Meet Françoise Meyers, a reclusive billionaire and world's first woman to be worth over $100 billion

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers - world's richest woman and an heir to the L'Oréal beauty empire has now joined the only men billionaire club, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Meyers' fortune's crossed 100 billion mark on Thursday after the L'Oréal S.A. stock, which hit a record high. Though her worth fell to $99.9 bn at the close of trade she know rubs shoulders with the likes of Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.

Who is Françoise Bettencourt Meyers?

70-year-old Françoise Bettencourt Meyers and her family hold a majority stake of 35% in the luxury brand L'Oréal, a company that was founded by her grandfather in the year 1909. Ever since he died family has built the brand further and converted it into a beauty products empire now worth upwards of $240 billion.

Bettencourt Meyers was born lucky, on Born on July 10, 1953, as she inherited tens of billions of dollars along with assets including mansions across the world when her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, died in 2017. Her mother's death brought to an end decades long family feud over inheritance and she became the sole owner of all the family assets.

Bettencourt Meyers rocky relationship with mother

Bettencourt Meyers is known to have a rocky relationship with her mother, Liliane. Her buttler's recordings went public and led to probe into President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election bid and influence-peddling allegations against former Labor Minister Eric Woerth.

Thereafter began a bitter court battle when Bettencourt went to court to question whether her mother was fit to handle the family money. TShe accused Liliane of stealing roughly $1.3 billion for gifts to a friend. The saga has been reenacted in Netflix’s The Billionaire, The Butler, and The Boyfriend.

What does Bettencourt Meyers do?

Bettencourt Meyers is a well known author and has published works on Greek mythology and Jewish-Christian relationships. She also runs her philanthropy ventures to fund science and social development. She is the vice-chair of the board of L’Oreal, which has come to include subsidiaries like Maybelline, Kiehl’s and NYX, among other cosmetics companies. Her sons, Jean-Victor Meyers, 37, and Nicolas Meyers, 35, are also directors.

How does Bettencourt Meyers spend her money?

Described as a reclusive billionaire Bettencourt Meyers loves to play piano for hours every day. She owns million dollar mansions across the world and other real estate assets. She has an extensive collection of automobiles which include- Bentley Continental GT, Jaguar F-Type, Ferrari and Porsche 911 Cabriolet.