She and her husband were certified by Guinness World Records as the most embezzled powerful people, with the amount amounting to US$5 billion to US$10 billion.
It is said that she had no time to take away 3,000 pairs of shoes and more than 100 kilograms of jewelry when she was in exile.
The former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos, who is now 92 years old, is still the power behind the scenes of the country even now.
Imelda was born on July 2, 1929 in San Miguel, Manila, Philippines.
Her mother Remedios was her father's second wife. They had five children in total, and Imelda was the eldest daughter.
When Imelda was born, her family was well off. Her father was a lawyer and her uncle was once a judge of the Supreme Court.
In the first few years after she was born, Imelda's life was relatively carefree. But over the next few years, her family's financial situation began to decline.
's father's performance as a lawyer gradually declined. Among the six children he had with his first wife, plus the children of his second wife, there were a total of 11 children to support.
The family's alimony made his financial situation worse and worse. When people are poor, conflicts will slowly emerge, and the relationship between Imelda's parents also began to split due to the conflicts in life.
Later, Imelda's mother moved directly to the garage with her children. Due to long-term stress and fatigue, her mother died of pneumonia when Imelda was 9 years old.
Although Imelda was born into a political family, she lacked the care and love of her mother and father since she was a child, so her childhood was not very good.
After Imelda’s mother passed away, she moved back to her hometown of Tacloban with her father.
She is in the first grade of the Catholic college in her hometown, but because her family is relatively poor, her father strongly opposes Imelda's education.
But even though her father tried to stop her, she still chose to go to school. After Imelda's begging, my father finally allowed her to return to school. Although
successfully returned to school, she was often laughed at by her classmates. Because she could not pay the tuition within the stipulated time, this also made the young Imelda feel endless shame.
In 1948, 19-year-old Imelda successfully graduated from Holy Spirit College High School after experiencing the oppression of her father, the cold eyes of her classmates and various setbacks.
The second year after graduation, Imelda participated in a local beauty pageant and won the beauty pageant championship with her outstanding appearance.
She won the titles of Tacloban Rose and Miss Wright, and her fame began. Although
is famous locally, she is not proud of it. Still choosing to further her education to improve herself, she entered St. Paul's College to major in education.
While in school, Imelda was named the student representative of the Department of Education, and also won a scholarship from Philippine Women's University .
is not only good-looking, but also a super academic. For this reason, she is sought after by many people.
In 1952, 23-year-old Imelda graduated from St. Paul's College. After graduation, she returned to her hometown of Manila.
As soon as she returned home, she was attracted by her cousin Daniel Romualdez.
At that time, Daniel was already a member of the House of Representatives. He took a fancy to his little cousin's appearance and ability to speak eloquently. He thought she was a potential stock, so when Imelda first came back, her cousin took her into his home.
However, Daniel was not friendly to Imelda at first. Her status in the family was second only to the servants. Moreover, Daniel hardly gave Imelda living expenses, so she had no choice but to find a sales job to earn living expenses.
When word of Imelda's deeds reached her father's ears, he became furious with Daniel.
Daniel was scolded and then used his connections to arrange for Imelda to work at the Central Bank of .
In 1953, 24-year-old Imelda participated in the Miss Manila beauty pageant. With her youthful beauty and good voice, she tied for the championship with another contestant, Norma.
Imelda's reputation completely spread, and she began to appear frequently in major newspapers and magazines, becoming a well-known figure in Manila.
And this is not the starting point of her glory;
On April 6, 1954, Imelda went to visit her cousin Daniel, where she met the 37-year-old Liberal Party MP Ferdinand Marcos.
Marcos has long admired this Manila Miss Champion, even though he already has a fiancée and three children. But after meeting Imelda, he still pursued her fiercely.
Flowers and gifts are given every day, and Imelda completely fell into this luxurious life. After the two met for 11 days, Imelda agreed to Marcos' proposal.
On May 1, 1954, 25-year-old Imelda and 37-year-old Marcos were married at the San Miguel Cathedral in Manila.
