When the richest woman in the world was just 10 years old, her father taught her a valuable lesson about money.
Alice Walton forked over five weeks of her allowance for a copy of Picasso’s Blue Nude, sparking a lifelong love affair with curating that she still maintains 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” 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 richest woman in the world, with an estimated fortune of $89.1 billion, she was known locally for her questionable driving.
In 1989, Walton, then 40, struck and killed Oleta Hardin, a 50-year-old mother of two, who stepped in front of his Porsche.
She was never charged and the Hardin family has never spoken publicly about the incident.
It wasn’t her only run-in with the law. More than once, Walton was arrested for drunk driving. On one occasion, she responded to the officer with the old entitled-to-anything sign: “Don’t you know who I am?”
Alice, now 74, spends her days living a picturesque life in Bentonville, Arkansas. She invests her money in her passions: art, innovation and affordable health care.
Walton was once fined $925 for crashing his car into a gas meter while driving under the influence.
In 1983, he lost control of the Jeep he had rented for Thanksgiving and crashed into a ravine. He shattered his leg and needed more than two dozen operations.
In 2011, Alice Walton was arrested and jailed after being detained on her 62nd birthday. The charges were later dropped.
And in 2011, she was arrested and her mugshot was released on her 62nd birthday, after refusing a breathalyzer test.
The charges were later dropped.
Although she is the richest woman in the world, her two living brothers, Rob and Jim, have surpassed her in the billionaire rankings.
The trio split 46 percent of Walmart’s stock with their late brother’s son, John.
Alice has raised more than $5 billion over the years, launching several foundations, charities and museums born out of her diverse passions.
According to the Alice L Walton Foundation, the billionaire has donated to a variety of causes related to the advancement of black Americans, immigrants and LGBTQI youth.
In 2023, his foundation provided an $848,000 gift to help fund the Arkansas Black Music Center, allowing the University of Arkansas to offer “the only master’s degree program in Black sacred music in the U.S.”
He also gave $3.1 million to the Center for Black Educator Development, which was founded in 2019 to help identify and develop 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” 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)
He spent his earnings and his allowance on a copy of this painting, Picasso’s Blue Nude.
That gift supported a teacher apprenticeship program “for talented high school and college students of color.”
And in 2022, it provided the Food Bank with $3.5 million to help provide food and fund the construction of a food distribution center.
In addition to those donations, the foundation expressed its support for 11 organizations that specialize in providing “economic and holistic health to immigrants, Spanish-speaking people and LGBTQI youth.”
Alice was married and divorced twice and never had children.
During her teenage years, she developed another passion that would last into her adulthood: breeding and training competition horses. Alice owned the luxurious Rocking W Ranch in Texas until December 2017.
Little else is known about her ex-husbands, beyond the fact that her first husband, whom she married at age 24, was an investment banker, and her second was a contractor who built her swimming pool. Forbes reported.
Her first marriage lasted two and a half years, and her second marriage is said to have not lasted long either.
Her first philanthropic love is the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which she founded in 2011.
His personal art collection, which included Asher Brown Durand’s famous Kindred Spirits, reportedly valued at $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 had previously revealed that her passion for the arts began 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 often painted watercolors together when they went on family camping trips or “hiking in the Ozarks.”
Alice had previously revealed that her passion for the arts began 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 his teenage years, he developed another passion that would last into his adulthood: breeding and training competition horses.
Alice owned the luxurious Rocking W Ranch in Texas until December 2017. The ranch first went on the market in 2015 with an asking price of $19.75 million, but was later reduced to $16.5 million. The final sale amount was not disclosed.
He has strong opinions on the state of American health care and launched the Heartland Whole Health Institute in 2019.
The organization is committed to a “whole-of-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.
Their vision is to “advocate, educate and guide the implementation of an innovative system based on comprehensive health and the realignment of financial incentives.”
While Alice has been vocal about her concerns about health care and other elements of everyday American life, her political views are relatively ambiguous.
She is a registered Republican, but has a long history of supporting women across the political spectrum.
Alice supported Hillary Clinton with a generous donation of $353,400 when she ran in 2016 against Trump, and provided funding to Nikki Haley in 2023, even after Trump said he would run again.
She has not publicly said who she supports in the 2024 presidential showdown between Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Her two living brothers, Rob and Jim, surpassed her in the billionaire rankings. The trio split 46 percent of Walmart’s stock with their late brother John’s son.
