Born Rich is a 2003 documentary film about the experience of growing up in wealthy families. It was created by Jamie Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, and filmed primarily between 1999 and 2001. The film consists primarily of Johnson interviewing 10 other young heirs. These interviews are offset by Johnson's exploration of his own experience and family as he comes into a large inheritance on his 21st birthday. He seeks out how to be a productive person, avoiding the dysfunction that he sees affecting many of the very rich. The film explores the taboo the ultra rich have against talking about their wealth. Johnson believes this secrecy about wealth causes the wealthy to be dysfunctional,
- Stephanie Ercklentz — born to socialite Mai Harrison and New York corporate lawyer, Enno W. Ercklentz Jr., son of banker and industrialist Enno W. Ercklentz Sr.
- Cody Franchetti — an Italian baron and Milliken textiles heir, born to actress Angelica Ippolito and Baron Andrea Franchetti, son of Baron Mario Franchetti and American heiress Anne Milliken.
- Juliet Hartford — born to model Diane Brown and A&P heir, Huntington Hartford, grandson of a principal founder of A&P, George Huntington Hartford.
- Josiah Cheston Hornblower — a Vanderbilt / Whitney heir born to Alexandra Thorne, daughter of Whitney Tower, a grandson of Gertrude Vanderbilt and Harry Payne Whitney. He is also a descendant of Josiah Hornblower, a delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress.
- S.I. Newhouse IV — born to Condé Nast publishing heir, Samuel Irving Newhouse III, son of Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr.
- Ivanka Trump — born to real estate tycoon and 45th and 47th US President, Donald Trump, son of real estate developer Fred Trump.
- Benjamin Luke Weil — son of Scientific Games Corporation Chairman & CEO, A. Lorne Weil.
- Carlo von Zeitschel — Kaiser Wilhelm II's great-grandson who is both a German baron and an Italian viscount. the documentary started out as his graduation thesis. At the age of 20, Johnson came up with the idea for the film through conversations with his uncle, Dirk Wittenborn, a novelist and screenwriter, who is also a producer of the film. Johnson said, “My grandfather made some serious mistakes, he was born rich and I really didn’t want to be in the same situation that he found himself in at the end of his life.” Johnson enlisted Bingo Gubelmann, a childhood friend who is a cousin of socialite Marjorie Gubelmann, to be a co-producer and to help recruit "inheritors" in their late teens to mid-20s who could live lavishly without ever having to work. 11 heirs ended up being interviewed. According to Johnson, the decadence of the party was intentional. He had always wanted to film the final scene, where he and Bingo pour Veuve Clicquot into a tower of champagne glasses, The lawsuit was featured in the film. Wittenborn recalls that when he was questioned by Weil during the filming, he told Weil about his work in film and television, and that they hoped to sell the film to HBO. In a decision dated September 27, 2002, the New York Supreme Court dismissed Weil's lawsuit, ruling that the subject matter of the film was newsworthy, and that the releases Weil had signed in 2000 clearly identified the film as a commercial production. Changes were apparently made to the film after Weil became incensed after the film's debut at Sundance. where it was a hit. Every seat at the screening was occupied and a couple dozen people were turned away. In July 2003, it was promoted at the HBO presentation at the Television Critics Association convention in Los Angeles by Johnson and three film subjects.
Johnson was on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss Born Rich in a namesake episode that also featured Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton, two days before HBO's big screen premiere of the film in New York City on October 15, 2003. Five heirs from the film attended the premiere with Johnson. There were sold-out screenings of the film in New York for weeks.
Johnson was also interviewed about the film on CNN Sunday Morning the day before the film's television debut and on NPR's All Things Considered on the day of the television debut on HBO on October 27, 2003. The film was broadcast as part of the HBO's America Undercover series, where it was on a regular rotation. A number of shows on the rich had started airing or were in production. Born Rich was considered more substantive viewing. He also believed the fascination with wealth in popular culture at the time of the release "is deeply influenced by the administration that's running the country."
In an Avenue Magazine interview about the film ten years after its release, Johnson said, "Now, reality television about wealth is a staple genre on TV, whereas there wasn't a single show about that at the time...so it had more of an impact and people weren't as guarded." In 2013, Born Rich was alluded to on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes where Johnson commented on meritocracy in America on the day Prince George of Wales was born. Born Rich was also broadcast in 2013 on Australia's public television channel ABC2. ABC2 published an update from Johnson where he said that privacy around wealth has recently begun to ease, and that he remains close to at least half of the film's subjects and friendly with all of them. He also noted that now as economies are more globalized, he sees the film as an early step in the growing fascination with family wealth as great fortunes continue to grow in developing economies, e.g., the influx of wealthy families into Australia with the expansion of the Chinese economy.
Accolades
The documentary was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 2004: Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming for Jamie Johnson; and Outstanding Nonfiction Special for Sheila Nevins (executive producer), Dirk Wittenborn (produced by), and Jamie Johnson (producer).