Ray-Ban heir 31-year-old Leonardo Del Vecchio, who has a net worth of $5 billion, admitted in a new interview that he’s experienced issues with drug addiction and claimed he’s had sex with over 2,000 women.
In a wild chat with Italian rapper Fedez, the Ray-Ban heir admitted that following the death of his father in 2022, with whom he shares his name, he’s “filled the gaps I felt with drugs.” He said that he’s frequently using benzodiazepines, such as Valium and Xanax, but stressed that he’s in control of his drug use. “I’m not saying I’m out of it forever, but, yes, this time I do see the light,” he added.
Elsewhere in the interview, he claimed that he’s been incredibly prolific when it comes to sleeping around, too. “I can say that I’ve probably made love with over 2,000 women, and I won over 90 percent of them by singing ‘Hero,’” he said, seemingly referring to Enrique Iglesias’ 2001 pop classic. “The problem with ‘Hero’ is that you sing it a third time and you lose your voice—but it works, anyway.”
This summer, Del Vecchio left his jobs as president of Ray-Ban and chief strategy officer of EssilorLuxottica. At the time, he said his departure would allow him to “devote himself to new entrepreneurial projects,” but in the interview he directly called out EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri, who also previously served as his mentor.
“There has not been the right vision after my father. And it is the market that says it, not me,” he said, noting that the company crashed 46 percent in the Euro Stoxx 50 this year. “My personal relationship with Francesco is not the issue here.”
When his father passed away, Del Vecchio and the late Ray-Ban’s other four heirs were given a 12.5 percent stake in the holding company Delfin, which holds 32.4 percent of EssilorLuxottica.
Del Vecchio has actively tried to gain more control of the company, hoping to boost his stake to 37.5 percent by buying out two of his siblings for roughly $11.2 billion. The holding company, however, refused to back his plans to take out loans to make the move possible.
