this is a party for one of the Johnson &
Johnson family members they are of
Johnson Johnson you may not know that
some of these people are actually
Johnson family members to treat everyone
as if they are I always expected that my
21st birthday party would be the
greatest night of my life
champagne pretty girls you wonder can
life get any better than this well to be
blunt
it can't @midnight I'm going to inherit
more money than most people could earn
or spend in a lifetime I've been waiting
for this night for as long as I can
remember the thing is now that it's here
I'm not really sure what to make of it
all I live in a country that everyone
wants to believe is a meritocracy we
want to think that everyone earns what
they have I guess if it makes you feel
better keep telling yourself that it
doesn't work for me anymore
I know my family gives away millions of
dollars each year to charity but how
does that exactly level the playing
field I mean what did I do to earn the
kind of money I loan at midnight tonight
all I did was inherited
you
my grandfather Seward was the first
generation to be born rich when he was
my age he bought a schooner and sailed
to the Arctic from the beginning my
grandfather had everything going for him
he went to the best schools was trained
in all the finer arts and was introduced
to all the right people
his father had started from scratch he
founded a company in 1886 that was
called Johnson and Johnson it wasn't
long before the Johnson Brothers were
two of the richest men in America it
sure seemed like my grandfather had an
ideal life if only he'd known then about
the trouble ahead by the end of his days
my grandfather had managed to sing
himself and his family into the kind of
problems only truly mastered by the very
rich ugly estate battles bitter divorces
brutal publicity and family ties undone
by business rivalries
I've heard plenty of stories like my
grandfather's and I have a feeling that
I'm not the only rich kid a little
worried about the Voodoo of inherited
wealth but the thing is nobody wants to
talk about money it's like this big
taboo always lurking under the surface
that's why I want to ask other kids who
were born rich about that one subject
everybody knows it's not polite to talk
about look Jaime this firm we have
represented your family for years years
i I can't I can't in good conscience
recommend to the kinds of people you
want to talk to you about the kinds of
things you want to talk about that they
participate in the film they have to be
nuts I mean you're dealing with families
that have always made it gospel that you
don't talk about your money and now you
want to put them in a film that I don't
know how you know I'm not surprised that
you're having trouble getting people
before is anything I just want to say
that I am really really reluctant to do
this and I really don't like talking
this thing at all and I dislike you both
immensely as a result of about
if Luke is any indication of what it's
going to be like trying to get my
friends to talk then this is going to be
more of an adventure than I expected you
know I mean I have sort of apprehensions
first of all I you know about being on
you know in a film like you know about a
bunch of rich kids maybe it's more than
that I understand that it represents
like you know a particular sort of you
know niche that maybe you know most of
the world doesn't really recognize and
then that way it's significant but you
know I would worry about like my parents
seeing you know I would worry about some
of my friends seeing and I think you
know some of them would think that my
involvement and it was inappropriate you
know essentially just kind of the notion
of talking about you know one's wealth
you know describing a bunch of people's
wealth it's just kind of tacky
my father's in the gaming industry they
do sports and horse-racing they supply
the equipment and security and
everything so they do that you know all
the betting at Belmont and you know
Churchill Downs is where the Kentucky
Derby solved you know at the Preakness
and then they do all the hotels in Vegas
or Atlantic City in terms of sports
betting there's a pretty big business my
father told me in a very early age that
I could do whatever I wanted you can do
everyone you could be a concert
violinist for all that character as long
as you do something as long as you do
something you're gonna be set up you
don't have to worry about anything don't
do something you know you didn't say at
that age I might have to cut you off but
you'll be a low estimate the very lowest
rate from you say 20 billion but I can't
I can't get too exact with it but in in
a in attainable assets that's what
that's the range our families in my
grandfather goes by sigh his his father
went by si I'm my father's oldest son so
I'm si number four and my
great-grandfather had bought a group of
magazines under a label called Conde
Nast I don't know what was in it
originated them all is that okay I don't
know have enough fingers the vogue
allure Vanity Fair GQ self glamour House
& Garden contest traveler Architectural
Digest bone Appetit gourmet Wired New
Yorker and I'm sure there's a couple I
missed which in any other family you
think would lay a lot of pressure on my
shoulders and say you're the oldest you
know you you're the namesake but it
doesn't work that way in my family you
got to earn your way if you don't go to
school all these somewhat and if you
don't work with a family and putting
your time you don't get
mr. pewter if you go to the shrink you
talk about yourself and then you figure
out things same thing your rotator and
you you still talk about yourself and
you figure out other things
it's my shrink there are not many people
like myself in modeling as I see and had
friends that really got me into it
they almost coerced me into it I kept
hearing it from many sides try try it
why not try it and finally did Lauren
Lauren Hutton who was a friend of mine
gave me the idea Isabella Rossellini
once said is calling out some other
