Speaker 1: Broadcasting from the financial capital of the world Bloomberg eleve
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Speaker 1: I'm Carol Masser and I'm Tim Stannabeck. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week Extra. This is a highlight from one
Speaker 1: of our favorite interviews to him from the week, and
Speaker 1: this week it's all about House of Gucci. And we're
Speaker 1: not only talking about really Scott's star studded movie. Nope.
Speaker 1: More than twenty years ago, before the Gucci Family story
Speaker 1: hit the silver screen, Bloomberg Sarah Fordon wrote the book
Speaker 1: about the real life saga that would turn into the
Speaker 1: basis for the film. Sarah panned The House of Gucci
Speaker 1: a sensational story of murder, madness, glamor in greed. She's
Speaker 1: also team leader for Corporate Influence in Washington for Bloomberg News.
Speaker 1: Sarah's peace in this week's Pursuit section brings a new
Speaker 1: twice to the story that voice Sherry McLoughlin, who was
Speaker 1: the romantic partner that gave fashion scion Marizio Gucci the
Speaker 1: strength to leave his wife. It was a decision that
Speaker 1: would get him killed back in. Sherry's story has not
Speaker 1: been told until now. Sarah joined us along with Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Pursuits editor Chris Rousing. Sarah, it's really great to have
Speaker 1: you with us. Just just take us back and tell
Speaker 1: us how so many years ago you became so immersed
Speaker 1: in the story to begin with. Hi, Well, thanks for
Speaker 1: having me. I mean, this was an incredible story that
Speaker 1: just really drew me in because there were so many
Speaker 1: twists and turns and this family fashion dynasty over three generations. Um,
Speaker 1: it was a kind of story that if you made
Speaker 1: it up, people wouldn't believe you. Um. It was so
Speaker 1: so outrageous and so many surprising twists and turns. Well,
Speaker 1: and I think about you know exactly. There were so
Speaker 1: many twists and turns, and it is something that you
Speaker 1: feel like, Okay, this would be a streaming service, but no,
Speaker 1: it was reality. Um, you know, as you were putting
Speaker 1: it together, because it played out in in real time right,
Speaker 1: there was so much coverage. What is it that you
Speaker 1: wanted to dig into? Well, I was really drawn to
Speaker 1: the story by the figure of Mado Gucci, and I
Speaker 1: was covering him as a as a beat reporter em
Speaker 1: Milan and his vision to um pilot his family company
Speaker 1: from sort of an over licensed um, sort of cheapened
Speaker 1: brand to a top tier luxury brand. He wanted to
Speaker 1: make Gucci like Italy's heir Mas Um, So he wanted
Speaker 1: to be sophisticated, he wanted excellent craftsmanship. He brought in Um,
Speaker 1: you know, American creative director and designer, and his his
Speaker 1: vision was to take it way up market only Um.
Speaker 1: As he started putting it into place, he had cut
Speaker 1: off the cash cows. He had um not really given
Speaker 1: consumers a chance to figure out that there was a
Speaker 1: new Gucci and the company was just heading towards bankruptcy.
Speaker 1: And as while this was going on, Sarah, this is
Speaker 1: Chris Um. You know, there was this whole personal side
Speaker 1: of the saga where he was going through a divorce
Speaker 1: from his wife, Patricia Reggiani, who was played by Lady
Speaker 1: Gaga in the film, and where he was at least
Speaker 1: for part of the time in a romantic relationship with Sherry,
Speaker 1: which is what our stories about exactly. So my I
Speaker 1: realized that I was, you know, it's one thing to
Speaker 1: write a business story for um, you know, for for
Speaker 1: a newspaper, UM. But I realized that there was there
Speaker 1: was a narrative here that had the qualities of a novel.
Speaker 1: And it was by blending the family saga with the
Speaker 1: business story that I felt that this story really really
Speaker 1: came to ship to life. And I interviewed more than
Speaker 1: a hundred people for the book. Talked to family members,
Speaker 1: I talked to you know, current and former employees of Gucci.
Speaker 1: But the one person who slipped away was Mariza Gucci's
Speaker 1: girlfriend at the time, UM well, for seven years. Her
Speaker 1: name was Sherry McLoughlin. She was an American former model
Speaker 1: who worked in the fashion industry. But they actually met
Speaker 1: sailing in Sudania, um as the Italian team was preparing
Speaker 1: for the America's Cup. So Sherry didn't want to talk
Speaker 1: to me at the time that I was writing the book.