But Imelda didn't know until they got married that Marcos already had a child. She is like a third party, destroying other people's happy families.
After the two got married, they gave birth to three children soon after. After the marriage, Imelda also became her husband's most effective assistant.
Marcos is eloquent and Imelda is young and beautiful, like a golden boy. They both steal the spotlight wherever they go.
In 1963, Marcos became the president of the Senate, and then through continuous administration, he became a presidential candidate.
Imelda played a very important role in the 1965 presidential election campaign, because Filipinos all wanted to witness the beauty of Mrs. Marcos. This also makes Marcos's campaign events always crowded.
Imelda also worked tirelessly to visit various towns and villages to canvass votes for her husband. In order to enhance the impression of the people, she began to wear Philippine national uniforms to attend various occasions.
She was like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, calling on the people to send her husband to the Presidential Palace.
In the end, Marcos also successfully won the election. And his success is largely due to his wife.
On December 10, 1965, the 48-year-old Marcos officially became the tenth president of the Philippines. And 36-year-old Imelda became the first lady.
In his early days as president, Marcos actively created political achievements, built rural areas, carried out land reform, etc. And Imelda has also become a competent first lady, accompanying her husband to various occasions.
In China, Imelda is also actively involved in various welfare works, including building orphanages, nursing homes, etc. He also led a plan to convert wasteland into vegetable gardens. Her series of acts of serving the people have won the support and love of the people.
started out as a promising prospect, but then everything changed.
In November 1969, Marcos was re-elected as president. As the second term unfolded, Imelda, known as the nation's lady, began to become more and more luxurious.
She became the de facto vice president and often visited foreign countries on behalf of her husband. In order to maintain her personal beauty image, she frantically purchased customized luxury clothes, shoes, handbags, jewelry, etc.
She almost wears ten dresses every time she travels, so when she travels, she has hundreds of pieces of luggage. She also took the opportunity to visit the world and purchased many expensive antiques to decorate her presidential palace.
has been questioned by everyone because of his luxurious life. Later, the Marcoses were investigated, and the bill revealed that Imelda had spent US$3 million on antiques in one day.
What's even more ironic is that she doesn't like antiques and buys them just for decoration.
Imelda's high-profile style caused a corruption scandal to break out in the Marcos family.
In order to consolidate the people's support and her husband's position, Imelda claimed that she had a miscarriage due to excessive pressure, and was assassinated during the period to win the sympathy of the people.
And her approach did work. She succeeded in quelling the matter through her influence.
In 1975, Marcos appointed his 46-year-old wife Imelda as the chief minister of Metro Manila. The following year, she was appointed concurrently as Minister of People's Housing.
Imelda's involvement in politics was completely made public, and she became even more unscrupulous after taking office.
was obsessed with African animals when she visited Kenya, so she evicted nearly 300 households on Coron Island in her capacity as Minister of Residence. She houses her own private zoo of African animals purchased from Kenya.
What she did made the people feel angry. Public opinion exploded in the Philippines, and people began to oppose the Marcoses.
On February 26, 1986, the Marcos family fled from the Philippines to Hawaii in the United States under pressure from the public.
They took away more than 300 boxes of luggage when they left, but later investigation found that they had no time to take away more than 3,000 pairs of shoes, more than 5,000 dresses and more than 100 kilograms of jewelry. There are countless other luxury items.
Imelda was originally the first lady loved by everyone in the Philippines, but later she became recognized as the most corrupt person in power.
But this was not over yet. Marcos died of illness in 1989, but Imelda refused to be mediocre. When I returned to the Philippines, I used the money I had earned to do a lot of charity and welfare work. This allowed her to restore a good image again, and she also entered the political arena again.
But these good days did not last long before she received the punishment she deserved. The Philippine courts arrested her on various charges and she fell off the altar again.
After a 27-year trial, Immel was sentenced to 42 years and seven months in prison on various corruption charges.
But relying on Imelda’s influence, the 92-year-old will most likely never have to go to jail.
Imelda was originally a beautiful and intelligent girl, but in the end she lost herself in the prosperity and became a slut that everyone hated.