members of my family think it's a step
down being a whore which for a man I
think it is I did it purposely it's the
other end of the spectrum for me I've
always been very introspective and
interested in culture and things like
that and this is something on the
surface completely and I am purposely
doing it to explore that side No oh yeah
they're so cliche okay this lapels you
see they're high there's nothing worse
when you see these jackets with these
lapels that go like this same thing our
low riding Clinton wears this kind of
thing have you seen it looks like a
restaurant owner it's so vulgar this is
so has an aristocratic thing to it not
well I think no matter what I hear about
my parents about my family no matter
what I read the fact is that I'm
absolutely you know proud to be a Trump
and I'm you know like proud of my family
name and I'm proud of everything I've
done and ever accomplished
my grandfather somebody was telling me
he had built more housing units than
anyone else has ever done in New York
and he was just in the other boroughs so
to my dad it was sort of he wanted to go
in the direction of his father he just
always loved Manhattan so he wanted to
build here you know there's some sort of
pride in the fact that people would even
take an interest in
me just because I'm a part of that so
you know for a while I was worried that
you know for my whole life I've sort of
be under my parents shadow but it's not
a bad shadow to be under I guess it's
okay I mean growing up everything just
seems normal you go to a museum you're
like yeah that's me that's my family you
know and don't you have a family Museum
the money from my family is kind of
complicated on my grandfather's side of
the family his his grandmother was
Gertrude Vanderbilt the Vanderbilts made
their money in shipping and railroads
and Gertrude Vanderbilt married a guy
named Harry Payne Whitney it was the son
of William C Whitney who was a very
famous New York financier Gertrude was a
bohemian type that kind of going off to
Paris and getting sculpture lessons by
Rodin and in the early 1900's had gone
downtown and tried to help out I'm
struggling American artisan in the
process formed the Whitney Museum
I always take this subway my mom had
never really been on the subway I took
her on the other day and she was like
whoa this is me other people should do
this
it's like you should come during rush
hour it's kind of ironic because the
Whitney family made their money on the
subway yeah they they can they sort of
private privatize the subway
and held a monopoly on charge the city
all this money it was a complete racket
they're crooks
but everybody was a crook affected enemy
the Johnston's right they probably were
like making opium or something I didn't
always know I was rich I know it sounds
a little strange to say that but growing
up in the country I just thought that
everybody had carriages and horses and
stuff like that
my parents never sat me down and said
you're rich
in fact my dad never talked about his
inherited wealth at all that's why it
was so weird when I did find out I was
10 years old it was in 4th grade during
a free reading period in the library a
kid in my class found my dad's name and
a copy of Forbes magazine with a list of
the 400 richest people in America the
kid read the article aloud to the whole
class and everyone including my teacher
ran over to check it all out for
themselves
it was strange all my friends and me
finding out at the same time how rich my
family was I felt like I was learning a
secret that I wasn't supposed to know a
secret my dad had been keeping from and
now the fact that I'm making a film
about it has him really nervous
sometimes prying into people's lives
with the camping camera and revealing
things that are sensational creates a
will yeah but I'm almost I'm kind of I'm
fortunate enough to be in a position
where I want to have a happier life and
how I actually feel about myself more in
Psychological introspective way and I
don't want to be nervous about money or
being nervous about Who I am and I feel
like you're feeling nervous about this
film this may be that nervousness of who
you are and you're in control of this
film and I'm not so there's a little
source of nervousness what do you think
about my theory that you have that
nervousness and that anxiety that I am
trying to avoid
maybe understand it overcome perhaps I
do and maybe you will overcome it
maybe you can walk into school into a
group of people feel perfectly at home
and comfortable and that you belong or
have as much right to be there as
anybody else you think you made a
mistake and you don't want me to make
the same mistake you did maybe
the time I realized I was I was wealthy
was act Byronic Liat friends seminary in
New York City which is a Quaker school I
say ironically because people Quakers
are supposed to be nice and like not
evil acting but apparently some you know
there's one of those parent meeting
things and some kid here her father must
have told their own you know that guy
his family owns a lot of stuff and
newspapers and they really mean him and
whatnot and you know she went and told
everybody that I'm you know I thought I
was only into myself we're and I don't
know I guess at that point these kids
were intelligent enough to think that
you know that made me a braggart or
something and they beat the crap out of
me at a Quaker school so now that was my
first realization of that and also allow
me to also realize I didn't like my
father so much because I came home all
screwed up and he didn't even notice so
there were times as I grew older that I
was became more conscious of it by the
way people treated me because I had
money it wasn't even my money you know I
was a little kid it was people I'd
noticed people treating me differently
because my parents had money so that
even you know one more step to remove so
I didn't I never really understood that
he's I couldn't give them my parents
monies I didn't really think it was a
reason to treat me in a different way
