Billionaire Warren Buffett's Estranged Granddaughter Says He Paid For College But Nothing More, Not Even A Futon 'You Know What The Rules Are'

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Nicole Buffett‘s last name opened doors — but it also slammed one shut.

In a 2008 Marie Claire profile, the then 32-year-old artist from Berkeley, California, shared the story of how her grandfather, Warren Buffett, disowned her. Yes, that Warren Buffett — the famously frugal investing legend whose fortune had just eclipsed $58 billion at the time, making him the richest man in the world.

Nicole, an abstract painter with a self-described “granola” lifestyle, said Buffett paid for her college education but made it clear that was the limit. When she called to ask if he might help cover a futon for her off-campus apartment, his office reportedly replied, “You know what the rules are: school expenses only.”

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She wasn’t asking for a private jet or a penthouse. In fact, Nicole told Marie Claire she didn’t even know how wealthy her grandfather was until high school, when her classmates swarmed her after he appeared on the cover of Forbes. “I called my dad,” she said, “and he said, ‘Yeah, Grandpa is going to be getting a lot more press… but we’ll be living our lives the same way and doing what we always do.'”

Nicole was adopted by Warren’s son Peter when she was four, after her mother, a singer-songwriter, married into the Buffett family. Nicole and her twin sister were treated as part of the family—at least for a time. She recalled visiting her grandfather’s Omaha, Nebraska home, spending holidays at his Laguna Beach, California compound, and receiving a $100 bill from his wallet when she was five. She also remembered a moment when he quietly told her he was proud of her artwork. “It was a big deal for me,” she told Marie Claire.

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The Documentary That Changed Everything

But the family dynamic shifted after Nicole appeared in “The One Percent,” a documentary about wealth inequality directed by Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. Nicole spoke candidly in the film about feeling excluded from the Buffett legacy, saying she’d been fortunate to have her education covered but felt distanced from any larger role in the family’s financial life. She hadn’t given Warren a heads-up.

In the same Marie Claire interview, Nicole said that her appearance in the film triggered a sharp response from Warren. He sent her a letter stating, “I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin.” The letter was signed “Warren.” She told Marie Claire that just a year earlier, she still had a card signed “Grandpa.”

That same year, Nicole also spoke to Reuters, telling the outlet, “My grandfather is a very private man, and I decided to share what it’s like to be his granddaughter, and it created a huge estrangement from him to the extent that he disowned my twin sister and myself.”

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No Inheritance, No Apologies

She said she was devastated—but not defeated. Nicole kept painting, kept working, and kept her distance. She earned around $40,000 a year, supplemented by work at a San Francisco boutique. Some of her art sold for as much as $8,000, and her collectors included Shirley Temple‘s daughter and a Hollywood effects guru. One of her signature techniques involved leaving unfinished canvases outside to see what the elements would do. “I like to see what happens,” she told Marie Claire.

There were no payouts, no inheritance, no reality shows. While Warren later sent holiday checks to some of his grandchildren—apparently softening his no-freebies policy—Nicole said she was not included. “And probably he’s rewarding them for behaving,” she said in the profile.

Still, she told Marie Claire she’d learned something from the whole ordeal: self-reliance. “Grandpa taught me that, and it has set the tone for my life.”

Today, nearly 20 years after that Marie Claire profile, Nicole is still painting. According to her Instagram, she continues to create and exhibit new work. Meanwhile, Warren Buffett’s net worth has soared to over $142 billion. He still lives in the same Omaha house he bought in 1958, still advocates for high taxes on the wealthy, and still believes that children of billionaires should make their own way.

Nicole did. Estranged or not, she never stopped being a Buffett—just not the kind that came with dividends.

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