One by one, her empty homes passed to new owners.
The Connecticut estate, empty for more than 60 years: $14.3 million.
The Fifth Avenue apartments: $54.8 million combined.
Her Monet "Water Lilies": to a museum.
Bellosguardo, the estate by the sea she had not visited in at least half a century, went to a foundation for the arts.
Bill Dedman, the reporter who had stopped at that strange listing, wrote the story of her life with Huguette's cousin, Paul Clark Newell Jr.
They called it Empty Mansions. It became a bestseller.
When she died, a spokesman for her lawyer said:
"She died as she wanted, with dignity and privacy."
— Spokesman for Huguette's lawyer
She had everything money could buy.
In the end, she chose a small room where someone was always there.
Her mansions stayed empty.
Her hospital room never was.