but I think that's why in friends that I
have now the major quality I look for is
sincerity because there I think there is
a lot of that and I didn't realize it
when I was younger because I was quite
sheltered but but now I see it so I
remembered you have being picked up from
school to go on holidays in a limousine
being this huge thing I remember being
so upset with my father one you know he
would do that I remember you know making
him like either like Park around the
block and I would like scurry down the
street and around the corner that's a
true story I really did that a couple of
times I remember just like being like no
you know I'm not rich I don't have any
money yeah telling people that did
making an effort to identify with like
maids working in our house or like
babysitters or you know whoever and
trying to convince them like as though
there was any like they were living in
our house
Thanks get out my dad brought us up
always telling us we were poor we never
were given too many presents and I
didn't know anything about the
Vanderbilts are the Whitney's I didn't
know anything about it and I remember
when I was a little kid my my mom let me
spend the day with my uncle and he took
me to Grand Central Station
and he said this is yours I mean it's
just the worst thing he he took they
just take me all around New York and and
be like yes we own this and he just it
was the dumbest thing in the world to do
to a kid this is something that people
some people in my family did a long time
ago I never knew them my mom never knew
them my grandfather didn't even know the
people who who came up with this idea
I'm not like making money off of Grand
Central Station or anything I didn't
grow up like Josiah with statues of my
family in front of Grand Central Station
I don't even know that much about how my
family started their business and I
really don't know anything about how it
still runs today in fact none of my
relatives have worked at Johnson &
Johnson since my grandfather's
generation all I know about it is that
ever since I was a kid I've heard this
rumor that they have a company store in
there
where employees can get anything they
want half the price even though my
name's on the package I'm just a
shareholder and a customer so I pay
retail just like everybody else
these are like the new rage right thank
you classes ok ready for me to look
totally retarded because yellow is not
my color we'll go ahead of you I'm a
handbag grow personally because it's
like the easiest thing to shop for when
you're not really shopping and you're
just running in and you're just going to
buy it and you don't realize how
expensive is and then it kind of adds up
you know they go to huge you know like
shells worth of a bags I think this is
so classic it's just little bag you
stick everything in it could hold makeup
kit it can hold your Palm Pilot or if
you're still in the paper your diary I'm
gonna push those on the bigger one so
you can fit your little dog in it my
dad's German but he was born here in New
York he went to collegiate and then went
to put himself through Columbia and then
went to Harvard Law School he's a lawyer
and it's like self-employed now and so I
was always raised lap of luxury in New
York totally lucky going to private
schools my entire life and kind of
having whatever I want but I was knowing
that if you ever lose it all all you
have is this
I have and the German Baron and Italians
I count
well because my great-grandfather was
carville him to second and this means
you know when you're if you come from an
old family and you know hundreds of
years ago you know you're either related
to a royal family or you know somebody
in your family make in the Middle Ages
you know CLOB somebody on the head and
King made you you know bear and a Duke
or whatever you know eight hundred years
ago a thousand years ago and then you
know it's just sort of the way the
families progressed and it's just a
question of your manners and it's not
not even that it's just like you know
it's different old money a new monitor
right so as you can see there's not much
audience for fancy aside from the fences
themselves it's kind of bleak
do you hang out with a fencing team more
than you do with the other Roger do I
hang out the fencing team everyone's
very nice with his fencing this attracts
people who are a lot of people who
know me know what my financial situation
is and they they do ask me a lot that no
way wonder why do I stay here on campus
they you know they think I have
something better to go home to like a
mansion or you know my apartment off
campus or something in the end I do up a
place in the city my father's place but
it's not fun to go there and I feel
gassed in my own home so I stay here and
I made this place my own and my friends
don't always understand that and they
had their own idea of what a wealthy
person or person from wealthy background
would live this is my place this is in
Lloyd at Haverford at senior housing
that's a void double so we have I have
two rooms mine my roommates and we have
a suite and it's nice I keep all the
things I want it got food stuff which
you're kind of out of and enough liquor
to service at least two people it's
certainly a far cry from what I've got
at my father's place in the city but
this is really it for me this is where I
feel safe and in feel and control things
when I go to New York that just doesn't
feel like my life anymore okay this is a
room that nobody's probably walked into
for the past ten plus years it's the
whole time capsule if you noticed by the
Madonna clock and my interesting attempt
at color painting the omage to poison
and Motley Crue the nine or two-and-oh
posters Lulla
I think they were trading cards
were stickers and the village Ovie sort
of wall this was my pet it's a little
small for me now probably why I don't
stay in there anymore but yeah and what
floor oh yeah we are on the 68th floor
not a bad view to wake up to things
really changed more when I when I went
away to secondary school went to st.
