Grace Kelly, her children, the accident

I remember reading about Stéphanie a great deal in the tabloids when I was a child. I felt for her, being in the spotlight after tragically losing her mother. Her sister seemed perfect in comparison to her hell raising ways.

Any DLers have insight or gossip to share regarding Kelly and the Rainiers? What was Grace Kelly's reputation during her lifetime?

🎵She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes 🎵

She was a nymphomaniac who fucked Bing Crosby, then about 40 years older than her.

The Rainier's was an unhappy marriage.

Her uncle, playwright George Kelly, was a gay, pro-Nazi misogynist. Her mother was abusive and her father was an anti-Semite.

Her brother's affairs drove his wife out of Philadelphia, then he had an affair with a transgender night club performer.

Fun family.

She fucked all her leading men minus Jimmy Stewart, who was very religious

She was a whore who slept her way to the top then found her prince.

She was fucking for parts long before the Weinstein era.

Everyone was fucking for parts back then in Hollywood. It was just a whore house with Cameras that happen to not shoot porn. Read the damn contracts, these women and men had no options if the studio heads didn't like how they gave head. Fucking your way to the top is like doing extra credit, you still have to perform on camera after the act. Throw some respect towards these Hollywood whores, they kept the masses entertained.

True. Grace Kelly was a true star unlike today's mattresses.

Charlize Theron has little of the charisma or star power of Grace Kelly.

When I see Theron on the screen, i can just picture her opening her pussy for whatever pig would give her an A-list role.

Bless you, DL! I knew you would give me a more honest and colorful portrait. I just assumed she was as classy as she looked in her prime.

I was wondering if the prince and princess had a happy marriage.

How did he handle the children after her death? Were they close to him?

I would hate to have an unloving spouse making the call on when the pull the plug.

Thank you!

They aren’t “Rainiers”, they’re Grimaldis.

There's been a lot of speculation about who was driving the car before it went off the cliff, specifically that Stephanie was driving. Is there any substance to this rumor? Of course, the Monaco police would do anything the prince wished preparing the official report.

As I've heard it from my uncle in Monaco, it went:

[quote]Stephie, pull over. Mummy has a headache."

Jackie, Audrey and Grace have been replaced by Kim, Khloe and Mylie. Pity.

Half her face is a Philadelphia truck driver's.

A whore and a drunk. My kind of gal.

We're they connected to the Four Seasons Landscaping and the glory holes next Door ?

R9 Thank you! I'm hopeless with royals.

So sad, this one. I remember watching the funeral and being struck by how devastated Caroline and Rainier were, just shattered with grief. Whatever happened, I feel for Stephanie. Grace seemed to be a loving mother. And today Caroline seems quite the matriarch herself. I like the Grimaldis. So there!

Any tea on Prince Alfred?

Albert. Loves black pussy. Straight.

Princess Stef travelled around Switzerland one year living in a caravan camper with her hot circus acrobat lover. She earned ever lasting cred for that.

She was Irish American working class girl who acted her way into a Princess. In her later years she looks,like the bloated, heavy drinking depressed matriarch that are a dime a dozen in Philly horse country,

She was not working class.

Old man Kelly made his fortune early. They were not working class but too Irish and too Catholic to be part of Philadelphia’s high society.

She may have been an easy lay, but she was ravishing and chic. Love her.

Either mom was drunk and Stephanie had to drive or mom was drunk driving. Awful either way.

A bricklayer who starts a company doing bricklaying is still working class - rich working class. Like the Deplorables in Long Island. Lots of money - but not education and cultural training/exposure.

Grace Kelly didn't need to be from Main Line WASP money. That's the beauty of it.

Her father was a 2 or 3 times gold? medallist in the Olympics for rowing? He parlayed his Olympic notoriety into a very successful construction business.

He appears to have been a charmer.

Years later, Joan Rivers remarked that in death we all become saints, "suddenly Grace Kelly didn't drink." I don't think the coverup was about Stephanie driving, it was that Grace was drunk.

