Candy Spelling has “downsized” to a $35 million condominium in Century City, California, with “downsized” being of course extremely relative. She previously lived in the largest home in LA County, a monstrous 57,000 square foot mansion built under her direction when her late husband, TV producer Aaron Spelling, was still alive. The Manor included three gift wrapping rooms, a barber shop, bowling alley and an entryway based on the mansion in Gone With the Wind.
Candy’s daughter, Tori Spelling, claims that her dad Aaron left her just around $800,000 out of his estimated $500 million estate when he passed in 2006. This goes a long way toward explaining why Tori continues to hustle for cash by making her personal life the plot of a series of books and reality shows. Tori and her mom have had a contentious relationship since, with Candy claiming that Tori lied about the amount she inherited, suggesting it was much higher.
In a new-ish, not entirely positive profile of Candy in the NY Times, Candy suggested that Tori’s inheritance was somewhat measly because Tori has a spending problem. She said:
Ms. Spelling was backing into the subject of her daughter, whose husband, Dean McDermott, has been battling sex addiction under the watchful eye of the Lifetime TV network. Tori and Candy have had problems over the years, most memorably when Tori reportedly inherited just $800,000 of her father’s estimated $600 million fortune. The two were estranged for quite some time.
It’s clear that the mother-daughter relationship is still fraught. One minute, Ms. Spelling talks about how things are great. “I see her probably twice a month,” she said. The next, she says Tori lacked the wherewithal to manage a large inheritance. “She would close a store and drop $50,000 to $60,000,” Ms. Spelling said. “I never did anything like that. She just went crazy.” (Tori did not respond to two requests for comment.)
Candy Spelling has long been a polarizing figure in Hollywood, and one reason is her apparent obsession with money. In the go-go ’80s, she opened her homes to glossy magazines and showed off her wealth. Today, she brags about how much she’s saved.
The entire article is worth reading for the shade thrown at Candy. Candy had rooms dedicated to a rare doll collection and an entire basement filled to the rafters with stuff. I saw her HGTV special on packing up to sell the mansion (Petra Ecclestone bought it in 2011 for $85 million) and it looked like Costco in her basement. Candy collected so much crap that she called herself an “archivist.”
It’s ridiculous that Candy is claiming that Tori wouldn’t have been able to handle a larger inheritance because she spends $50k at stores. Obviously Tori learned how to shop from her mom, who built the most expensive house in the US. That’s not to say that I feel sorry for Tori at all. She’s making plenty of cash by exploiting her husband’s supposed infidelity.
Here’s a link to a video with scenes from inside the Spelling Manor.
Tori is shown out with her kids on 6-22. Candy is shown at the Tonys on 6-8. Header photo of Candy and Tori is from 2013. Photo with Aaron is from 2002. Credit: FameFlynet, WENN.com and Getty
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