Paul's I was really into experimenting
and different drugs and drinking and so
I was just kind of a mess I was weird I
mean some of my friends tell me about
how I used to just go off in the woods
and climb up to the very top of a tree
and sort of make weird noises and scare
people I mean the first time I tried LSD
was the summer between sixth and seventh
grade and I look at some of the crap
some of my friends were involved in like
this whole gangster thing that we all
went through like our incredibly
precocious drug habits that we just made
it you know such a point of flaunting to
the world not that I was against the
drug habits I mean I was one of the more
precocious these are you know too small
and leave New York private schools and
then it's st. Paul's there's boarding
school which is just a bastion of
historical snobbery it's just all there
you know if ever an encounter that rubs
you the wrong way whoever pisses you off
and I'm up at boarding school
this kids from like some talent in
Connecticut you know I don't know I can
just say you I'm from New York I
can buy your family piss off and this is
petty and this is weak and this is very
underhanded but it's so easy you know my
my parents had come up to visit me
during parents weekend of that fall
which sort of coincided with my 18th
birthday and my dad brought up all this
paperwork things I had the sign I had to
look over my will
things I'd never thought about before
and this was the time when I was trying
to think about college what I wanted to
do after high school the idea that I was
a millionaire knowing I had was a
millionaire that's kind of a it's kind
of hard to to to accept I think when
you're a kid and you haven't done
anything yet but you have all of this
and while you're you know you have other
friends who don't you don't have
anything they just have their little
checking account with the money they
earn from summer jobs put it this way
I'm a multimillionaire
I have an income in the and the high six
figures minimum per year and then I make
roughly fifty thousand dollars a year my
current job the st. Paul's I drove up
with the chairman of the board of
trustees from there like he was my dad's
best friend at the time you know like
the second day of school like the
headmaster who every student hated
because he was too prick came up to me
and personally introduced himself
there's like things like this you tend
to notice you know and then brown like
forget about it like I mean I think on
some level I got in there alone Maronite
really good boards I had really good
grades in high school that's almost
incidental because I feel pretty sure I
would have gone there anyways I attended
an entire of my first academic year I
think less than eight academic
obligations total and that includes
tests and exams so doing tests and exams
I physically got up in white somewhere
for something having to do with class
less than eight times you know and I get
these like you know kind of really
invasive letters from Dean saying though
you are technically you know below the
number of credits you know required you
know for a continuing education of Brown
University we do feel that with
continued academic progress you will
tire it on terms like about Jesus
you guys bad for me out dad you have
like this is ridiculous
it was so again like thank you
great phenomenal I showed up at it at
Trinity College and in the fall of 1994
for a couple weeks and in college was
just out of control
I'd had all these problems with
depression and yeah I was quitting the
sports teams and sitting around in my
room and not really reading the books I
was supposed to be reading in school and
my parents came up and and we both
decided that I was going to take some
time off you know at first I thought it
was going to be a semester or two or the
whole year and I ended up being about
two years probably the best two years of
my life the most important years of my
life one of the jobs I had was working
in a in an oilfield services company
down in Texas I was working with Cajuns
and Hispanic guys who had never even
been the high school and here I was this
kid had been to all these fancy boarding
schools and I was an alien to them and
it was hard at first but uh I think they
also learned some things from me you
know at lunch lunch times they always be
asking me all these questions and kind
of trivia questions they get a kick out
of that that I that I knew a lot of
these things you know to know what the
the capital of Chile is or something in
my mind I you know I knew a Santiago but
I went on a fly-fishing trip with my dad
down there
in the mountains and going around on
helicopters being going from pool to
pool really what I learned is that
working hard makes me feel good
when my dad was my age he thought he'd
have a career at Johnson & Johnson but
my grandfather told him he couldn't work
there because he didn't want family
issues interfering with business plus he
knew that my dad would never need to
earn a living I guess at that point my
dad could have just gone on permanent
vacation but for some reason he didn't
like my dad I'll never need to work and
I'm not much of a painter so I want to
ask him what he thinks I should do with
my life after graduation you might
pursue the filming a little bit but you
might also get interested in graduate
school further studies building a
collection of historic documents papers
publications
as a career yes
okay oh this is a beauty this is a map
this is one of my favorites map of
Washington Township oh my God look at
that and look at the way this little
tiny portion of pink down in the lower
right corner outlines the in the block I
don't know collecting old maps seems
pretty cool but I don't exactly see
where the career part comes into it the
bottom line is I got to do something and
there are no courses in college about
how to be a hard-working and productive
rich person it's something you got to
figure out for yourself well considering
I don't have to work what advice would
you don't work then don't work why would
anybody in their right mind work unless
they had to I personally do not believe
at all in any moral obligation for
anyone but I've seen that people with
money that don't do anything aren't
happy the great philosopher called
Schopenhauer says what the poor are
limited by their poverty that is the
duty of the rich to cultivate themselves
in their idle time and if they use their
own riches for this they can reach the
highest elevation classes always existed
in humankind you have denied it as a
culture not to be supercilious and look
down from an older culture but really
you're discovering just now well first I
went to Wellesley thinking that I was
