed,sometimes while the kids were home. )The ambulance flew up the hill, the kidswere hysterical,) tutor *usan Todd wrote in a letter. )Walker was out cold onthe floor covered in vomit and no one could wake him.) 0eorgia began usingher dad's computer to learn C online. )Hou're gonna die,) she warned him.

) promise you, will live forever,) Walker told her. ) am invincible.)


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a heads/up, hide his drugs and make the home presentable. FA 5* spokesmandeclined comment, citing privacy issues.G

When Walker's friend :ike Todd once broached the sub7ect of sending Walkerto rehab, Walker's lawyer shot down the idea, Todd says, arguing, )f you go to

rehab, they will use this against you, and you will lose custody of the children.)And yet during a $$! custody hearing about whether Walker could relocatethe family, his lawyer announced to the court, )There's never been anyevidence of abuse and neglect. . . . n fact these are some of the most well/cared/for children there is.) ventually, the courts allowed the family totemporarily move across the country, to 0reenfield lantation.

>ot long after their arrival in *outh Carolina in $$I, the state's epartment of*ocial *ervices would field three separate calls about the nmans.


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Walker spent that summer nodding out all over the house, scarcely able to keephis head up. 2e'd become sick and monstrous/looking. allid but for his purple/veined nose, he tried to add color in his cheeks by scrubbing them with Bora3

powder. 2is top teeth had fallen out, and his dental implants wouldn't stay in,leaving him a mouthful of titanium pegs. Walker was beginning to shut outlongtime friends, dismissing them as either money/grubbers or unwilling to)ride with the brand) 4 traitors, in cowboy lingo. 2is paranoia was so e3tremethat he lugged a huge case of guns wherever he traveled. 2e'd come to thinkhimself so capable that when he accidentally cut his thumb to the bone, and thewound became infected, Walker performed surgery on it himself in a =asKegas hotel room, using a scalpel from a -;th/century surgical kit he'd boughtat auction. 2e had no fear of death, he'd told Todd, because years earlier, whilein ndia, he had learned to stop and start his own heart. )The monks wereama1ed,) Walker slurred.

And yet once in a great while, a shaft of self/awareness penetrated. n amildewing closet in the plantation's main house one day, Walker came across ashoe bo3 filled with his father's belongings. Walker sat cross/legged on thefloor and took out the items one by one" his pilot's license& a newspaper noticeof his -;9E death from )consumption) in this very house. There at the bottomof the bo3 were a pair of oval lenses in gold wire frames" Walker *r.'sspectacles. Walker lifted them out. 2is father had been a spoiled heir who'dloafed his life away, drinking himself into oblivion, becoming nothing morethan a specter in the imagination of his love/starved son 4 a biography of

failure that Walker had duplicated. Walker closed his hand around thespectacles, hung his head and wept.

There were flirtations with sobriety. As Walker attempted to ease off the hardstuff 4 soothing himself with swigs of pink syrupy methadone 4 he startedcooking family meals again, always the first sign of his resurfacing. >ew

plantation caretaker on Altman had initially been appalled at the way Walkerbrushed off 0eorgia's hugs and barely glanced at atterson, but now saw achange. )2e was not a warm parent, but watched this man and his familygrow,) says Altman. ) tell you what think, those kids finally got to him.)

Walker became playful, amusing the twins by singing loud choruses of )Witchoctor.) )When he was in his right frame of mind he was really funny,)0eorgia says. The children hung on their father's every word as he told themthe adventure tale behind each of his tattoos& laughed about his childhoodhavoc at Aunt oris'& and confided for the first time the miseries of boardingschool, where Walker said he was bullied by the other boys, and had vented his


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fury by blowing up a latrine. As 0eorgia and atterson drank in their father'sattention, they felt as though he was revealing himself for the first time. And inthose moments of vulnerability the twins recogni1ed something crucial. ):ydad was really sad,) says atterson. ):y dad was really lonely. 2e didn't reallyhave any friends.)

By the time the nmans returned to their Wyoming home in $$;, Walker hadslipped back into self/absorption and the kids were stuck with their stepmother,whom they say had become scarier than ever. :uch later, in April $--, agovernment authority would finally render a decision on aralee when,according to a document from *outh Carolina's epartment of *ocial *ervices,a two/month investigation determined that in retrospect, )minor childrenatterson and 0eorgia nman were physically abused by their step/motheraralee nman.) ** declined to comment beyond confirming theinvestigation's e3istence. But the twins claim that back in Wyoming, aralee'sabuse spun out of control.

)aralee was mad and she fucking hit me with a kitchen knife,) says atterson.)=ook, it's right here.) 2e's standing shirtless in the finished basement of theirhome, taking a break from his Pbo3 to show me a thin four/inch white scartrailing from his right armpit down his side. )'m not lying,) he adds. 0eorgiahad earlier recounted that after the stabbing, she had run to her brother's rescue

by grabbing a first/aid kit, straddling atterson to hold him still and, incredibly,sewing up the wound herself. When ask atterson about it, however, he reels

backward at the suggestion.