R26 Grace’s mother was a college graduate, Mrs. Kelly’s brother had a Pulitzer for a play he wrote. I think Grace’s father rowed for some university.

I don't understand how Bing Crosby became a movie star.

Bing was the shit by 1930s standards. Look at the cool way he rattled his head on this number....

As she got older, she started looking like Olivia DeHavilland.

Why do some drinkers have so much facial bloat and others none?

Do drinkers ever get UTIs? I would think not.

Meet Rainier who's been most everywhere

From Zanzibar to Berkeley Square.

But Rainier's only seen the sights

A prince can see from Brooklyn Heights--

What a crazy pair!

'Cause they're Rainiers! Identical Rainiers, all the way!

One pair of matching Monagasques, but diff'rent as night and day!

Back then women in their 50s look like women in their 70s do today.

Speaking of drunks, nice to hear from you, R38

I think there was a story somewhere that Princess Grace had a stroke at the wheel and that's what caused the crash.

I was a better Grace Kelly than Nicole Kidman!

I think someone tampered with the brakes on the car.

Caroline was a little hell-raiser whore, constantly in the tabloids.

Then along came Stephanie, who was like "hold my beer, bitch", and suddenly Caroline was the saintly, respectable one.

Nobody really ever gave a shit about the brother, because he was bald and ugly, like his dad. Both girls were gorgeous in their youth.

Remember in the early 70s when there was a scandal about a call girl ring staffed with suburban housewives?

Liz and Grace should had done a TV movie about that.

Maybe titled “Helen & Harriet: the New Haven Hosebag Story”

??

Just started Robert Lacey’s 1990’s biography. Her mother was a lesbian, or so it would seem.

[quote] Grace’s mother was a college graduate, Mrs. Kelly’s brother had a Pulitzer for a play he wrote. I think Grace’s father rowed for some university

This is datalounge, where cream puff gobbling whores in caftans and earrings have declared that anyone with Irish catholic blood is pure drunken trash. It’s one of the Datalounge commandments, along with —Italian Americans are guidos, American jews are shrewd & calculating and Norwegians eat lutefisk.

R16. The Grimaldis are not royal. They are a princely family (except for Caroline, who is an HRH by virtue or her marriage to Prince Ernst of Hanover)

[quote]Back then women in their 50s look like women in their 70s do today.

Yes, that's true. She was only 52 when she died. That's the same age as women like Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, and Julia Roberts... who all look younger than Grace did.

I see from Wikipedia that Grace's paternal grandmother was a Costello - wouldn't that be Italian? Is she related to Lou?

[quote]I think there was a story somewhere that Princess Grace had a stroke at the wheel and that's what caused the crash.

That's always been the official story. Even says so in the article OP posted.

[quote] Any DLers have insight or gossip to share regarding Kelly and the Rainiers?

No, OP, we only have demented and undocumented fantasy.

[quote] Bing was the shit

What does this mean when translated into the English language?

She did a great job hiding all her dirty laundry. Even after death.

[quote]Back then women in their 50s look like women in their 70s do today.

True. She was only 52 when she died but god did she look a helluva lot older. A "rich" woman in her early 50s would never look anything like this today.

[Quote]I see from Wikipedia that Grace's paternal grandmother was a Costello - wouldn't that be Italian? Is she related to Lou?

R52 Costello is an Irish last name.

[Quote]Costello sounds Italian, but isn’t.  The root of the name is Irish, from Oistealb which is the Gaelic rendering of Jocelyn and in Gaelic is a personal name meaning “resembling a deer.”  Costello is the anglicization of the Gaelic Coisdealbahaigh.  Costello is the main spelling today. A variant in Ireland is Costelloe.

[Quote]The Jocelyn in question was the Anglo-Norman knight Jocelyn de Angulo who had come to Ireland at the time of Strongbow. His descendants settled in Connacht and adopted the Gaelic name Mac Oistealb or Mac Costello.

Consider that Stephanie not only lost her mother, but also was in the car falling off a fucking great cliff. Then the rumors that the accident was her fault.

Can you imagine how much victimhood she'd have squeezed out of that if she was a millennial? Lens Dunham's mind just exploded.