Speaker 1: She didn't know what kind of book I was going
Speaker 1: to write, and she ducked my phone calls and didn't
Speaker 1: answer my emails. Well, she came out of the woodwork. Um.
Speaker 1: A few months ago when the stills from the movie
Speaker 1: set started breaking the internet, and I realized as we
Speaker 1: chatted that she was ready to tell her story. All right,
Speaker 1: so you go up to Chris, and you go, Chris,
Speaker 1: I've got the story. Is that? Well, like, tell me
Speaker 1: how this came together? Well, it's Um. It's actually really
Speaker 1: exciting to see it out in pursuit today because I
Speaker 1: was very uncertain whether Bloomberg would be interested in the
Speaker 1: story because it seemed like such a non Bloomberg story, right,
Speaker 1: it was really about the personal side, um. And yet
Speaker 1: Sherry had been you know, at mad too side when
Speaker 1: he was going through some of the toughest uh fights
Speaker 1: of his of his life, both with his financial partner
Speaker 1: invest Corps and with his family. You know, he was
Speaker 1: battling for you know, the his uncle sent the financial
Speaker 1: police after him, Um was an accusation that he hadn't
Speaker 1: signed his father hadn't signed the shares um, you know,
Speaker 1: giving him the control and sent him, you know, escaping
Speaker 1: and a motorcycle across the border into Switzerland where there
Speaker 1: was no extradition. So he was really really grappling with
Speaker 1: a lot at the time, and she was the person
Speaker 1: who who was at his side trying to help him
Speaker 1: the whole time. All right, question for you, Chris, were
Speaker 1: you like, yeah, of course I'm interested. Well, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I think maybe Sarah thought it felt a little
Speaker 1: gossipy for Business Week, and I love gossip, especially especially
Speaker 1: because this gossip really actually informed major news events and
Speaker 1: also obviously this crime. And it was a perspective that
Speaker 1: Sarah was really excited about hearing and getting out there.
Speaker 1: And Sherry's not in the movie her She's not portrayed
Speaker 1: in the movie because no one knew her story, and
Speaker 1: so this is really like a missing piece of of
Speaker 1: the saga. And it also includes all these great details,
Speaker 1: Like Sarah mentioned the the publicity stills that broke the internet.
Speaker 1: You might remember the first stills that came out were
Speaker 1: of Lady Gaga and Adam Driver playing Marizio and Patrizia,
Speaker 1: and they were in Italy and it was so like
Speaker 1: Italian and eighties and he's wearing white ski pants and
Speaker 1: and Sherry told us that he always wore white ski
Speaker 1: pants because he was a terrible skier, so he would
Speaker 1: fall and by when he would get down to like
Speaker 1: the wine fueled lunch with everybody. No one would know
Speaker 1: that he felt because he was wearing white so smart,
Speaker 1: which is a great little detail. That's the kind of
Speaker 1: thing that's in this story. Great. And she also she
Speaker 1: told me that he was terrified that Patricia was going
Speaker 1: to have him killed. And he always used to say
Speaker 1: to her, I know, Patricia wants to kill me. And
Speaker 1: so she didn't take him seriously at the time because
Speaker 1: she thought he was being being Italian and being over
Speaker 1: Jim Attic And then lo and behold, you know, look
Speaker 1: what happened. So it's been take us back more than
Speaker 1: twenty years ago, when you were working on this book
Speaker 1: and you not being actually able to speak to Sherry,
Speaker 1: because she actually did approach you. You write after the
Speaker 1: book was out, tell us about that interaction. That was
Speaker 1: really an incredible moment. So I had I had really
Speaker 1: given up on I had had to give up on her.
Speaker 1: My manuscript was going into press and she hadn't responded.
Speaker 1: So I limited, um, you know, my treatment of her
Speaker 1: just to just a few lines in the book. And
Speaker 1: I knew from other people that she had existed, but
Speaker 1: I didn't really have any any contours of the relationship
Speaker 1: or how how they had met or you know what
Speaker 1: time they spent together. And the book came out in
Speaker 1: two thousand and then the paperback edition came out in
Speaker 1: two thousand one, and I was in New York presenting
Speaker 1: the paperback edition at the Exilarly Bookstore and I had
Speaker 1: finished signing books and everybody was just about leaving, and
Speaker 1: I noticed a tall blonde woman instead of standing hanging
Speaker 1: back looking at me. And after the last person left,
Speaker 1: she came up to me with tears in her eyes
Speaker 1: and she said, Hi, Sarah, I'm Sherry McLoughlin. If I
Speaker 1: had known you were going to write such a wonderful book,
Speaker 1: I would have talked to you. And she gave me
Speaker 1: a big hug and we both cried, and then and
Speaker 1: then she left. And you know, at that point, the
Speaker 1: book was out and there had already been an update,
Speaker 1: so there wasn't going to be another update, and literally
Speaker 1: we went our separate ways for twenty years until you know,
Speaker 1: the movie still started coming out and she she direct
Speaker 1: messaged me and we started talking. Having written the book
Speaker 1: and talked to so many people like you said, um, Sarah,
Speaker 1: and then sitting down and talking with her, what's changed?
