A brand new e-book reveals a weird feud between André Balazs and St. Barth’s former political chief – with the hotelier claiming police sabotaged his try and construct a resort on the island. A brand new e-book reveals a weird feud between André Balazs and St. Barth’s former political chief – with the hotelier claiming police sabotaged his try and construct a resort on the island.
In “Treasure Island: The Story of St. Barts…And Its Barbarians, Billionaires, and Beauties,” creator Michael Gross claims the meat started many years in the past when Balazs was relationship Uma Thurman, and the Normal founder claims native nice Bruno Magras tipped off the paparazzi when the couple got here to the island. (Balazs dated the Hollywood legend from 2003 to 2007.)
Nevertheless it received even uglier, in response to Balazs – who has owned, amongst others, the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, the Mercer Lodge in Soho, Sundown Seashore within the Hamptons and the Chiltern Firehouse in London – when he tried to construct an eco-hotel behind the dunes of the well-known Saline nude seashore.
The mission failed when 1,200 island residents signed a petition opposing it.
But Balazs now claims to Gross that the true downside was that Magras struck a take care of a brand new proprietor of the island, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, to develop his neighboring property as a substitute of supporting the resort.
Magras dismissed Balazs’ accusations as “mental masturbation” and, curiously, “cat meals.”
Having given Gross the final phrase, Balazs caught to his story of “corruption so unhealthy” that his lawyer “could not get into it.”
He nonetheless owns the land, he mentioned. “I assume I can camp there sometime,” he joked.
Harper Collins’ e-book is now accessible. Gross is the creator of practically a dozen books on America’s higher courses, together with “Flight of the WASP: The Rise, Fall, and Way forward for America’s Unique Ruling Class,” “Focus: The Secret, Horny, Generally Sordid World of Trend Photographers” and “Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret Historical past of the Lust, Lies, Greed, and Betrayals That Made the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork.”