Female Socialites

One of the most popular social media celebrities in the US, Kourtney Kardashian is best known for her appearance in the TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Along with her sisters, she endorses products like prescription drugs, Coca-Cola, and waist slimming pants, for which she gets paid between $75,000 and $300,000 per post on social media.

The better half of one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton was involved in her husband’s political career during his lifetime and worked towards protecting his legacy after his death. A social worker, she lent support to multiple charitable causes including establishing New York’s first private orphanage.

Zelda Fitzgerald was a painter, socialite, and novelist. Along with her husband Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda became a prominent personality of the Jazz Age. Renowned for her high spirits and beauty, she was named the first American flapper by Scott. For her work as a novelist and painter, Fitzgerald was posthumously made an inductee to the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.

Florence Foster Jenkins was an American socialite who was often ridiculed and mocked for her poor singing ability, which in turn made her popular. Known as the world's worst opera singer, Jenkins became a musical cult-figure in New York City due to her technical incompetence as an amateur soprano. Her life inspired several plays and films, including Florence Foster Jenkins.

Molly Brown was an American philanthropist and socialite. She is often referred to as the Unsinkable Molly Brown for surviving the 1912 sinking of Titanic and for unsuccessfully encouraging the crew members of Lifeboat No. 6 to look for survivors by returning to the debris field. Her life and work inspired the 1960 musical, The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

A charming socialite, Angelica Schuyler Church was the daughter of Continental Army General, Philip Schuyler, and wife of British MP, John Barker Church. During her lifetime, she interacted with and created lasting friendship with numerous personalities, from revolutionaries to artists and politicians, like Edmund Burke, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. She has been portrayed in the acclaimed Broadway musical Hamilton.

Lee Radziwill was an American interior decorator and public-relations executive. The younger sister of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Radziwill was a well-known socialite and often featured in lists, such as The Guardian's 50 best-dressed people over 50. Despite an unsuccessful attempt to forge an acting career, Radziwill managed to hog the limelight due to her fashion sense.

Wallis Simpson was an American socialite. She remains a controversial figure in the history of British politics as she played a major role in causing a constitutional crisis that eventually led to the abdication of British King Edward VIII. Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry Wallis as he could not marry Wallis, a divorcée, while remaining on the throne.

Daughter of publishing tycoon, late Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell is a socialite infamous for her involvement with the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Charged with sex trafficking of minor girls, she is under investigation by the US Virgin Islands Department of Justice.

Isabel Preysler is a  Filipina socialite and TV host. As a teenager, she participated in beauty pageants and worked as a model. She later started working as a journalist. An elegant woman, she is considered a fashion icon. Her first husband was Julio Iglesias, a Spanish singer.  Enrique Iglesias and Julio Iglesias Jr. are her sons.

Socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland, former wife of Bakelite heir Brooks Baekeland, was killed by her son, Antony. She was apparently stabbed with a kitchen knife. Antony was found at the crime scene and confessed to the murder. She had reportedly tried treating Antony’s queer orientation and had even raped him.

Socialite, art collector, and reality TV personality, Patricia Altschul, is the widow of former Goldman Sachs partner Arthur G. Altschul. She has been a trustee of several nonprofit organizations including the Historic Hudson Valley and the New York Historical Society. She received a Carolopolis Award from the Preservation Society of Charleston in 2013.

Akie Abe is the wife of former Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe. The daughter of a confectionery magnate, Akie has previously worked for Dentsu Inc. She has also been a DJ, using the pseudonym Akky. She once partnered with Michelle Obama to promote classroom education for girls worldwide.

Born to working-class parents, Marguerite Alibert initially sang at local bars and worked as a prostitute. She later became Prince Edward’s (later King Edward VIII of the UK) courtesan. She shot her second husband, Ali Fahmy, to death at Savoy Hotel but got away by showcasing herself as a victim of brutality.

Deborah Cavendish, the duchess of Devonshire, was the youngest of the popular Mitford sisters. An aristocrat and a socialite, she was one of the rare people who had met both Adolf Hitler and John Kennedy. She played a key role in commercializing Chatsworth Estate and also wrote books on it.

Ksenia Sobchak is a Russian TV anchor, journalist, actress, socialite, and public figure. The daughter of popular Russian politicians, Sobchak achieved popularity when she started hosting the popular reality TV show, Dom-2. In 2018, at the age of 36, she was chosen as the Civic Initiative's presidential candidate, becoming the youngest presidential candidate in the history of Russia.