Speaker 1: And you're thinking about this story. Well, I think that
Speaker 1: she really, Um, she helped me understand a little bit
Speaker 1: more why Maudito was the way he was. And um,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people around him who who
Speaker 1: wanted him to get help, wanted him to give up control.
Speaker 1: They could see that things weren't going well. And she
Speaker 1: said that he was bound and determined that he he
Speaker 1: had to prove to his father and to his grandfather
Speaker 1: that he was going to be able to turn Gucci around,
Speaker 1: and he didn't want anyone else to do it for him. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that to me, you know, made me understand
Speaker 1: why he was so kind of almost stubborn about doing
Speaker 1: it his way. How does she feel now, not necessarily
Speaker 1: being included in this story and not being included in
Speaker 1: the film portrayal of your book? You know, she she
Speaker 1: really came out now because she said, you know, the
Speaker 1: story is so sad, and you know Madio failed and
Speaker 1: then he was killed, and it's just such a sad story.
Speaker 1: She said, I just feel like this man needs a
Speaker 1: little bit when people need to know that there he
Speaker 1: did have some happiness in his life and and those
Speaker 1: happy moments were some of the moments that they spent together,
Speaker 1: and and she said, you know, they laughed a lot.
Speaker 1: You know, here was a guy who was you know,
Speaker 1: had legions of lawyers and all kinds of calamitous things
Speaker 1: happening in his and his work and family life. Um,
Speaker 1: but with share he was able to laugh and and
Speaker 1: be lighthearted and and uh and have fun. So I
Speaker 1: think she wanted to show that he was he was
Speaker 1: actually um, you know, had had some joy in his life,
Speaker 1: even though it didn't look like it from the outside.
Speaker 1: So joy in their life together and laughter. As you said,
Speaker 1: I do wonder too though Sherry in some ways blame
Speaker 1: herself for what for his ultimate death. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't think she blames herself because it was her. It
Speaker 1: was her decision to end the relationships. She could see
Speaker 1: that he was completely a meshed in his family and
Speaker 1: his affairs, and she she wanted to have a life
Speaker 1: and to have a family and to settle down, and
Speaker 1: she could see that wasn't happening. But I have had
Speaker 1: several other people who who knew him, knew the family,
Speaker 1: knew the story. Several people have told me that they
Speaker 1: thought that if if he had stayed with Sherry, he
Speaker 1: might still be alive today. Because his ex wife Patricia
Speaker 1: somehow didn't fear or didn't feel threatened by Sherry the
Speaker 1: way she did by his his later girlfriend Paula. What
Speaker 1: did you learn about what Sherry and Marizio did together, Well,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a fairy tale lifestyle that they had.
Speaker 1: She she moved to New York and had a small
Speaker 1: apartment there, and he would fly her on the Concorde,
Speaker 1: which existed back then. It was three hours to either
Speaker 1: Paris or London, and then she would go with him.
Speaker 1: She was helping him to restore a beautiful historic three
Speaker 1: masts and sailing yacht that he had bought UM that
Speaker 1: was in sort of in the shambles. It was in
Speaker 1: bad shape. It had been owned by Stavus Niakos, and
Speaker 1: that I had been used by UM the Dutch government
Speaker 1: and Star the Danish government as a training ship for
Speaker 1: for sailors, young sailors. And so they would go to
Speaker 1: Paulo mad Majorca, or to Las Bazzio, to Breman and
Speaker 1: you know, be there while the work was being done
Speaker 1: on the creole Um. They went to St. Mare. It's
Speaker 1: a skied. He would pick her up in his ferrati
Speaker 1: and get pulled over during two hundred kilometers an hour,
Speaker 1: and it was very much the kind of lifestyles of
Speaker 1: the rich and famous. Well, yeah, I do wander too.