going to work really hard I was gonna
paint anything because I was gonna be a
doctor even though I was having fun the
whole time I was realizing that my
credit-card bills were mounting in
college and I realized okay this is not
the way for me to be why don't I go try
Investment Banking got to Investment
Banking they work you to the ground the
first day I got there was seven
morning they didn't let us sleep till 10
o'clock at night house like yeah
welcome to Merrill Lynch and welcome to
working your butt off but I enjoyed it I
learned a lot about finance
I learned certain skills how to interact
with clients that was my best skill like
I got handwritten notes from CEOs of
companies saying I was great I was
fabulous ever need anything called them
but I didn't have the drive anymore like
I saw these people that will just sit
there and sit there and sit there and I
was like my friends are down Township
Rihanna right now it's 10 o'clock at
night they're having Bellinis and like
I'm sitting here cranking out numbers
aren't everything that looked at and
that's where I do the line I was like I
hang you to normal life I can be
successful between the hours of 9:00 and
7 or 8 o'clock at night and then go out
and have a good time I went to lunch
with my mother
that wasn't me like a nice family lunch
suddenly I was like I'm about to leave
to go to the gym she said we'd talk
she's like what are these bills I see
her she just wants me to respect what I
buy you know like that even though we do
have like a privilege and you are in New
York and you are doing all these
fabulous things and famous people wear
it but at the end of the day you realize
not everybody is this lucky to have what
we have and to be able to stroll down
Madison Avenue and but go in and buy a
pair of 6mu dog shoes if you really
wanted to but people you know if that's
like I've heard of
when I came here it just shocked me that
every every time you go somewhere people
ask you when when you meet someone this
third quite the second question even is
what do you do right away where you live
and what do you do and in Europe that
doesn't happen people find out who you
are and what do you do by the way you
speak your intonation your subject of
conversation so I never really knew what
to do because I don't do anything so I
didn't know what to really answer is it
more romantic telephone so sensual takes
a long time so it has a hole so you
already know you're making this phone
call this one is but it's sort of quick
sturdy that's more for business and each
one has a different you know connotation
I would have to say I'm rich or I would
just say that very simply or sometimes
I'm kept if I was in a bad mood and I
think it's something that always made me
feel good to answer back that way
because it it would make people
understand that it is something that is
make them understand the nature of the
question that it is unpleasant in itself
this is the Britannica eleventh Edition
which is in 33 volumes but thin and and
this is a last edition that was written
before it became from 1911 we forgot
completely rewritten and became you know
for the masses I mean now the
Encyclopedia Britannica is yeah in
my will and wish to for cultivation and
culture is you know sort of the
Dionysian side love and sex and so I
find it very often that I'm reading a
book and I'm thinking about but
then as soon as I get the I'm
thinking about a book so for me it is
very problematic that
I've sold maybe 15 paintings they're
sold previous to Denise rich I did edit
a portrait for princess Carol Jordan
mandelino Theater accomplice Alexandra
from Furstenberg I just did one of Alex
and talita von Furstenberg this one is
very sort of Basquiat SH what does this
say I will spend the rest of my life
trying to live up to ideals I don't
think I can
my great-grandfather my two great uncles
who built the aim he lived in New Jersey
and they really loved New Jersey and
that's where a AP basis and the first
one was a supermarket or a t store and
then my two great uncle's decided to
make it into a chain supermarket I think
it was the first one like Woolworths and
so there was 15,000 stores and my father
wasn't involved in the AP I think he
worked for them for a day or something
then he inherited the UPnP money so he
bought Hog Island he named it Paradise
Island and he developed it because the
art collection was worth say 400 million
and the property in LA was worth let's
say four hundred five hundred million
right the island of course is worth a
couple hundred million right and then
the museum so and then all the houses so
he'd say a couple of felony wolfson then
he lost or sold or gave away all that
yeah
I like this picture a lot my mother's
really happy here
it's with President Nixon my paradise on
this is a cute picture with the Beatles
because they they filmed help on
Paradise Island so actually this is
actually my favorite picture of my
parents I think and my mother had given
my father a black eye so he had he'd had
to wear sunglasses that day we came back
to New York we were living at the
Carlyle Hotel and I was going to the
Hewitt school across the street I used
to eat salami and watch TV and talk to
the servants and it took wow you know he
didn't come downstairs or he came
downstairs he came for a half an hour
and when my mother left him she always
says he got him and he started to get
involved in drugs he went down with the
cast of hair to Mexico then he started
taking quaaludes my mother always says
she thinks my father would have been a
really simple man had he not inherited
the money yeah I've got all this money
and yes if I wanted to I could probably
go and we could go like downtown and go
buy a Ferrari or something I could do
that I've got a little older and more
mature so it's not something I obsess
about or think about you know I've
always had that vote I've been able to
drive in nice cars and already have nice
houses and my my family has a lot of
nice stuff I already have that
it doesn't really make me feel good to
to accumulate more the pleasure
extinguishes itself very quickly and I
find I use my time and my money to
instead do things that I take part of
for example going to the tailor so I go
there and I break you know Rocco's balls
for hours because the button has to be
just right and we talk about the shape
of it and the sewing I mean yes it
requires money but it also requires
setting down what what you want your
taste so it gives a meaning I mean this
time that I spent yes I get the great
super and just buy it off the rack
because it exactly reflects what I want
I wouldn't trust myself the million
dollars right now
if it was all you know ready cash it was
