Sex, sterilization and a socialite s downfall: New book examines the 1936 trial of New York City heiress who sued her mother for tricking her into getting her fallopian tubes removed so she could get her hands on her daughter s inheritance
In January 1936, heiress Ann Cooper Hewitt sued her mother, Maryon, for $500,000
Ann was born in 1914 to parents Peter and Maryon Cooper Hewitt
Maryon was Peter s second wife, and it s unclear when they met but they had an illicit affair while he was still married to his first wife
Hewitt and Maryon married in 1918, and when Hewitt died in 1921 he divided his fortune - about $4 million, which is over $59.1 million today – between Ann, who got the majority, and Maryon