Jeez….a bunch of prudes here. Grace had a healthy sex drive and wasn’t hung up on prevailing Catholic guilt about enjoying sex. She slept with a lot of her co-stars but it was after she had the job, so I don’t think she “slept her way to the top.” Their wives were pissed, but Hollywood’s propensity for pairing a beautiful 20-something with a bored, long-married 50-something as an onscreen couple didn’t help. Her father had enough money that she didn’t have to work, she wasn’t desperate. But that face was her lottery ticket. I read that in the last year or so, she and Ranier became quite close. He was devastated at her death, the pictures from her funeral were heartbreaking.

Amber Heard reminds me of Grace Kelly. They put weight on the same way, too. It goes the face / jowls.

Aren't car accidents wonderful ways to get rid of annoying princesses?

To R44, I just spit my beer out laughing and choking on your comment.

[quote] Grace had a healthy sex drive and wasn’t hung up on prevailing Catholic guilt about enjoying sex. She slept with a lot of her co-stars

Oh, R61. Did you hear all this directly from those founts of fact—Hedda Hopper or Louells Parsons?

Oleg Cassini was the love of her life, but her parents didn't approve...

"The designer, who also dressed Jackie Kennedy, was responsible for Kelly's elegant look, but this wasn't enough to win over her family. Despite the two getting engaged, the actress was forced to call off the engagement to marry Prince Rainier upon her parents' wishes."

I don't think the brakes were tampered with. It does say something that we've never heard whatever 'truth' there is to know. And yeah, Steph had a raucous few years. But if paparazzi and film crews followed any of us around from age 18 to 35, how many of us would emerge squeaky clean? Hell, any photogs wot (sic) followed me around would still be trying to get the lube off their lenses.

"Steph had a raucous few years."

Like about 45 years now

Grace died 10 months after Natalie Wood.

^ Wow, now there's a factoid no one could live without

^Glad you liked it, here's another . . . Grace died 21 months after John Lennon.

I was very young at the time, but I can remember when Caroline and Stephanie were all over the press in the 1980s. They were constantly in magazines etc. Then they both aged out and you never heard about them anymore. Caroline's children never got much press attention in the US once they hit young adulthood, I guess because the memory of Grace Kelly was too far in the past for her grandchildren to be relevant.

I saw Oleg Cassini on the #1 train around 1983. I was surprised I recognized him, but I did.

Margaret Majer, Grace’s German mother, provided the looks. Like most Teutonic Fräulein, she didn’t age well and after 30 became a hefty Brunhilde.

@r75, Grace Kelly died within 4 months and 10 days from my birthday, How about that?

If Grace Kelly were still alive she would be 92 years one month and 10 days old

So there

Princess Caroline's son Andrea Casiraghi could not look anymore "Eurotrash" if he tried.

Andrea was gorgeous in his late teens, but he developed a serious drug problem soon after and it really affected his looks.

R52, as R59 states, Costello is a fairly common Irish surname. Lou Costello seems to be the main reason some folks think differently.

[quote][R16]. The Grimaldis are not royal. They are a princely family (except for Caroline, who is an HRH by virtue or her marriage to Prince Ernst of Hanover)

Correct. They are Serene Highnesses, not Royal Highnesses.

There was a very trashy/enjoyable doc on tv this summer about the "curse of the Grimaldi's." I think the curse being none of them can find happiness. Anyway, when Caroline was studying in Paris, late 70s, the French tabloids/gossip magazines loved her. Lots of pap pics of Caroline in tight disco pants. She married a much older business man, against Grace's wishes, Grace knew it wouldn't last, and she was right. After Grace's death, Caroline stepped up. Her disco days were over. She sort of became Monaco's first lady. Albert, the male heir, was too lazy or immature to do so. (become first lady!) Albert took a long, long time to assume the responsibilities of his office.

Where's Albert's wife locked up? What's wrong with her, apart from being married to Albert?

R86, Philippe Junot was 17 years older than Princess Caroline, but he was still quite dishy.