) don't know what the hell she's talking about. 'm not gonna let her stitch me+Are you cra1y?) he hollers. =ater 0eorgia insists she's telling the truth,e3plaining that her brother has repressed parts of their childhood. )2e doesn'treally remember,) she says calmly. )2e's real mad about it.)

Though many of the painful details of their childhoods are backed up by swornaffidavits from family employees and other records, other stories the twins tellabout their lives have a surreal, if not downright implausible, tinge. They talkof their stepmother encouraging them to read a satanic bible, holding 0eorgiadown to in7ect her with drugs, and serving them meat crawling with maggots,which atterson can't discuss without dry/heaving. They tell me that whilevisiting apan, they witnessed ayakuzatorture session& that in Wyoming, theyonce hid in the trees while drug dealers opened fire on their house& and thatduring a road trip through >ebraska, their father shot dead a posse of would/becar7ackers, after which Walker slid back into the driver's seat, bloodied, lit acigarette and muttered, )on't talk.)


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As fantastical as they sound, these memories are as real to the twins as all therest. t's as though the nmans' trauma is so deep that ordinary tales don'tdescribe the horror. 0eorgia nonchalantly speaks of seeing ghosts hanging bytheir necks from trees, and of a china doll she once owned turning its head toleer at her. That theatrical %uality e3tends even to some of the twins' happymemories, as when they delightedly recount the time they and their fathertran%uili1ed a bobcat, stuffed it into a suitcase, left it by a *outh Carolinaroadside, and watched from hiding as unlucky passers/by opened the case todiscover the pissed/off contents 4 )t 7umps out, blood everywhere, and you canhear them screaming,) atterson says while 0eorgia screeches with laughter 4surely that couldn't be true, could it?


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wraparound windows. t's a 5riday before school, for which 0eorgia isoverdressed in a brown Calvin 6lein dress, her chin/length golden/brown hairstill shower/damp. Behind her, atterson is pacing with agitation, handsclenched at his sides as he listens to his sister recap their troubled upbringing.):y brother, he has serious issues,) 0eorgia continues. )2e can't even recallwhether our father ever said he loved him. But yet he likes to say4)

)Wait, wait, wait4) atterson, in 7eans, a black T/shirt and a newsboy cap,interrupts to defend his father. )2e's nota bad man,) atterson says of Walker.)2e isn't+) (pset, he storms off across the room with aisha in pursuit to tryand comfort him. aisha, a hyper, distractible woman whose green eyes blinkfrom behind a duck blind of false lashes, has been grateful for her reunion withher kids but also overwhelmed by the parenting needs of two emotionallydisturbed teenagers. *he tries to keep them upbeat with cheery slogans postedthroughout the house, like the note taped to a bathroom mirror that says )Angeris for losers and we are winners)& or the framed sign over the fireplace whereatterson and aisha are now heatedly arguing, reading, A :


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Autowith an online crew called eapers :C. 0eorgia, though the moreoutgoing of the pair, is even more cautious. ) don't think 'm ready forfriendship yet,) she says heavily& she feels ill/e%uipped for the vagaries ofteenage drama when all she really wants is to e3tend for a little longer achildhood she never fully had. The twins still believe in *anta Claus. Theywrote him letters last year& atterson's poignant note, his scrawl as sloppy as afirst/grader's, read, )ear *anta know havn't been good But if you do comeall want is to say hi to you in person.) The kids insist that not only did *aint

>ick reward them with gifts 4 ) mean, e3plain to me how three huge bags getinto a house basement+) argues 0eorgia 4 but that they actually saw him.0eorgia has also glimpsed another unlikely person lately" her father, who hasappeared to her since his death. n fact, she says in a hushed voice, ) think he'shere.) *he indicates the empty chair beside her at the breakfast table.

The twins clearly have a lot of healing to do. Though they're now in therapy,the banks that control their trust funds had at one time claimed that the childrenhadn't demonstrated the need for mental/health help. t's a bone of contention inone of the two financial struggles that currently dominate the kids' lives.Because they were minors when their father died, any disbursements from thetrusts they inherited must be approved by the banks that oversee them. Theyneed to provide receipts for every penny spent, and most re%uests for fundsre%uire prior bank authori1ation, a cumbersome process that leads to e/mailslike this one from a :organ vice president" ) received your email regardingatterson's kickbo3ing, and will advise you on that re%uest after we have had a

chance to review with the Committee.) *uch bureaucracy resulted in the kidsbeing temporarily suspended from school 4 which costs up to 8$,$$$ a month4 for nonpayment.

