She can run, but she can’t hide! The 4th richest woman in the world, Elaine Tettemer Marshall, has been living in Texas undetected by the media for years and is sitting on a fortune of nearly $13 billion.
It’s somewhat surprising how long Marshall has gone unnoticed, since she just happens to be daughter-in-law of the late, reality TV show star Anna Nicole Smith. But Marshall is 77 years old and Smith passed away when she was only 39. If Smith were alive today, she would still only be 44 years old. Scratching your head yet?
Unlike Elaine Marshall, who has remained under the radar for quite some time, her father J. Howard Marshall did just the opposite. At age 89, he wed former stripper and Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, making Smith Elaine’s mother-in-law back in 1994.
Years of legal struggle after J. Howard Marshall passed away in 1995 left Elaine rolling in the dough and Smith without a cent, according to Bloomberg New’s Billionaire Index.
Peter Newcomb, the editor of America’s Billionaire Index, has a brief and simple explanation for why the 4th richest woman in the country escaped the eyes of billionaire-hunters.
“She’s extremely low-key,” he says, which seems to be the case.
Rather than partying around the world or buying up islands, Elaine has led a seemingly quite life. Newcomb told ABC news that he and his colleagues almost missed her fortune until the were wondering who owned the minority stake in Wichita’s Koch Industries. While most of the company is owned by the Koch brothers Charles and David, they found that 15 percent belonged to none other than E. Pierce Marshall, a share that was passed on to Elaine after his death.
Marshall’s fortune puts her right behind two Walmart heiresses, Alice and Christy Walton; and candy company beneficiary Jacqueline Mars. A representative for Marshall declined to comment on her fortune beyond stating that Mrs. Marshall does not own any Koch stock in her own name.