I remember a pre-wedding paparazzi shot of them sailing on a yacht, with Caroline topless and Junot kissing her bare breasts.

Junot is still alive at 81.

She pulled it off. I give her a lot of credit. Being snubbed by Phillys Main Line society then skyrocketing beyond them all to become a European princess. She probably would have like to continue to be an actress - but in reality the cruelty of life as an aging actress would not have been pretty either.

She spent summers at the Jersey Shore with her family and the Grimaldi kids were close with the Kelly cousins. Seemingly unpretentious and down to earth despite the aristocratic entitlement. She gave it her all and was never cruel it seems. I admire her.

Yup, I remember her and Caroline visiting the Jersey shore not long after Caroline's marriage, r88.

Grace visiting her ancestral Irish home in Co. Mayo. She bought the cottage, now a ruin and the family still own it.

I think it's cool that Albert has an American accent (when speaking English).

R91, He attended college in Massachusetts.

Thanks, R92. Did not know.

I want to college with Grace's nephew, whose last name was Levine. You were reminded not to say "Leveen" but to say "LeVIIINE"

Grace's star power would have dimmed by the early 60s anyway, when the zeitgeist started to change. She was the quintessential 1950s star (along with Liz Taylor). She was better off leaving Hollywood before the industry got sick of her.

My guess is that Grace was driving drunk and that led to the accident. Easy enough to cover up, as the Grimaldis are extremely powerful in their tiny kingdom.

R95, Didn't the coroner say Grace suffered a stroke?

The world was initially told that Grace suffered a broken leg, when in fact she was already brain dead.

[quote]She was better off leaving Hollywood before the industry got sick of her.

She also didn't age well, it would've been very hard for her if she'd stayed in Hollywood.

I'm not sure if fat-faced Grace could have redeemed Hitchcock's frigid 'Marnie' movie. But she would have had to be better than that hopeless Teflon matchstick woman.

Live near graces nephew - LeVine. Took me a while to realize it’s Levine. They were all social climbers - which in Philly meant you had to be a WASP. Philadelphia Lawyer with Paul Newman is a good movie about this. Part of why Philly died and NYC boomed.

Grace might have made a good Desireé in " A Little Night Music".

Terrible actress. She was the 1950s Hedy Lamarr, except I always found Lamarr more beautiful. Kelly was just the prototype of "icy gorgeous blonde."

There's a lot of weird ageism on this thread with her looks at the time of her death - I honestly preferred it when you could see women age, even the rich and famous ones! 55 year olds aren't supposed to look like Julia Roberts or Jennifer Aniston, their faces pulled like a drum.

r102 it's just kind of startling to see what women used to look like when they aged naturally. Even upper middle-class women don't look like that anymore, never mind rich and famous women.

R103 I've been recently rewatching The Golden Girls and the women (who were middle to upper-middle class) were supposed to be in their 50s on that show, but today they read at least 10-15 years older.

I honestly think the way women aged back then was a lot healthier for their mental states, people talk a big game about feminism nowadays, but at the same time totally ignore how harmful and exhausting it is for modern women to "age well." And men are (to some degree) still allowed to look old.

r104 I just posted in another thread that Katharine Hepburn was in her early 70s in On Golden Pond but by modern standards she looked like she was in her 90s.

Lucille Ball and Bette Davis also looked like ancient gargoyles in their 70s. You never see women that age who look that OLD anymore.

[quote] I was very young at the time, but I can remember when Caroline and Stephanie were all over the press in the 1980s. They were constantly in magazines etc. Then they both aged out and you never heard about them anymore.

It had less to do with them aging and more to do with the absence of their mother. Without her, the Grimaldis are not very interesting--no more of interest than the princely houses of Andorra or Liechtenstein.

I recall reading my aunt's People magazine back issues about Stephanie dating Jean-Paul Belmondo's son, and then moving on to Alain Delon's son, and then getting with Rob Lowe.

Stefanie was trashy as hell. I think she was given a break because of the manner of her mother's death and the fact that she became motherless so young but damn, this girl always looked drunk and high. Here she is with her Swiss circus guy Franco Knie.

