House of Gucci tells the story of Maurizio Gucci's murder as ordered by his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani, but what happened to her and where is she now?
House of Gucci is Ridley Scott’s latest project, and it’s based on the true story of the murder of Maurizio Gucci as planned by Patrizia Regginai – and here’s what happened to her after the events of the movie. Ridley Scott is one of the most respected filmmakers in the entertainment industry, and while his name is often associated with the sci-fi genre thanks to classics like Alien and Blade Runner, he has explored different genres throughout his career – and his latest movie, House of Gucci, goes back to that of biographical crime drama to tell the story of Patrizia Reggiani.
Based on the 2001 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden, House of Gucci follows the story of Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) and her marriage to Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), head of the Gucci fashion house in 1989. Through her marriage to Maurizio, Patrizia makes her way into the dynastic Italian luxury label, but the real power of the Gucci empire is held by Maurizio’s father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) and his uncle Aldo (Al Pacino), and if she wants to make her presence felt, she will have to pit the rest of the family against each other. Patrizia and Maurizio eventually find themselves at odds, and her rage ends up turning murderous, culminating with Maurizio’s murder in 1995.
Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci met at a party in 1970 and married two years later, even though Maurizio’s father, Rodolfo Gucci (played in House of Gucci by Jeremy Irons), didn’t approve as he saw her as a “social climber who had nothing in mind but money”. Still, Rodolfo bought them a luxury penthouse in New York, where the couple moved to after their wedding. Once in New York, Patrizia became active in the city’s social circles, and she gave birth to two daughters: Alessandra and Allegra. The family moved back to Milan in 1982, and two years later, Maurizio told her he was going on a business trip to Florence, only to send a friend the following day to tell his wife that he wouldn’t be returning and that the marriage was over. The couple was officially divorced in 1994, and in 1995, Maurizio was shot and killed by a hitman outside his office – and Patrizia was arrested and accused of it in 1997.
Patrizia’s motives to have her ex-husband killed were said to be a mix of jealousy, money, and resentment towards Maurizio, who at the time was planning to marry his partner, Paola Franchi. Maurizio’s new marriage would have cut Patrizia’s alimony in half, something that she wasn’t willing to accept. In 1997, Patrizia was sentenced to 29 years in prison for arranging Maurizio’s murder, and her sentence was reduced to 26 years in 2000 (that same year, she tried to kill herself but was found by prison guards). She was eligible for parole under a work-release program in 2011 but refused, and with credit for good behavior, she was released in 2016 after serving a sentence of 18 years. Patrizia has lied low ever since, though it’s known that she still lives in Milan and has been frequently seen with her pet parrot on her shoulder.
Although Patrizia refused the work-release program as she “had never worked in her life and wasn’t going to start then”, as part of her parole agreement she was employed at costume jewelry firm Bozart (via The Guardian), where she advised the design team and even designed a collection of jewelry and evening bags, but it’s unknown if she still works for them. Although she now keeps a low profile, Patrizia Reggiani has already voiced her discontent with House of Gucci (after initially saying she approved that Lady Gaga played her in the movie) as she wasn’t contacted by Gaga to meet, which she said is “a question of good sense and respect”. With House of Gucci now out, Patrizia Reggiani will surely have more to say about how her story was portrayed, and details about her life in recent years might be revealed.
