Juliet Gordy – the 18-year-old daughter of Karen Longley Gordy, a St. Louis native married to Kerry Gordy, son of Berry Gordy of Motown fame and the late Raynoma Gordy Singleton – attended The 2018 Le Bal in Paris on Saturday, November 24.
She also is the granddaughter of James Longley and the late Dolores Longley of St. Louis.
A modern version of the traditional French debutante ball, Le Bal was created by Ophélie Renouard in 1994 with an eye towards philanthropy. “Its purpose is to raise money for charities to help young women,” Renouard said. Held annually in Paris, Le Bal presents royalty, children of celebrities and other elite sectors to society on an international scale.
Le Bal invites and fashions the couture and media premieres of “Debs” and “Cavaliers” from 12 countries around the world. It is invitation-only; tickets cannot be purchased. Past Debs include Kennedy, Hemingway and Bush descendants.
This year’s ball celebrated two African Americans: Juliet Gordy and True Whitaker, actor Forrest Whitaker’s daughter.
What it means to be royal, privileged and black is being demonstrated these days by the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle. She said she wants her children, who will be required to attend to some degree of royal duty, to be grounded and have real jobs.
“People often perceive young royalty and children of exceptional privilege as self-centered brats who think they’re better than other people,” Gordy said, but this was not the case with the people she met at Le Bal. “They were good, kind people, who didn’t look down on others, as you might expect,” Gordy said.
Her mother, Karen Longley Gordy, attended Ebenezer Lutheran Elementary School and Lutheran North High School before she moved east to attend Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.
“We’ve raised Juliet to be a compassionate global citizen,” her mother said. “She’s a founding member of Young Ambassadors of UNICEF, a group which developed a project to eliminate maternal and natal tetanus throughout Africa. Keep up the good work, Juliet!”