extremely accessible I probably wouldn't
trust myself with him um give it all to
the homeless no kidding
let's see I just I just have so few
houses in like the Bahamas in London and
animals and playing big art studio
things like that
Zeb's barn Gotham north it's actually
brand new I have eight stables here
right now this is Nadia she's actually
my youngest horse just six years old
we just bought her this year come near
up this is Julius
it's a little crazy sometimes but yeah
we'd like to put anyway this is Kara
Stella I do her in the hi eman choice
and she's gonna make great horse having
the last name reverse oxygen I remember
when he actually started like first
started campaigning and I won a big
class in May at a horse show and a few
and a few people from different
magazines wanted to interview me
i sat down the first person asked me was
about my father and I read that second
how it was gonna be and it has been like
that and that's really what my struggle
is to have people see the person behind
that name I don't really know exactly
what they see me doing in the future
my sister is kind of the business one in
the family like she's I think that she
will go to law school and become you
know the prize daughter I think she is
already we're very different we do
different things that make us happy and
I don't really care who accepts what I
do over the way I had just I'm doing
what I love to do
you know that's really matter to me with
the helmet thank you guilt to me is
idiotic I've always found guilt to be
the absolutely the something has been
taught us by a terrible culture of a
sort of a Christian Puritan culture
where you were supposed to atone for
some initial sin and I and I find guilt
absolutely senseless so I don't I don't
I don't feel bad for anything for any
thing and especially having money I find
it a very very negative trip and it's
something that is you know basically for
for old women and nuns
but I remember once my father and I were
walking down Fifth Avenue and there was
a homeless person sitting sitting right
outside of Trump Tower and I think I was
probably maybe nine nine ten something
like this it was around the same time as
divorce and I remember my father
pointing to him and saying you know that
guy has eight billion dollars more than
me because he was in such extreme debt
at that point you know and and me
thinking what are you you know what are
you talking about he's he was sitting
outside of Trump Tower and I'm looking
at I'm going you know and I didn't
understand and sort of I think I just
thought about it maybe like a year or
two ago and I you know I found it
interesting you know it makes me all the
more proud of my parents they got
through that the heliport is right up
here somewhere and yeah my parents use
it all the time my parents have a
helicopter which is really fun
and they take it to and from the city
when they go usually and if I'm smart I
figure out when they're going and I can
get either a ride in or right out but
then I have to take it
a car like everyone else my dad is an
amazing person and he is famous and I'm
aware of that I recognize that but I
always feel like oh he's a golfer no
one's gonna know who he is he's a golfer
and that's like a different world but
then everyone's like of course we know
who he is what are you talking about
unfortunately for him he was good enough
to turn throw and make it on his own on
golf and not have to have a college
degree in it
he sort of went from nothing and made it
into everything which is variable
this is the bathing corporation of
Southampton and this is where lots of
people come to bathe eat lunch and sit
on the beach and I've been there
afternoon and now I'm gonna give you
guys a tour so that's it now we're going
onto Main Street Southampton
I am NOT a big shot for myself I sort of
go into sacks because my parents forgot
that they still gave me my charge card
so that's the one store that I can buy
clothes and where I don't have to pay
for them and it gets charged to them
which is amazing this is the meadow Club
this is where the tennis all the tennis
is played here it's only a Tennis Club
but you can probably like squash and
that kind of thing
racquet club as well this is a extremely
extremely but wasps piest of wasps but
it's beautiful as you can see all the
courts are grass you have to wear all
white to even be here remember
boy he's probably a pro I brought 3
before Jewish friends to the beta
corporation today for lunch and it's
fine I mean actually I don't know that
was the first time I've ever brought in
anyone so who knows I may get kicked out
of my outfit I think it was fine
I think the people at the club would
probably not be that excited if someone
came in with a black person especially
someone not that I have any problem with
it please but especially being that my
parents for example are relatively new
to the club or to all of this in general
so like we're already on sort of like
watch you know like everyone already
sort of like is speculating I'm like
what we might do wrong I feel like when
you go out and saw the Hampton you
definitely will go to conscience point
there everybody from New Yorkers to you
know famous DJs to Puff Daddy you know
having a party there
I will come in at about 7 o'clock and
and do the table seating for the night
of what party how important are they
where are they going to be seated in the
club
obviously attractive women is going to
help you because that that looks good
for us
you know we want to see Cristal
champagne sitting on the table because
there are other people that are in the
crowd that will want to ultimately
emulate that when the nightlife in the
Hamptons is about as despicable as it
gets you know that the fact that we all
go out there you know we all go out
there to relax enjoy ourselves and we
play some tennis it's out on the lawn
gone to the beach and then we find
ourselves in these places which are even
worse than the clubs in New York at
night
you got there and it's Joey and Tommy
and Billy and maddy you met Joey and
Tommy you know they're all in something
you know they're all doing their thing
and like it's just so gross I mean I
just understand why we can't just go out
there and have people in one another's
houses and sit back we can get drunk we
can do lots of drugs we can be decadent
we're just telling to do with Joe and
Tommy
we have a two-bottle minimum per table
our cheapest bottle is 250 dollars a
bottle and champagne prices go all the
way up to a magnum of Cristal would be
$900 the standard night is to go out
with maybe like 10 or 12 people we get
two tables and each table gets two
bottles so each table would be about
like $800 which is extremely expensive
