When the world’s richest woman was just 10, her father taught her a valuable lesson about money.
Alice Walton laid out five weeks’ of her allowance in exchange for a print of Picasso’s Blue Nude, sparking a life-long love affair with art curation which she still has today at 74.
In his 1992 memoir Made in America, Alice’s father, Walmart founder Sam Walton, said his only daughter was ‘the most like me’ out of his four children.
‘A maverick,’ he wrote. ‘But even more volatile than I am.’
Alice, now 74, spends her days living a quiet life in Bentonville, Arkansas.
But long before she became the world’s richest woman with an estimated fortune of $89.1 billion, she was known locally for her questionable driving.
In 1989, a then 40-year-old Walton struck and killed Oleta Hardin, a 50-year-old mother-of-two who stepped in front of her Porsche.
She was never charged, and the Hardin family has never spoken publicly of the incident.
It wasn’t her only run-in with the law. More than once, Walton has been arrested for drunk driving. On one occasion, she responded to the officer with the age-old signal of entitlement: ‘Don’t you know who I am?’
Alice, now 74, spends her days living a quaint life in Bentonville, Arkansas . She pours her riches back into her passions: art, innovation and accessible healthcare
On one occasion, Walton was fined $925 for crashing her car into a gas meter while driving under the influence of alcohol.
In 1983, she lost control of her rented Jeep over Thanksgiving and crashed into a ravine. Her leg was shattered in the accident and she required more than two dozen surgeries.
In 2011, Alice Walton was arrested and held in jail after she was pulled over on her 62nd birthday. Charges were later dropped
And in 2011, she was arrested and her mugshot released on her 62nd birthday after refusing a breathalyzer test.
Charges were later dropped.
While she is the world’s richest woman, her two living siblings, brothers Rob and Jim, pipped her in the billionaire rankings.
The trio split 46 per cent of Walmart’s share with her late brother John’s son.
Alice has parted with more than $5billion over the years, launching several foundations, charities and museums born from her various passions.
According to the Alice L Walton Foundation, the billionaire has donated to various causes relating to the advancement of black Americans, immigrants and LGBTQI youths.
In 2023, her foundation provided an $848,000 donation to help fund the Arkansas Center for Black Music, allowing the University of Arkansas to offer ‘the only master’s degree program for Black sacred music in the US.’
She also handed $3.1million to the Center For Black Educator Development, which was founded in 2019 to help identify and nurture talented black Americans with dreams of becoming educators.
In his 1992 memoir Made in America, Alice’s father, Walmart founder Sam Walton (center left), said his only daughter (left) was ‘the most like me’ out of his four children
To earn money, Alice would sell candy and popcorn on the sidewalk outside her father’s store in Bentonville (pictured)
She spent her earnings and allowance on a print of this painting, Picasso’s Blue Nude
That gift assisted a teacher apprenticeship program ‘for talented high school and college students of color.’
And in 2022, she provided Food Bank with $3.5million to help provide food and fund the construction of a food distribution center.
Beyond those donations, the foundation stated its support for 11 organizations which specialize in providing ‘economic and holistic health to immigrants, Spanish-speaking individuals and LGBTQI youths.’
Alice has been married and divorced twice, and she never had children.
During her teenage years, she developed another passion which would last long into adulthood – raising and training competitive horses. Alice owned luxury Rocking W Ranch in Texas until December 2017
Little else is known about her former husbands, beyond the fact that her first husband, whom she married aged 24, was an investment banker, and the second was a contractor who built her swimming pool, Forbes reported.
Her first union lasted two and a half years, and her second marriage reportedly also didn’t last long.
Her first philanthropic love is the the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which she founded in 2011.
Her personal art collection, which included Asher Brown Durand’s famed Kindred Spirits worth an alleged $35million back in 2005, and Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter worth $4.9million, was gifted to the museum when it was opened.
Alice has previously revealed her passion for the arts started even before she made her first art purchase with her father.
It was a bond she shared with her mother, who died in 2007. The duo would often paint watercolors together when they went on family camping trips, or ‘hikes in the Ozarks.’
Alice has previously revealed her passion for the arts started even before she made her first art purchase with her father. It was a bond she shared with her mother, who died in 2007
During her teenage years, she developed another passion which would last long into adulthood – raising and training competitive horses.
Alice owned luxury Rocking W Ranch in Texas until December 2017. The ranch first hit the market in 2015 with a $19.75million asking price, but was later reduced to $16.5million. The final sale amount was not disclosed.
She holds separately strong feelings about the state of American healthcare, and launched the Heartland Whole Health Institute in 2019.
The organization is committed to a ‘whole health approach… to address the current health care crisis.’
Her first philanthropic love is the the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (pictured), which she founded in 2011
Her vision is ‘to advocate, educate and guide the implementation of an innovative system, rooted in whole health and the realignment of financial incentives.’
While Alice has been outspoken about her concerns within healthcare and other elements of American’s day-to-day lives, her politics are relatively ambiguous.
She is a registered Republican, but has a long history of backing women across the political spectrum.
Alice supported Hillary Clinton with a generous $353,400 donation when she ran in 2016 against Trump, and provided Nikki Haley funds in 2023 – even after Trump said he would run again.
She has not publicly said who she is supporting in the 2024 presidential matchup between Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Her two living siblings, brothers Rob and Jim, pipped her in the billionaire rankings. The trio split 46 per cent of Walmart’s share with her late brother John’s son
