Warren Buffett’s Granddaughter Says He Disowned Her and Twin Sister in a Letter —‘I Have Not Emotionally or Legally Adopted You as a Grandchild…’

Being the granddaughter of one of the world’s most famous investors came with an unusual set of rules for Nicole Buffett. She grew up around the Buffett family, but she has said she never expected to inherit billionaire Warren Buffett’s vast fortune.

That distinction became much more painful in 2006, after Nicole publicly discussed her family’s wealth and her feelings about being excluded from it. In interviews that followed, she said Warren Buffett cut ties with her and her identical twin sister and later sent her a letter explaining that he did not consider her a grandchild in either a legal or emotional sense.

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Growing Up Around Buffett Wealth

Nicole and her twin sister were four years old when their mother, Mary Buffett, married Peter Buffett, Warren Buffett’s youngest son. Peter later legally adopted the girls.

Nicole has said the twins were treated as part of the broader Buffett family when they were young. She recalled spending nearly every Christmas with Warren Buffett from ages four to 11 and visiting his Omaha, Nebraska home during spring breaks.

Warren’s first wife, Susan Buffett, was especially close to the girls. In her will, Susan referred to Nicole as one of her “adored grandchildren,” left her $100,000, and specified that Nicole would have the same status and benefits as if she were a child of Peter Buffett.

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Warren Buffett’s approach to money, however, was markedly different from the image of a billionaire simply passing wealth down to his family.

Nicole has said she didn’t fully understand the scale of the Buffett fortune until she was 17, when Warren appeared on the cover of Forbes as the richest American and classmates began telling her about it.

Her father told her the family’s lifestyle wouldn’t change.

Nicole also said Warren paid for her college education at an art school but generally limited his financial support to school-related expenses. When she once asked for help buying a futon for an off-campus apartment, she was reminded that the rule was “school expenses only.”

The Documentary Fallout

The relationship changed after Nicole appeared in “The One Percent,” a documentary about wealth inequality directed by Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) fortune. Nicole spoke about growing up connected to one of the country’s wealthiest families while feeling excluded from the fortune and the philanthropy surrounding it.

In an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” she said “I’m at peace with [not having inherited wealth].” She added, “It would be nice to be involved with creating things for others with that money and to be involved in it. I feel completely excluded from it.”

In a February 2008 interview with Reuters, Nicole said her decision to speak publicly about the family had severe consequences.

“My grandfather is a very private man and I decided to share what it’s like to be his granddaughter and it created a huge estrangement from him to the extent that he disowned my twin sister and myself,” she said.

Nicole later wrote to Warren asking him to explain the decision.

According to Nicole, Buffett responded with a letter stating that she had never been considered a real family member and that he had not legally or emotionally adopted her as a grandchild.

A December 2008 Marie Claire profile published additional language from the letter. “I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin,” Buffett wrote, according to the magazine. He signed the letter “Warren.”

Nicole said that was especially painful because she had a card from him from the previous year signed “Grandpa.”

“For him to discard me like that was devastating,” she told Marie Claire. “It permanently divided our family.”

A Different Account

The story was disputed, at least in part, by a source familiar with the Buffett family who spoke with Reuters.

The source said Nicole and Warren weren’t particularly close, noted that Peter had adopted the girls after divorcing their mother, and said their biological father was still alive. The source also said Warren Buffett had covered living and school expenses for Nicole until she was about 28.

“I never got the impression they were a big part of his life,” the source said.

Peter Buffett continued speaking with Nicole. Asked about the estrangement, he told Marie Claire, “I don’t have an easy answer for where my father is coming from. But I know I can’t change the spots on a leopard.”

By then, Nicole was living as an artist in the Berkeley, California area. She described a modest lifestyle and said the experience had reinforced her independence.

“Grandpa taught me that, and it has set the tone for my life,” she said.

An Unexpected Reconnection

The family relationship later appeared to thaw.

In a May 2022 interview with CoinDesk, Nicole said that Warren reached out to her by email for the first time in years. By then, she had found success selling NFTs of her artwork, a path she began exploring during the pandemic when traditional gallery shows were limited.

Nicole said Warren congratulated her and was particularly interested in how NFTs could give artists another way to distribute their work and make a living.

She described the exchange as a reconciliation and said she was planning an NFT-based art show in Omaha.

Nicole has continued working as a fine artist, with her work focused on healing, spirituality, nature, and community. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and has used some projects to support ecological and social causes.

Warren Buffett has not publicly provided a detailed account of the family rift beyond the letter and comments from people close to the family.

For investors, the episode offers an unusually personal look at a principle Buffett has discussed for decades: Enormous fortunes aren’t necessarily meant to become family inheritances.

His approach to wealth has always placed a premium on giving the next generation opportunity rather than handing over a financial empire. Nicole’s experience shows just how personal that philosophy can become when the billionaire behind it is also a grandfather.

On the date of publication, Caleb Naysmith did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com