The Cushing Sisters: Glamour, Secrets & Betrayal

The Cushing sisters were among the most admired women in American high society. But behind the pearls, the Park Avenue parties and the magazine covers, their lives were far from what the public imagined. In this documentary-style story, we follow Minnie, Betsey and Babe Cushing from their strict childhood in Boston, the daughters of the famous brain surgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing, to their rise in New York society. We look at Betsey's marriage to James Roosevelt and later to John Hay "Jock" Whitney, Minnie's marriages to Vincent Astor and James Fosburgh, and Babe Paley's life as the wife of CBS founder William Paley and one of the best-dressed women in the world. We also explore the Truman Capote betrayal, when his 1975 Esquire story "La Côte Basque, 1965" exposed secrets from Babe's circle, how it ended their friendship, and the quiet sadness and illness that marked Babe's final years before her death in 1978.