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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, October 27, 2003

Seeing rich kids through rich kid's eyes

By Beth Harris
Associated Press

Champagne overflows glasses. Guests glide around wearing vintage 1920s attire — handsome men in top hats, beautiful women in flapper dresses. Laughter mixes with the sound of Glenn Miller's "In the Mood."

'Born Rich'
It's Jamie Johnson's 21st birthday party and a regular old beer bash simply won't do.

At midnight, the heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune receives the ultimate gift: inheriting more money than most people can spend in a lifetime.

Johnson examines the travails and good times that result from wealth and privilege among 10 young adults in the HBO documentary "Born Rich," airing at 8 tonight.

"When people talk about money, they are nervous that that calls into question their right to have the money and the wealth that they possess," he said.

Some of Johnson's interview subjects are his close pals, including high school classmate S.I. Newhouse IV, heir to the Conde Nast publishing empire; Ivanka Trump, daughter of real estate developer Donald Trump; and Luke Weil, heir to the Autotote gaming empire.

"I felt very comfortable talking to him, which is good and bad because you let down your guard a little bit more than if I was talking to basically anyone else," Trump said.

Still, it wasn't easy persuading the rich and, in some cases, famous kids to talk about a subject that's so gauche. Johnson was turned down by heirs to the Rockefeller and Campbell Soup fortunes. And his own father questions why Johnson wants to pry into wealthy people's lives.

"He always told me from a very early age, don't talk about money, deny being wealthy if people ask you," Johnson said. "He was seriously against it and really discouraged me from doing it. It actually encouraged me and I thought this film needs to be made."

Johnson gets fellow rich kids to open up about what he calls the "voodoo of inherited wealth." Having millions and billions affects everything from their dating lives (several agree a prenuptial agreement is essential) to planning a life in which you don't have to work.

He wonders how they'd react to losing their inheritances. "It's something you don't like to think about," Weil said.

Georgina Bloomberg, daughter of New York mayor and publishing tycoon Michael Bloomberg, says having her last name stinks because people don't always see the person behind the name. Josiah Hornblower, heir to the Vanderbilt and Whitney fortunes, stands outside New York's Whitney Museum and asks, "Don't you have a family museum?"

Johnson, 23, spent three years working on the film, which he produced and directed.

His motivation for making the film was personal. He recalled stories of family members who were young, healthy and seemingly had everything going for them, yet they were unhappy.

"I really want to avoid that," Johnson said. "I want to figure out why it happens to people."