This Week we Celebrate the life of John Paul Getty III
Perception is 99 percent reality; John Paul Getty III was the son of Paul Getty II who was the son of the oil baron Paul Getty of Getty oil. So being the grandson to such a large fortune would certainly provide you opportunities perception would say, but if you were John Paul Getty III at the age of 24 you would be in a wheel chair, for the rest of your life.
The story of John Paul Getty III is a sad one to write. At a young age his parents divorced and it is said his father abandon his parental reasonability’s and as a teen he was already beginning to show a pattern of rebellion. He had on several occasions been known to joke about his own kidnapping, this proved harmful when at the age of 16 he was kidnapped and a ransom of 11 million lira was demanded for his safe return.
The ransom was not paid; his grandfather believed John Paul Getty III was faking his own kidnapping as he had joked about before and the ransom note received was a hoax. But it was not a hoax and the second ransom request proved that point. His captors cut off his left ear and sent it with the second request (it took several weeks to be delivered due to a postal strike), this moved his grandfather to finally offer 2.1 million lira to his captors. It is said the conditions of the ransom money was dependent on his son, Paul Getty II repaying the ransom money back with interest.
After 5-months in a cave John Paul Getty III was released, and some would say bitter. He continued his rebellious ways and at age 18 married, violating his trust thus barring him from any family money. Moving to Los Angeles with his wife they had a son Balthazar Getty, (an actor on such shows as Alias and Brothers & Sisters). But his destructive ways caught up to him and in 1981 he took a fatal overdose of drugs that left him a paraplegic.
Even then requiring a substantial amount of money for monthly medical care the Getty fortune would not help John Paul III as his father refused to pay for any medical bills, he eventually received money when his father passed away. For over three decades he remained wheelchair bound, and on February 5, 2011 at the age of 54 the wheel chair was no longer his boundary. John Paul Getty III had a troubled life, money it is said will not buy you happiness, John Paul Getty III proved that old saying. The Story Place.