Stephanie can't seem to find any dick outside the Palace. She became pregnant with her married bodyguard, had 2 kids with him, then married him and divorced a year later.

A few years later she had another child but wouldn't name the father. He turned out to be the married head of Palace Security.

This gurl ain't right.

Stephanie has always had a rough, hard look about her.

Stephanie's son bulges in every pic.

[quote]Caroline was a little hell-raiser whore, constantly in the tabloids.

[quote]Then along came Stephanie, who was like "hold my beer, bitch", and suddenly Caroline was the saintly, respectable one.

I haven't laughed so hard for quite a while. You do have a way with words, R44.

This is the definitive and crack-up worthy, as in laughing at the sisters' romantic rivalries. It does make it sound like Grace even as easily manipulated by her daughters. Stephanie was driving around Monaco illegally at 13 or so.

Fascinating and dishy article I've posted on poor Charlene posts before.

Read it and go WTF!

Grace continued to party with the Hollywood set in the south of France each summer on the yachts of her pals. Big boozer.She also partied in Marbella and Gstaad. From all accounts the Palace was a lonely life

I believe it was in Richard Burton's memoirs that he wrote about Grace being present on his yacht when Rachel Roberts got hammered and went batshit crazy (she was bipolar). They had to put her in hospital

Stephanie went from a classic 80s chiseled debutante to a rode hard and put up wet trailer park crackwhore driving a 20 year old Camaro

From the VF article above:

Late that night, I learned from a Riviera source,

Stephanie called a friend of his. "En tout cas, my sister has always been jealous of me," Stephanie whispered into the phone.

"Well, you certainly look far better in photographs than Caroline does," the voice on the other end consoled her.

"Oui!" agreed Stephanie.

"And you're more popular."

"Oui!" Stephanie repeated. Then came the coup de grâce. "And I choose better men than she does."

From the VF article above:

Late that night, I learned from a Riviera source,

Stephanie called a friend of his. "En tout cas, my sister has always been jealous of me," Stephanie whispered into the phone.

"Well, you certainly look far better in photographs than Caroline does," the voice on the other end consoled her.

"Oui!" agreed Stephanie.

"And you're more popular."

"Oui!" Stephanie repeated. Then came the coup de grâce. "And I choose better men than she does."

The VF article makes it sound like those close to the family believe Stephanie was driving when Grace died. Ugh I always thought this was just a bitchy rumor. Plus named sources said Stephanie adored Grace This is so bloody tragic It explains a lot

Sorry about the double posts above. I got an error message that it couldn't post the first time.

@r113, That's a pretty good read, it kind of puts all the Grimaldi girls escapades in a nice timeline. Their love lives can be a bit hard to follow. They sure have one thing in common, they like Italian and French smooth-talkin' bad boys

I can relate ;-)

R103 R104 R105 All age groups are getting younger. But it’s because of the generations.

Gen X is in their 50’s now. These are people who were teenagers in the late 70’s and 80’s. They grew up with Farrah Fawcett and Madonna. Why would they look like that blue haired old ladies? Or matronly women lol.

[quote] Stephanie has always had a rough, hard look about her.

The smoking hasn't helped. She was beautiful girl.

[quot]Gen X is in their 50’s now. These are people who were teenagers in the late 70’s and 80’s.

Late 80s and early 90s as well. Everybody forgets about the younger Gen Xers.

[quote]I honestly think the way women aged back then was a lot healthier for their mental states, people talk a big game about feminism nowadays, but at the same time totally ignore how harmful and exhausting it is for modern women to "age well." And men are (to some degree) still allowed to look old.

A lot of it was down to unhealthy habits, and I don't think there is anything wrong with eating well, exercise and trying to look your best.

Princess Stephanie did some modelling when she was young, she had the right figure for an 80s model, lean but not emaciated.

She was good-looking, but in a VERY butch way, and she only got butcher as she got older. Well, she's absolutely, positively straight, which was kind of a surprise to me.

[quote]She was the quintessential 1950s star (along with Liz Taylor).

Fuck you, R95.

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