Liliane Bettencourt was a French heiress and businesswoman, who was one of the principal shareholders of L'Oréal. Counted among the most powerful women in the world, she was France’s richest woman and the second richest woman in the world, slightly behind Christy Walton. She was born as the only child of Eugène Schueller, founder of L'Oréal, one of the world's largest cosmetics and beauty companies. She developed interest in business at an early age and started helping her father as an apprentice in his company as a teenager. Having lost her mother at a very young age, she was especially close to her father and worked alongside him in expanding their business. She went on to marry French politician André Bettencourt. Over the years she rose to become deputy chairman of L'Oréal and inherited the L'Oréal fortune upon the death of her father, becoming the company’s principal shareholder. An ambitious businesswoman, she worked tirelessly to expand the business and acquired numerous other cosmetic brands. In addition to being one of the richest persons in the world, Liliane Bettencourt also grabbed the media attention due to her estrangement from her only daughter and her controversial relationship with the much younger François-Marie Banier.