Speaker 1: Like when you first sat down with her, like, what
Speaker 1: was the first question you asked her? Well, she just
Speaker 1: told me. She just started talking, she said, Sarah, I
Speaker 1: can't stop dreaming about Marizio. She said, the movie Coming
Speaker 1: Back just made her kind of go back to all
Speaker 1: all so many you know, interactions that they've had. You've
Speaker 1: seen the movie, I have, I have, and um, tell
Speaker 1: us your thoughts on it. Oh, it's it's fantastic. It's
Speaker 1: it's a big family drama, but it's also got some
Speaker 1: satire and some farce in it, so it's not a
Speaker 1: dark movie at all. Um. Many of the characters are
Speaker 1: larger than life, especially Maudita's uncle and his cousin and
Speaker 1: um it's Mado is the one who who changes the
Speaker 1: most during the course of the movie, and you can
Speaker 1: actually see him evolve from this very shy, kind of insecure,
Speaker 1: um young man who falls in love with Patrizia to
Speaker 1: then coming into his own you know, controlling his fighting
Speaker 1: with his relatives and kind of taking taking over sort
Speaker 1: of what he thinks Gucci needs to be Does it
Speaker 1: feel like the story that twenty years ago you wrote
Speaker 1: It does? Oh, it's very much the arc of the story.
Speaker 1: And they actually even go, um, you know, pretty deeply
Speaker 1: into into the business foundation, which I was ap eyes. Um,
Speaker 1: but I do see it as intrinsic to the story.
Speaker 1: So you do get to see Namir Kardar, who was
Speaker 1: the head of the invest Corps, Madricia's financial partner. You
Speaker 1: do get to see Dominico de Sole, who became the
Speaker 1: CEO of Gucci after Madzio. You get to see the
Speaker 1: first blockbuster fashion show, Um, that was staged by Tom Ford,
Speaker 1: that that put Gucci on the fashion map. They recreate
Speaker 1: this amazing show with an Amber Valletta and a big white,
Speaker 1: bright spotlight. UM. Yeah, it's sensational. Hey, I'm I'm want
Speaker 1: to end and just talk a little more about Sherry
Speaker 1: and what she's doing now, because you did describe the
Speaker 1: relationship that she had with Mauricio sort of lifestyles of
Speaker 1: the rich and famous years ago. What's she doing now?
Speaker 1: What's her life like now? Yes, so Sherry kind of
Speaker 1: left that whole fashion, glamor luxury world and she is
Speaker 1: living in Connecticut. Um, she you know, as many people
Speaker 1: struggled through through COVID. She lost her job and she's
Speaker 1: got a job now with a geese management company that
Speaker 1: uses border colleagues to clear property of geese, which will
Speaker 1: become a big annoyance up there. Um. And she actually
Speaker 1: loves this job because she's very much an outdoor person,
Speaker 1: you know, as as I say in the in the article,
Speaker 1: she was an expert skier and sailor. She loves the outdoors,
Speaker 1: she loves working with the dogs, and so she's in
Speaker 1: a very living, in very different life than the one
Speaker 1: she lived with Modi too. Final thought, wrote the book
Speaker 1: years ago, movies out and you've got to get to
Speaker 1: a voice that hadn't been heard from before. Final thoughts
Speaker 1: for our listeners, Well, I think it's it's it's one
Speaker 1: of these compelling stories that really withstands the test of time.
Speaker 1: And these are kind of eternal themes. So even though
Speaker 1: a lot of the events happened in you know, the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, Um,
Speaker 1: I think the story is still fresh, fresh today, and
Speaker 1: I think I think it's gonna appeal to a lot
Speaker 1: of people. Go the book. You've been listening to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week Extra. That was Sarah Ford, an author of
Speaker 1: the House of Gucci, a sensational story of murder, madness, glamor,
Speaker 1: and greed. She's team leader for Corporate Influence in Washington
Speaker 1: for Bloomberg New She joined us along with Bloomberg Pursuits
Speaker 1: editor Chris Rouser. Be sure to listen to our Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week Daily radio program. It airs live Monday through
Speaker 1: Friday at two pm Wall Street Time on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Watch US two on our daily broadcast on YouTube. Just
Speaker 1: search Bloomberg Global News. You can also see me on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quicktake, available on Bloomberg dot com, slash qt, and
Speaker 1: streaming platforms like Roku, Apple TV, Samsung TV, and more.
Speaker 1: I'm Tim Stenebeck. Catch more of our interviews just check
Speaker 1: out our podcast feed. I'm Carol Masser. This is Bloomberg