The heiress of $10 billion Perdue Farms and the $12 billion Sheraton Hotels empire wore hand-me-downs, still rides the subway, and flies economy

The thought of a billionaire’s lifestyle may conjure up images of Great Gatsby mansion-buying and jet-setting at the drop of a hat.

But the life of an heiress with the wealth of two multibillion-dollar American businesses looks a lot different.

Mitzi Perdue was born into the Sheraton hotel family, and at just the age of 26, she and her siblings inherited their father, Ernest Henderson’s, controlling stake of the business.

The success of her family’s $12.2 billion hospitality company meant she was now sitting on a considerable nest egg.

Her fortune would only swell after marrying her late husband Frank Perdue, the “chicken king” who led America’s largest chicken producer, Perdue Farms, which brought in more than $10 billion in revenue in 2024.

The double heiress has the riches to retire and live a life of extravagance, but it’s in her nature to look at wealth differently.

“The Hendersons and the Perdues did not encourage extravagance,” Perdue told Fortune in a June 2025 interview.

“ In both families, nobody wins points for wearing designer clothes.” The 85-year-old has access to a trust from her family’s billion-dollar business, alongside the wealth from the Perdue empire.

Yet she still lives just like anybody else: taking her shoes to the cobbler instead of buying new ones, riding the subway, flying economy, and living in a modest apartment instead of a house.

Perdue has lived a double life—having access to immense privilege and money from two business empires, while holding down a regular job and living frugally.

“My apartment building I lived in for 14 years is very solidly middle-class, and I love it,” Perdue said.

“If you’re always going on private jets, what inkling do you have about the real world?” Her frugal and down-to-earth lifestyle: wearing secondhand clothes, flying economy, riding subways Perdue was born in 1941 and, as a war baby and the fifth child of the Henderson family, grew up wearing hand-me-downs.

She says she went to public school for a period of her life, later enrolling in private school and pursuing a Harvard education.

When she was in her late twenties, her father died, opening up the floodgates of her inheritance.