Daughter Of Malaysian Tycoon Gives Up $407 Million Inheritance For Love

#1

Ms. Khoo, 34, is the daughter of Mr. Khoo and former Malaysian beauty queen Pauline Chai, who have since divorced.

#2

The daughter of the Laura Ashley chairman has revealed that her parents' bitter $83 billion High Court divorce battle was "about control" rather than money.

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In an exclusive interview with The Daily Mail's You Magazine last week, Ms Khoo said she is currently not on talking terms with her father because she married someone he did not approve of.

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The heiress and fashion designer reportedly had an inheritance worth 407 million US dollars (RM1.7 billion), but she has since given that up when her father did not approve of her relationship.

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She told the Daily Mail, “I believed Dad’s stance was wrong, so there was no question about what was right.”

The fashion designer married her Caribbean-born data scientist Jedidiah Francis while studying at Oxford University in 2008.

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Although she grew up with bodyguards, private jets, and homes on three continents, it was only when Angeline Francis Khoo’s father’s wealth was disclosed in court during her parents’ Titanic, multimillion-pound divorce hearing that she realized its true, eye-watering scale.

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The family was also the subject of international attention in the United Kingdom when Tan Sri Khoo and Pauline Chai were going through a high-profile divorce. The case ended in April this year when the judge ordered Angeline’s father to pay USD$112 million (approx. RM478 million) to her mother.

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In response to some of the 200 over comments over the story on The Star Online's Facebook page on Wednesday (Aug 2), Ms. Khoo clarified some facts.

To a question on why she had defended her mother during the divorce proceedings and whether some sort of deal for money was struck, she said she was disowned by her father nine years ago when she got married, and that her parents only started divorce proceedings four years later.

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"Unfortunately, in circumstances involving the family court, children are sometimes compelled to testify by the court," she wrote.

"It was interesting that your first thought was that perhaps a 'deal was struck'; that doesn't seem like a very normal parent-children relationship to me, but perhaps we've had different life experiences which have shaped our world view," she added.

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Miss Khoo told how she met her husband, Caribbean-born data scientist Jedidiah Francis, while studying at Oxford, but that when she told her father she wanted to marry him, he refused to give her his blessing.

“I believed Dad's stance was wrong, so there was no question about what was right,” she told the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine.

“I've been fortunate to have that perspective: you can have money and it's a blessing; it allows you to do things and gives you options, but there are also things that come with it, such as control."

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"Money amplifies negative characteristics and that can cause problems. To walk away from that was actually very easy. I didn't even consider it."

She revealed that her father had not played an integral part in her childhood and that she and her four siblings, two of whom have special needs, only saw him once or twice a year when he was not on business.

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She still worries for her wealthy father, saying, “He had everything: a loyal, beautiful, smart wife, and children who love him regardless of whether he has the money or not. I feel that at his age he’s vulnerable.”

“When you don’t have that much longer ahead of you, you shouldn’t spend your days being angry and resentful.”

#12

Miss Khoo, who was the only witness called in her parents’ divorce, said it was "not a nice situation" and claimed that her mother, whom it was revealed in a court owned 1,000 pairs of shoes, was actually quite frugal, choosing to dye her own hair rather than go to the hairdressers.