At 100, Teddy Getty Gaston relives life with fabled billionaire

Teddy Getty Gaston at KCRW.

Teddy Getty Gaston is 100. She started shopping a book at age 98 because she figured her story might “help other women,” and her opus, “Alone Together: My Life with J. Paul Getty” was just released last week.

Gaston was the fifth wife of J. Paul Getty, who struck oil deals, laid the infrastructure for gas stations and was one of the first people ever to become a billionaire.(Back before millionaires were a dime a dozen.)

In the case of Gaston, his much younger wife, he did all of this while lovingly supporting her career as a singer; it was her beautiful voice that lured him in the first place.

Unfortunately, much of the time, the two weren’t even in the same place–including the shocking period of their lives when their only son fell ill and died. Getty was too busy and too phobic to get on a ship to be present.

What’s it like to be married to a baron? What’s it like to be next door neighbors with Marion Davies? (Teddy and her son spent much time on what is now the Pacific Coast Highway. If you’ve ever parked in the north lot at the Annenberg Beach House, you can see the modern condo development on the site of the charming beach house where she used to live.)

The beautiful author, former singer, and woman who’s endured a laundry list of horrors visited the KCRW studios to share her story.

You can meet her yourself at 2pm at the Barnes and Noble in Santa Monica this Sunday, and you can hear our chat here: