Sassoon Disinherits Son In $150 Million Will

Vidal Sassoon disinherited son David entirely in his final will, according to The Mail on Sunday.

The legendary British hairstylist, who died last May, has left one of his most severe cuts until the end: David Sassoon, the American child he adopted in 1975 at the age of three, is not to receive a single cent of Sassoon’s vast $150 million wealth.

Sassoon’s will reads: “My son David Sassoon and his issue are hereby disinherited and shall take nothing under this will, and for the purposes of the will, shall be deemed to have predeceased me, leaving no surviving issue.”

David Sassoon, who is now 41, is not alone in being disinherited by the fashion icon. The will also instructs that former wives Elaine Nations, Beverly Sassoon, and Jeanette Sassoon will “take nothing.”

Vidal Sassoon’s life was a classic rags-to-riches story. From modest roots in London’s largely poor East End, Sassoon became the hairstylist who would define a generation, producing eye-catching styles that came to define the Swinging Sixties. He styled the hair of the famous (including Mia Farrow, as seen below) and gained a reputation for his modern, low-maintenance cuts.

The year 1971 saw Sassoon step away from the barber’s chair, leaving him free to oversee the 1973 worldwide launch of the first Vidal Sassoon hair products. Their slogan: “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.”

Sassoon’s fortune grew rapidly, but it’s not something David Sassoon will be seeing much of; he and his famous father apparently never reconciled before Sassoon’s death from leukemia last May. Sassoon’s will was drawn up two months before his passing and released in the UK.

A hint of the relationship between Vidal and David Sassoon can be found in Sassoon’s 2010 autobiography. The hairstylist writes:

“He was a robust, bright little boy with twinkling eyes and an irresistible smile, and I’ll never forget him looking up at us and saying, ‘Are you going to be my new mom and dad?’ [But David]?was also quite mischievous. At a fashion party, he stood by a window on the second floor and peed out, just missing Johnny Carson’s head.

“Another time he set the bed alight while he was still in it. His brother Elan was very frightened that he could do something so dangerous and I overheard him giving his little brother some good advice: ‘Next time, make sure you get out of it first!’ ”

David’s teenage years were, according to his adopted father, similarly troublesome; tales of carjacking and reform schools also feature in Sassoon’s autobiography.

Later in the book, Sassoon confesses he has not seen David for 18 months following a dispute. He writes: “There’s a certain point in my character where if I feel a situation is hopeless – walk away. Don’t torment yourself constantly. I walked away.”