When the richest woman in the world was only 10 years old, her father taught her a valuable lesson about money.
Alice Walton spent five weeks of her allowance on a print of Picasso’s Blue Nude, beginning a lifelong love affair with art curation that she still cherishes at the age of 74.
In his 1992 memoir, Made in America, Alice’s father, Walmart founder Sam Walton, said that his only daughter was “the most like me” of his four children.
“A nonconformist,” he wrote. “But more fickle than I.”
Alice, now 74, spends her days living a quiet life in Bentonville, Arkansas.
But long before she became the richest woman in the world with an estimated net worth of $89.1 billion, she was known locally for her questionable driving.
In 1989, Oleta Hardin, a 50-year-old mother of two, was struck and killed by the then 40-year-old Walton as she stepped out in front of her Porsche.
No charges were ever filed against her and the Hardin family has never spoken publicly about the incident.
It wasn’t her only run-in with the law. Walton was arrested more than once for drunk driving. Once, she responded to the officer with the age-old gesture of address: “Don’t you know who I am?”
Alice, now 74, spends her days living a strange life in Bentonville, Arkansas, pouring her wealth back into her passions: art, innovation and accessible healthcare.
Walton was once fined $925 for crashing her car into a gas gauge while driving under the influence of alcohol.
In 1983, she lost control of her rented Jeep during 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 being pulled over on her 62nd birthday. The charges were later dropped.
And in 2011, she was arrested and her photo released on her 62nd birthday after she refused to submit to a breathalyzer test.
The charges were later dropped.
Although she is the richest woman in the world, she is surpassed on the list of billionaires by her two surviving brothers, Rob and Jim.
The trio split 46 percent of Walmart’s shares with the son of her late brother John.
Over the years, Alice has spent more than $5 billion establishing various foundations, charities and museums that grew out of her various passions.
According to the Alice L. Walton Foundation, the billionaire has donated to various causes related to the advancement of Black Americans, immigrants and LGBTQI youth.
In 2023, her foundation donated $848,000 to the Arkansas Center for Black Music, enabling the University of Arkansas to offer “the only master’s degree program in Black religious music in the U.S..”
She also donated $3.1 million to the Center For Black Educator Development, which was founded in 2019 to identify and mentor talented Black Americans who dream of becoming teachers.
In his 1992 memoir, Made in America, Alice’s father, Walmart founder Sam Walton (center left), said that his only daughter (left) was “the most like me” of his four children
To earn money, Alice sold candy and popcorn on the sidewalk in front of her father’s store in Bentonville (pictured)
She spent her earnings and pocket money on a print of this painting, Picasso’s Blue Nude
The gift supported a teacher training program “for talented high school students and students of color.”
And in 2022, she gave the Food Bank $3.5 million to provide food and fund the construction of a food distribution center.
In addition to these donations, the foundation supported eleven organizations that specialize in providing “economic and holistic health care to immigrants, Hispanics, and LGBTQI youth.”
Alice was married twice and divorced twice, and she never had children.
During her teenage years, she developed another passion that would last well into her adulthood: breeding and training competitive horses. Alice owned the luxury Rocking W Ranch in Texas until December 2017
Little else is known about her ex-husbands, other than the fact that her first husband, whom she married at age 24, was an investment banker, and the second a contractor who built her swimming pool. Forbes reported.
Her first union lasted two and a half years and her second marriage is also said to have been short-lived.
Her first philanthropic love is the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which she founded in 2011.
Her personal art collection, which included Asher Brown Durand’s famous Kindred Spirits, reportedly worth $35 million in 2005, and Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter, valued at $4.9 million, was donated to the museum when it opened.
Alice previously shared that her passion for art existed before she bought her first piece of art with her father.
It was a bond she shared with her mother, who died in 2007. The duo often painted watercolors together when the family went camping or hiking in the Ozarks.
Alice has previously revealed that her passion for art began before she made her first art purchase with her father. It was a bond she shared with her mother, who passed away in 2007
During her teenage years she developed another passion that she would continue to cherish into her adult years: breeding and training competition horses.
Alice owned the luxury Rocking W Ranch in Texas until December 2017. The ranch first hit the market in 2015 with an asking price of $19.75 million, but was later lowered to $16.5 million. The final sale price was not disclosed.
She has strong feelings about the state of American healthcare and founded the Heartland Whole Health Institute in 2019.
The organization aims for a “total health approach… to address the current health care crisis.”
Her first philanthropic love is 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 overall health and the reorientation of financial incentives.’
Although Alice openly expresses her concerns about health care and other aspects of Americans’ daily lives, her political views are relatively ambiguous.
She is a registered Republican, but has a long history of supporting women from across the political spectrum.
Alice supported Hillary Clinton with a generous donation of $353,400 when she ran against Trump in 2016, and gave money to Nikki Haley in 2023 — even after Trump said he would run again.
She has not yet publicly said who will support her in the 2024 presidential election between Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Her two surviving siblings, brothers Rob and Jim, surpassed her in the billionaire rankings, with the trio sharing 46 percent of Walmart’s stock with her late brother John’s son