)Those damn trustees+) fumes aisha. )They had no oversight when Walkerwas alive, and they funded two severe drug addicts and let them run amok,) yetthe banks sub7ect her to what she sees as unreasonable scrutiny. 5or e3ample,when she and the kids moved from a converted church in *outh Carolina toark City without warning last fall, she was outraged that trustees insisted uponousting the family from their 8-$,$$$/a/month *t. egis 2otel suite. )We

were forced into the only house available+) aisha shrieks, referring to theircurrent 8$,$$$/a/month spread. )Between ski season and *undance, we werealmost on the street+)

:organ and Citibank declined to comment, but in documents filed in:anhattan *urrogate Court, :organ has argued it needed to be vigilant in

protecting the kids' money, because since Walker's death it has been


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bombarded with outrageous financial re%uests from aralee, who asked for8-.; million& from Walker's attorney, who wanted )unlimited funding) inconnection with his role as a trustee of Walker's estate& and from aisha, whoasked for a lump sum of more than 8E#$,9$$. *he later asked for 89$,$$$ to

buy the kids' Christmas gifts and a trip around the world. (nhappy wastingmoney on rental properties, aisha also recently looked into buying a 8;million ranch, which she claims could be had for a mere 8-9 million" )What'sthat to the children, seven and a half million apiece, cut and dried?) she scoffs.But :organ ni3ed the re%uest as e3pensive enough to decimate the trust.Because for all the family gossip about Walker's riches, it appears there may bevery little left of the family fortune" According to sources, the children stand toinherit not a billion/dollar trust, but a comparatively paltry 8D$ million.

While the twins sort out their money with the banks, they're also waging battlein Wyoming, because they claim their father's estate is being raided. Walkerleft behind not much in the way of li%uid assets but a lifetime's worth of

possessions, which he willed to his children in trust. At the moment, however,the kids can't set foot on their properties in Wyoming or *outh Carolina,

because aralee has a legal right to reside in both houses& when they tried tovisit their father's grave on 0reenfield lantation, police were summoned. Andthey've spotted some of their dad's precious collectibles being sold online. n$--, a :aine auction house unloaded 9 of Walker's fine firearms, manyengraved w.p.i., for 8#$$,$$$. ) don't let anybody take my dad's things. t's ourfamily's history,) says atterson angrily. After a lifetime of powerlessness,

being robbed of his father's mementos is one more degradation than he canstand. 2e and 0eorgia would like to e3act revenge on everyone they considerresponsible for their abuse. )'m taking everybody's asses downtown,) saysatterson. )verybody that fucked with my family, and fucked with me and mysis.)

The kids need to figure out what comes ne3t for them 4 how they can startcreating a life for themselves, and connect with others. aisha has devised whatshe thinks is a terrific idea for an appropriate new set of playmates" *he'sworking on getting the twins together with :ichael ackson's kids, with whom

she thinks they'd have tons in common. )Wouldn't that be historic? Theacksons and the ukes, two of the most famous names, together?) aishaasks.

As for the kids' own plans, atterson seems to hope for a %uiet life. ) hope don't have to live alone. But actually don't mind. 'll 7ust sit at 0reenfield,fishing by my dad's little tomb, 7ust talking about life,) he says. )Hou can't trust


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anyone,) he adds mournfully, repeating the words he learned from his father,which Walker learned from his aunt oris, which she learned from her father,Buck uke.

0eorgia is more optimistic. nspired by self/help books, she wonders if she

might turn their e3periences into something positive, perhaps by becoming amotivational speaker for abused kids. )There's gonna be some things that areharsh and you can't undo them,) she says. )But the choices you make are whatmake you.) The idea appeals to her" That you need not be shaped by your past,

but rather that the path ahead can be forged solely by your own actions, startingnow. t happens to be the same can/do mentality of Buck uke's father,Washington uke, whose sense of possibility more than a century agotransformed the ukes from >orth Carolina dirt farmers into tycoons. But for0eorgia and atterson to truly turn their lives around, they'll ultimately need tostep outside of the bubble that great wealth affords and learn some of the lifeskills that eluded so many in their lineage. f only there was someone to teachthem.

)2ey, 0eorgia+ atterson+ Hou ready for your ower Thought reading withme?) aisha yells across the house, and the twins gather in her spacious

bedroom. aisha dashes around lighting incense and putting on a tootling >ewAge C, e3plaining that they've been drawing healing strength from a meldingof Christian forgiveness, crystals, >ative American folklore, a irituality for

Dummiesbook and a three/foot cherrywood Buddha statue she keeps in herwalk/in closet. *he picks up a small glossy/paged book of affirmations. )Houwant to pick the ower Thought, or should ?) aisha asks brightly. >eitherchild answers, but slump back against her four/poster bed and stare with blankfaces at the carpet, %uietly waiting for it to be over. 5or a long moment there'sno sound but soothing spa music while their mother thumbs through the book,searching for the mantra that will get the twins through another day.

This story is from the August #$th% &'#( issue of )olling tone*

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-poorest-rich-kids-in-the-world-20130812

the poorest rich kids in the world

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