CAROLINE GRAHAM: She was so kind to me at my lowest point - so I'm delighted that tortured Versace heiress Allegra has never looked better

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Glowing with health and looking tanned and relaxed, she could be any young woman enjoying a summer holiday on the beautiful Italian Riviera.
But these are the first pictures of billionaire heiress Allegra Versace in more than three years – and show how the shy heir to one of fashion's biggest fortunes has seemingly put her demons to rest.
Allegra, 39, is the daughter of Donatella Versace, who announced earlier this year that she is stepping down as the luxury brand's chief creative officer after nearly 30 years in the role. The company has announced it is in the process of being taken over by rival Prada in a £1.08billion deal.
For Allegra, photographed last week in the picturesque Italian fishing village of Portofino alongside a man who appeared to be her bodyguard, inheriting 50 per cent of Versace when her uncle Gianni was brutally gunned down in 1997 proved to be a poisoned chalice.
The spotlight it shone on her – she is now worth a reported £1.1billion – caused a spiral into an eating disorder which, at its worst, saw her in hospital weighing less than five stone.
Allegra was 11 years old when Gianni was brutally slain in Miami by serial killer Andrew Cunanan, a murder that stunned Versace family friends like Princess Diana, Madonna and Elton John and spawned a slew of books and shows including The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, which drew record viewing figures.
Her mother would later recall the impact her brother's murder had on the child Gianni called 'my little princess'.
Donatella said: 'Gianni was murdered in July and Allegra stopped eating in September.'
By the time she was 20 and studying drama, art history and French at UCLA in Los Angeles, her mother and father, former model Paul Beck (who divorced Donatella when Allegra was 14), released a joint statement saying: 'Our daughter Allegra has been battling anorexia, a very serious disease, for many years. She is receiving the best medical care possible to help overcome the illness and is responding well.'
Seeing the pictures of a happy and healthy Allegra last week brought back my own memories of a sensitive young woman who showed me extraordinary kindness at one of the lowest points in my life.
In 2007 I was being treated for stage three colon cancer at UCLA Medical Centre and would roam the corridors, pushing my IV pole full of morphine and a cocktail of other drugs.
I would often notice a painfully thin young woman also pushing an IV pole, hers holding a bag of what looked like liquid nutrients which went into a feeding tube.
We would strike up conversations, mostly about the types of things patients discuss in hospital: What are you being treated for? How long have you been in here? Have you watched any decent TV shows recently?
The soft-spoken girl introduced herself as 'Allegra' but the penny did not drop.
It was only when a 'vision' appeared stomping down the corridor towards me – a woman with long blonde hair wearing tight leather trousers and vertiginous heels – that I thought: 'I must be hallucinating from the morphine because that looks like Donatella Versace.'
The Versace name was iconic. Elizabeth Hurley's 'safety-pin dress' at the premiere of Four Weddings And A Funeral had put the design house on front pages worldwide and Gianni's murder made the name infamous.
Allegra was portrayed in stories as a 'poor little rich girl heiress' and was rarely seen in public, preferring to remain behind the gold-leaf gates of the Milan mansion where she was raised – or surrounded by guards at one of the other Versace homes, including a sprawling villa on the edge of Lake Como.
As Donatella walked past me I saw her go to a room at the end of a long hospital corridor. A massive armed bodyguard stood outside.
And I realised who the young woman I'd befriended was.
Later that day Allegra appeared in my room with a stack of glossy fashion magazines, including Italian Vogue. I told her I'd seen her mother earlier and she smiled and said: 'Ah, yes, isn't she something? She's a force of nature.'
I was struck by how sweet Allegra was. I had just turned 40, twice her age, but she exuded kindness, stopping by regularly to see how I was doing, chatting to my mother, bringing gifts of flowers and even more magazines.
Before long I was on my way home to begin the next stage in my cancer journey. Hugging her goodbye, I remember being shocked by how thin she was under her baggy sweatshirt. Over the years, I often wondered how she was getting on.
In 2011, Allegra gave a rare interview to Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, saying she preferred to stay out of the limelight: 'I've spent time working with a non-Italian designer, helping him organise fashion shows, the advertising, also helping with the creative part. The great part about this work is that I am no one. I think you can get used to everything, if you feel free, if you are yourself and not what others want you to be.'
Discussing her well-publicised battle with anorexia, Allegra said: 'I was lost in other thoughts and couldn't confront reality with my eyes shielded from everything. Above all, I wanted one thing – to be no one, to not be recognised, not be hunted down.'
In 2016 she attended the Met Gala in New York alongside her mother and Lady Gaga, telling reporters: 'Unlike my mother, I hate celebrity.'
She became a billionaire in 2018 when the Versace family (her mother and surviving uncle Santo owned the other 50 per cent) sold their shares to Capri Holdings, which also owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo.
Donatella and Allegra remained on the board of the company. With the impending sale of Capri Holdings to Prada it is not known how closely the Versace family will be involved in day-to-day activities, but Donatella will remain a brand ambassador.
Little is known about Allegra's private life. She has never been photographed with a romantic partner.
But judging by the way she looks in these new pictures it seems she is now at a positive place in life and has found the peace she always craved.