Allegra Versace is the daughter of Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace and American ex-fashion model Paul Beck,[5] and the niece of fashion designer Gianni Versace. She was raised outside Milan, Italy, with her younger brother Daniel.[6]Sir Elton John gave her a piano[1][7] that she admits she never learned to play.[8] As a child, she took ballet classes for nine years and is to this day a huge admirer of ballet.[8] She credits her uncle Gianni as having instilled in her this lifelong passion for ballet.[8] For one of her birthdays, he introduced her to Maurice Béjart.[8]
Allegra Versace was eleven years old when her uncle Gianni Versace was fatally shot outside his Miami mansion in July 1997.[6] Her mother immediately sought counseling for her.[1] On her 18th birthday, she received 50% ownership of Gianni Versace S.p.A.[12] Allegra's uncle Santo Versace already owned 30% of the fashion empire, and her mother already owned 20%, but due to a long-standing disagreement between the two, the remaining 50% of the Versace empire was bequeathed by Gianni to Allegra.[1] Allegra instantly became worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Despite legally being able to claim full control of her inheritance at the age of 18, she opted to focus entirely on her studies and did not begin real participation in the business of Versace until she was 24.[8]
^Hellard, Peta (1 April 2007). "Saddest girl in the world". Herald Sun. Retrieved 3 November 2015. late last year she shifted to Los Angeles to study acting, French and art history at a Californian university, UCLA.
