THE $100billion woman

Shy L'Oreal heiress who unleashed a scandal that rocked all of France

- VIKKI WHITE

 IT'S debatable whether she's worth it.... but L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers has just become the first woman with a $100billion fortune.

Shares in the cosmetic firm rose to a record high this week, helping Francoise, who holds a 35 percent stake, achieve the record.

Much of what is known about the 70-year-old reclusive intellectual emerged along with family secrets when she began a legal battle to protect her mother Liliane in 2007.

It also dredged up the scandal concerning her grandfather, L'Oreal founder Eugene Schueller, who was investigated as a Nazi collaborator.

This had previously caused controversy when Francoise wed Jewish businessman Jean-Pierre Meyers in 1984 and converted to Judaism.

Eugene, a chemist, founded L'Oreal in Paris in 1909 to market a hair dye he had invented.

His firm went on to become a global empire, worth £209billion today, selling cosmetics under brands such as Kiehl's, Lancome, and Garnier.