Photo: YouTube / Shutterstock / Andrea Raffin
Inside her life after prison.
By Sydney Taylor — Written on Nov 30, 2021
Ridley Scott's "House of Gucci" follows the life of Patrizia Reggiani, played by Lady Gaga, as she married into the Gucci family and her spiral to murder.
The Italian socialite was convicted in a highly publicized 1997 trial in which she was accused of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci — the one-time head of the historic Italian fashion house.
Now with the new movie release there is a new found interest in the real-life drama. So what happened to Patrizia Reggiani and where is she now?
Where is Patrizia Reggiani now?
Reggiani is reported to be living in Milan after being released from prison in 2014.
In 1997, Patrizia Reggiani was sentenced to 29 years in prison for the murder of her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci — played by Adam Driver in the 2021 film. Gucci was murdered a year after the divorce with Reggiani was finalized.
Gucci was shot and killed on March 27, 1995 by Benedetto Ceraulo, a pizzeria owner who had been hired by Patrizia through her friend Giuseppina “Pina” Auriemma.
Reggiani became known as the “Black Widow” and seemed to have a motive to kill as she wanted control over the Gucci estate. Also, if Maurizio were to marry Paola Franchi it would have cut Patrizia’s alimony in half.
Patrizia Reggiani left prison in 2014.
Reggiani had initially asked that her conviction be overturned because of a brain tumor she had undergone surgery for in 1992. She claimed this made her incapable of planning a murder.
In an appeals court in Mulan in 2000 the sentence was reduced to 26 years. The same year she attempted suicide by hanging herself with a bed sheet but was found by security guards.
“She just said ‘I wanted to go’…Psychologically she is in a terrible state,” her mother, Silvana Barbieri said to CNN.
In 2011 Reggiani became eligible for parole under a work-release program, but refused because she didn’t like the idea of working. “I’ve never worked in my life and I don’t intend to start now,” she told her lawyer, according to The Guardian.
She later took a job in 2014 and was released from prison. She finished her parole on good behavior in 2016 after she served 18 years.
In an interview with The Guardian in 2016 Reggiani says, “I slept a lot. I took care of my plants. I looked after Bambi, my pet ferret. I don’t like to talk about this time at all. It is all a bad dream to me.” Reggiani never referred to prison, and instead said, “my stay at Vittore Residence.”
Although her employment status as of now is unknown, Reggiani worked for Bozart, a costume jewelry firm for her parole job in 2014. Reggiani reportedly read fashion magazines and helped to advise the design team.
Patrizia Reggiani does not speak to the daughters she had with Maurizio Gucci.
Reggiani’s daughters Alessandra and Allegra are both married and living in Switzerland.
“We are going through a bad time now,” Reggiani said in 2016. “They don’t understand me and have cut off my financial support. I have nothing, and I haven’t even met my two grandsons.”
The daughters initially stood by their mother, at least publicly, but after her release their perspective seems to have changed.
Patrizia Reggiani responded to 'House Of Gucci."
In March, Reggiani said she was unhappy with Lady Gaga being cast to play her.
“I am rather annoyed at the fact that Lady Gaga is playing me in the new Ridley Scott film without having had the consideration and sensibility to come and meet me,” she said, according to ANSA.
She continued, “It is not an economic question. I won't get a cent from the film. It is a question of good sense and respect.”
However, Lady Gaga says she doesn’t want to speak to Patrizia.
"I don't want to collude with Patrizia Gucci. I think she wants to drive a famous narrative of herself as a notorious killer and a woman who advised Gucci. I think what she did was wrong, I think she deeply regrets it” Lady Gaga told ITV News.
Sydney Taylor is a writer who focuses on News and Entertainment topics.