How The Richest Woman in U.S. Got Away With Murdering Her Gay Designer
For more than 50 years, the real truth behind what happened to Eduardo Tirella has been hidden. Until now.
An excerpt from
On the last full day of his life October 6th, 1966 Eduardo Tirella flew into Newport, RI, the storied summer colony of The New York 400. Doris Duke, the wealthiest woman in America, picked him up at the airport and they drove to Rough Point, her English-manor estate on Bellevue Avenue, known to Newporters as “Millionaire’s Row.” Tirella, whose close friends called him “Eddie,” was about to declare that he was leaving Doris after seven years as her constant companion, artistic curator, and designer at her estates in New Jersey, Bel Air, Honolulu, and Newport. It was now time to let his patron know, face to face, that he was severing his professional ties with her, for good.
A Romantic Burgundy-and-White Wedding at the Durham Convention Center in North Carolina
Java Rose Photography
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For Deema and Khaled it was love at first sight, at a grocery store! Believe it or not, I met Khalid at a Harris Teeter about 9 years ago. I never thought I was going to meet my future spouse in a grocery store I always thought that was just a running joke that people made. I was with my best friend, Amanie, getting some snacks for a movie night and he happened to be there. Amanie went to school with him so they stopped and talked. It was definitely love at first sight for both of us (at least it was for me). I knew there was something very different about him. It turns out I was also good friends with his cousin but oddly enough I had never met him before. As the years went on, we reconnected, our families got to know each other and the rest is history! He proposed at Duke Gardens, the same place we ended up taking our wedding photos, Deema shares.