FOR decades they were a regular sight at high-profile events in New York – the diamond heiress and her gender-fluid reality TV star spouse, dressed to the nines in matching outfits and designer stilettos.
More recently, Lady Betty Grafstein (95) gave the heels a miss in favour of flatter but still stylish footwear as she was pushed around in a wheelchair by her fashion model-turned-art dealer partner, José Castelo Branco (61).
But their intriguing love story and glitzy life have taken a dark and bizarre turn. José, who uses both he and she pronouns, was recently arrested for assault after Betty ended up in a Portuguese hospital with a fractured femur and injured wrist. Betty told hospital staff she sustained the injuries after José pushed her down the stairs.
Their glamorous life, she said, was more staged than real. She alleges José has been physically and psychologically abusing her behind closed doors for most of their 28-year marriage. She also accused him of pressuring her to create content for sponsored social media posts.
Betty, who is now completely wheelchair-bound, says José forced her to stand up from her wheelchair, hold her head high for photographs and wear tight designer shoes that often left her in pain.
Roger Basile, Betty’s son from a previous marriage, has welcomed the news of José’s arrest. Roger (75) says he’s been urging his mother to leave José for years because he believes José is violent and a liar but she kept going back to him.
He says he discovered José was abusive to his mother early in their marriage. After receiving a call from Betty’s friends, he flew to Portugal. “When I got there, she was black and blue, from her buttocks to her neck,” he recalls.
Questions are also being raised about whether Betty really is an aristocrat and heir to a diamond empire. Roger claims José created the fantasy about her being a diamond heiress and a member of the British aristocracy.
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