Diamond 'heiress', 95, breaks her silence on 'abusive' marriage (2024)

A 95-year-old diamond 'heiress' has broken her silence about her allegedly abusive marriage to a genderfluid New York socialite.

Jose Castelo Branco, 61, who goes by he/she pronouns,was arrested in April after his wife Betty Grafstein ended up in a Portuguese hospital with a fractured femur and injured wrist.

According to Grafstein's statement to doctors at the time, Castelo Branco had intentionally pushed her.

Now Grafstein has accused Castelo Branco, a flamboyant Portuguese reality TV star dubbed 'The Count' known for his feminine style, of decades-long abuse in a bombshell interview withVanity Fair.

But Castelo Branco,who has vehemently denied all allegations of abuse and insisted that he's devoted to her care, told Vanity Fair that he did 'not lose my temper with someone in their 90s.'

'It was definitely violence. Abuse,' Grafstein told Vanity Fair. 'When you go down three flights, three floors, Roger said to me, 'You'd be dead.' Well, it happened. I went down.'

However, the outlet noted some inconsistencies in her account of what she claims happened.

When she was first asked how she had ended up in the hospital, she said, 'He pushed me out the window.'

Then, she said he 'pushed me down three flights of stairs.'

When asked to clarify whether it was three steps or floors, or if she had struggled with her recollection of the events, Grafstein responded that it was 'three floors.'

'I'm not confused what happened.'

Grafstein's son from another marriage, Roger Basile, 75, also weighed in, echoing claims that the abuse has been ongoing for decades.

'I've been silent because this has been happening for years,' Basile told Vanity Fair. 'I didn't want to say things people didn't already know.'

He recounted a horrifying alleged incident from the late 1990s when he said he found his mother 'black-and-blue' after Castelo Branco allegedly knocked her down and repeatedly kicked her.

'When I got there, she was black-and-blue, from her buttocks to her neck, where José knocked her down and kept kicking her on the ground ... She always took José back.'

When told of Grafstein's claims that their 30-year love story was 'not really' true, Castelo Branco was devastated.

'I'm not going to commit suicide because I'm Catholic,' he told the outlet.

'The person I love for 30 years is no more the same person. I'm in mourning.'

He also claimed Basile was 'transphobic.'

'He never believed I was in love, that his mother was in love.'

Despite Castelo Branco's positive account of their relationship, the Vanity Fair report detailed many concerning anecdotes.

At one point, Castelo Branco was reportedly frantically pushing - and 'jostling' - Grafstein to a plastic surgeon despite her really not wanting to leave the apartment.

However, as soon as Castelo Branco whipped out his phone, she was back to her normal self.

'I’m doing what I’m always doing - my very famous and favorite doctor in the whole world who I love so so much,' she told Castelo Branco, adding that she was there to get fillers.

In another example Castelo Branco allegedly tried to shove Gratstein's swollen feet into small Chanel flats, leading her to grimace with pain.

The shocking revelations don't stop there.

It has emerged that Grafstein is not the diamond heiress or British aristocrat the couple had long claimed her to be. Basile claimed that his mother is 'penniless' and lives off Social Security.

'My mother never made herself out to be more than she was,' said Basile.

'José pushed these stories and they became celebrities in Portugal. And she went along with it because she liked the attention,' he added, referencing his mother's wealth and titles.

Their Upper East Side apartment, far from being a multimillion-dollar property, is also reportedly a rent-stabilized unit.

Meanwhile, the 'Grafstein Diamond Corporation' appears to have been little more than a modest family business, not the source of great wealth it was portrayed to be.

Even Grafstein's titles - she was often referred to as 'Lady Betty Grafstein DBE' - have been called into question.

It's now alleged that her 'dameship' came not from Queen Elizabeth, but from a Catholic chivalric order with no official royal recognition.

Adding to the drama, the whereabouts of the couple's once-famous jewelry collection remains a mystery.

Castelo Branco claims he put certain pieces in a bank safe, while Grafstein insists, 'José took everything.'

Despite the allegations and revelations, Castelo Branco maintains that his love for Grafstein is genuine.

'For me she is everything. My sister, my mother, my wife. We have a complicity, like two souls in one,' he insisted.

As the image of their glamorous fairy-tail life crumbles, Castelo Branco is also morbidly clinging to his dream of a joint, chic funeral.

'I wish we can die at the same time,' he said wistfully. 'That would be romantic.'

'I want to be beautiful. And I want Betty to be beautiful,' Castelo Branco said. 'People can take everything from you but your dignity.'

The couple, known for their matching designer outfits and extravagant lifestyle, had become social media sensations in recent years.

They were frequently seen at high-profile events, with Castelo Branco pushing Grafstein in a wheelchair while sporting designer stilettos.

Grafstein is currently recovering in a New York hospital and Castelo Branco remains in Portugal fighting a travel ban, Vanity Fair reported.

Following Castela Branco's arrest, he was released but 'barred from visiting his wife.'

When she was in Portugal following the alleged attack, Grafstein was reportedly 'understood to have asked hospital staff to "save her" from her husband's mistreatment.'

Despite the suspicious situation, Grafstein's husband has continued to post in support of her across his social media profiles, asking followers to 'pray for her' at the time.

Castelo Branco is, among other things, a moderately successful singer in Portugal, who has appeared on Kardashian-style reality shows in the relaxed European nation.

He identifies as having both male and female characteristics, though looks and is often thought to be a woman because of his extremely feminine style and makeup.

'I’m a she, but in the other side, I’m still a he,' he told Vanity Fair. 'Who cares?'

Last year, Castelo Branco told The US Sun that strangers on the internet and elsewhere give him a constant hard time about his marriage, which has lasted since 1996.

'I'm living on her money, I can't wait for her to die,' he said others claim.

'I get the most and real bullying,' he added.

Grafstein added at the time that she thinks the negative claims were 'terrible.'

Grafstein was formerly married to Albert Grafstein, the owner and operator, with his brother, of the Grafstein Diamond Corporation.

The pair purchased a home together in Portugal, where she subsequently met Castelo Blanco after Albert's death.

Grafstein and Castelo Branco did not immediately respond to the DailyMail.com's requests for comment.