you know you're sitting there like you
know why am i doing this why am i
spending $800 that could be so many
other things like could it go to Europe
I can you know go to the Bahamas I can
buy a pair of pants but the barbells not
big you know I don't remember the
evening all that clearly but life
definitely spent you know several
thousand dollars on a barbell probably
yeah these things happen everybody who
started going out in 10th grade is still
going out and nobody from New York isn't
you maybe somebody from Europe or
somebody from LA or somebody from
Chicago but nobody from New York that I
can think of as new like you never would
have heard of them they all went to
private school and they all you know you
would have hung out with them at some
point in time they all know each other
and it some and not and that is their
dating pool and I would say it's pretty
much limited to that to that circle I've
never actually dated outside my social
background and I thought about that
never it's really weird um I never
thought about it I think it's just well
your compatibility you know somebody on
your your same wavelength like
understanding everything where you've
come from I'm sure I would you know but
he'd have to understand the fact that
you know I love going shopping somewhere
and spending all this money on something
and I'm some guy might get mad at me
first be stupid and spending all this
money for like a Gucci purse and you did
what are you doing you know but of
course I'm like I have to have it yeah I
think you'd probably be weird to bring
someone to your to your home's to your
summer house or or maybe to introduce
some tiered parents or something like
that
or just you know or when the when you
introduce them to your parents and their
parents are asking them about where they
live and you know my parents are there
so you know they live in this world
where they might be like so where do you
summer there's something like that or
it's such a unique situation where in at
the end of the day I mean really there
are so few people with whom we could
actually share this kind of stuff in
common that ends up being a subject of
conversation quite a bit because you
can't really relate to any of it it's a
bit like we need to pour our hearts out
about it you know but I mean part in
your heart out about it feels good you
know talk about it makes you feel good
how to internalize it makes it feel good
everything about it feels good so I mean
you know it's not it's not you know say
that we need to you know we need a
shoulder to cry on not at all the point
is it ends up being something we talk
about a lot because we're so alone in
this circumstance growing up I'm going
to chafe it in seeing my friends I got
divorced you know the parents definitely
they just forgot about the kids and just
fought over the money themselves you
know and and how is the wife gonna take
care of herself she gets so low amount
and how she can take care of the kids
and she wants the plane and you know
he's gonna take the plane and who gets
the house in the country and you know in
terms of marriage anybody's gonna have
to have a prenuptial agreement these
days and I know that sounds really bad
but you just have to I was going to
school one day and there was I saw in
one of the news boxes a huge picture of
both my parents and there was a rip down
the center of the picture and this is
before I had officially been told that
they were getting divorced and I came
out of school that day and there was a
swarm of photographers and paparazzi and
all these things waiting to ask me
questions and I mean it was I wanted to
stay in school because I wanted to have
a normal day and do all this but it
makes it that much more
difficult to deal with your own personal
emotions and to think about you know
your family and your brothers and what
they're going through knowing that
you're going to walk out of the building
and there's going to be a bunch of
people running after you asking you
difficult questions I have no intention
of being loyal to any woman anytime soon
or not that I probably ever will be but
one day I'll fall in love and I'll get
married whatever I'll probably get
divorced a couple of years later I'll
have a serious prenup before I prenup
it's been drilled into my head since I
was five years old Breeden up
all the way and if this little
ungrateful bitch has the nerve to say
something like that's unromantic I don't
want her prenup then she's just a golden
girl I don't want to get ready to run it
was
I guess it's a little strange to be
thinking about divorce before you even
know if you're gonna get married but
I've seen what can happen if you don't
think like that
when my grandfather was 73
he left my grandmother and married the
upstairs maid if they'd lived happily
ever after
things would have been great but it
didn't work out that way at the end of
his life sick with cancer he was
medicated and manipulated into changing
his will again and again after he died
the court battle over the fortune he
wanted to leave to charity destroyed his
reputation tore apart my entire family
and made his third wife one of the
richest women in the world
my dad never really got over the whole
thing for a guy who thought it was
impolite to talk about money in the
first place
having the whole mess discussed in the
New York Times every day was a total
nightmare
I was too young to read the papers but I
could sense the tension at home and I
knew one thing I definitely didn't want
to inherit was that fear of talking
about money I know you don't like
talking about money when I was little
you always told me it was a bad idea to
talk about it and I shouldn't and I
shouldn't and if anything I should live
people ask me and I just want to know
what are you so scared of well perhaps I
was mistaken that's you're a
mistake in my 20 years of my life thing
that you don't talk about because it's
in bad taste why bring it up it's it's
really not important you never examine
it you'll never really understand it you
want to be able to solve any of the
issues or resolving you well I'm not so
sure this thing's a good idea
I think Richie poor actually pretty
confused these days they don't know how
they're supposed to feel about
themselves because they've been getting
so many different images you know that
you see well is this cool thing people
starting around in expensive clothing
mean something but at the same time you
see a lot of shows that are trying to on
TV they're trying to make it seem like
the everyday middle-class family is
where the real life is where we're
happiness exists I think there's a lot
of kids that grow up and with money or
