She Was The Queen Of 1980s New York. Then Her Husband's Scandal Exiled Her To Paris: Susan Gutfreund

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Added 3 months ago by McDan

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In this documentary, we explore the rise, ruin, and reinvention of Susan Gutfreund, the Air Force pilot's daughter from Chicago who became a Pan Am stewardess, married Salomon Brothers CEO and Wall Street titan John Gutfreund, and reigned as the defining hostess of 1980s New York before her husband's Treasury bond scandal exiled the couple to Paris in a single summer.

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Born Susan Elizabeth Kaposta in 1946, she grew up moving from base to base as the only daughter of a career Air Force pilot, with no trust fund, no debutantes' ball, and no inherited name.

She became a Pan Am stewardess, married briefly into Texas money, then captured the most powerful man on Wall Street, John Gutfreund, the Salomon Brothers CEO whom Business Week crowned the King of Wall Street.

She built a 20-room duplex at 834 Fifth Avenue, decorated by legendary Parisian designer Henri Samuel, and threw legendary parties at Blenheim Palace, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and the Musée Carnavalet that placed her at the center of Tom Wolfe's Nouvelle Society.

In the summer of 1991, John Gutfreund was caught at the center of a Treasury bond fraud that nearly collapsed Salomon Brothers, ended his career, and humiliated the couple before the entire financial world.

Banished to Paris in disgrace, Susan Gutfreund built a second career as a respected interior decorator, and in 2021 sold off the contents of the apartment in a Christie's auction that fetched more than eight million dollars, closing the chapter on one of the most spectacular rises and falls in modern New York society.