some sort of affluent lifestyle they
they they thought that lifestyle can
sort of it it really holds them back
from discovering their passions and and
and what really makes them feel good
about life I remember once I was on a
job in Australia and and this guy just
walks up to me I was at you know I was
at some you know like after celebrating
party was the fashion shows there and
this man walks up to me who had never
met and says how does what does it feel
like to be wealthy
and I was like excuse me and he goes
what does it feel like to never have
felt any pain and that really upset me
not because I was upset for myself but
because I was upset for him like I was
bothered by the fact that he could be so
ignorant and like that there are people
out there who could like say such a
blanketed thing and just be so downright
stupid and this you know not used the
brain that they had and that's what
bothered me not the fact that he could
make like you know not the fact that
anything he said really you know wounded
me deep down just the fact that there
really are people out there who think
like that you know the think that with
money comes comes happiness do you ever
worry about getting cut out of your
family I am extremely parent I mix I'm
parent it all the time that suddenly
like the next fax from my grandfather or
the next phone calls you mean you know
I'm really disappointed in you because
you wore the wrong pair of shoes the
other day so no you're on your own have
fun
sure big time scares the hell out of me
it's it's you know it's forgot it was it
there's that there are enormous number
of things I really really count on the
absence of which would bring about a lot
of emotional distress maybe even
intellectual distress what do you think
what would you do if I saw your money I
don't know it's kind of like well I'm
not gonna compare it to that but it is
in the same way like the idea of losing
a parent or sibling isn't something you
don't like to think about maybe some
people do maybe some people can handle
the cycle on handle the prospect
psychologically of either of these two
losses occurring and then they can
actually firstyou themself you know I
don't think I could really think about
it so it actually happened
we face a lot of different pressures
from having money when you win it's as
if a professionals got when it's because
you worked hard and you wrote it well as
an amateur some people will see that
that you rode well or you worked hard
for that but there will always be the
people that said that you wanted because
you have a nice horse I could use it as
an excuse to not come and not work but
I've kind of swapped that and made it be
an encouragement an incentive to come
and work even harder kind of prove
people wrong I think it can actually
give you more Drive but a lot of times
that's turned towards a revenge like
showing up your family like seeing you
know I told you so look what I can do
that's why you see sometimes you know
wealthy kids turn to drugs or you hang
out with really whack job people because
they want to shock their family we want
to show that they can escape from the
mold that their family all seems to be a
part of
maybe personally the way I'm going about
that is because I plan to actually
graduate college and go to graduate
school and you know and you know
thumb my nose up at them with a PhD in
something that's it I mean that's my
little form of revenge I rather than
getting Barbie dolls they used to get
upset I always wanted Legos or like
erector sets or something like this so I
love like looking at the New York
skyline and being able to figure out
like what I'm gonna add to that and you
know what patch of like sky you know
maybe one of my buildings will viens
I've basically always wanted to go to
real estate development it's in the
blood I guess I want to be indispensable
that's that's my primary objective or
whatever I do I want to be as
indispensable as I can now that's a
little vague probably like a lawyer or
in business like us from the beginning
Luke had doubts about being involved in
this movie
in fact most of the kids I interviewed
were pretty nervous after talking with
camera in some ways you really want to
talk about it but even still you're
never quite sure how the rest of the
world is going to judge you for what you
say when the gossip columns finally
found out I was making this movie that
put an end to the interviewing some of
the kids really started to panic Luke
took it the farthest he hired a lawyer
and sued me for defaming his character
maybe I should have seen this coming
it's not like I wasn't warned
the defendant Jamie Johnson sheepishly
surreptitiously and in the vein of
irrelevance II never the hell that means
flashed a document in front of the
plaintiff Luke Weil indicating that the
plaintiff Luke real signature on said
document was a prerequisite to the
plaintiffs effectuation of the interview
to be used in this project and that said
executed document was an irrelevant
formality that munity what I guess they
are saying but I got to tell you that I
consider it irrelevant is they're trying
to make it seem as if we didn't really
know what he was signing when he signed
something all this stuff about
sheepishly and surreptitiously they're
trying to make it seem like Oh Luke by
the way I mean you have to sign this
thing but it's it's nothing and the
irony here is that Luke who clearly
can't afford to try to deal with his
problems this way the swinging and he
can afford to see you and very likely he
will play this thing out for all it's
worth much but
it's it's sort of the irony of making a
film about wealthy people that they're
very wealth allows them to come back
okay sue you if they become unhappy with
what it is that you know the judge
through Luke's lawsuit out of court and
my lawyer says everything's okay the
whole thing was pretty depressing while
it lasted but everyone's telling me that
getting sued for the first time is a
serious rite of passage for a rich kid
I was always told that the American
Dream is about getting a bigger and
better life than your parents have but
that dream was accomplished by my
great-grandfather so I live outside the
American dream
and now it's my job to build a
meaningful life apart from all this
privilege I've inherited I've learned
that part of coming-of-age is finding
something that's your own and not your
family's legacy
I've had the benefit of being rich all
my life and I'll never want for material
things but after working on this movie
I've discovered that what you inherit
may not be as valuable as what you
earned and although I still haven't
found all the answers at least now I
know how important it is to ask the
question
you