EXCLUSIVE: NY Jets' Woody Johnson - favored as Ambassador to Great Britain by Trump – was a rich stoner who was almost crippled when he fell off a cliff and later cut off his tragic daughter when she came out as a lesbian

  • Woody Johnson's ex-wife accused him of abandoning their troubled party girl daughter, Casey, who tragically died when she was just 32 years old
  • Writer Jerry Oppenheimer tells all in his book, Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty 
  • Former classmates say that Johnson was a stoner and drinker when he attended the University of Arizona
  •  During one party, he took a break to urinate, he stepped backwards in the dark and fell off a cliff, breaking his back 
  • His ex-wife, Sale, says that in his younger years Trump was a 'party animal'  
  • Since Trump's presidential campaign began, Woody Johnson has been a major supporter, and was appointed vice chairman on the Trump Victory Committee
  • At a recent Jets game, Johnson was seen on national television sitting next to Vice President-elect Mike Pence 
  • Johnson's only public connection to Great Britain - besides Johnson & Johnson doing business there - is that his NFL team, the Jets - played in London last year

Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author of investigative biographies of such American icons as the Clintons, the Kennedys, the Hiltons, Martha Stewart, Bernie Madoff, and others. Here, he writes about Donald Trump's probable choice for US ambassador to Great Britain. Oppenheimer's thirteenth book, 'The Kardashians: The True, Untold Story,' will be published in 2017.

Donald Trump's leading candidate for U.S. ambassador to Great Britain is billionaire New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, whose ex-wife has accused him of abandoning their troubled party girl daughter, Casey, who tragically died at 32, suffering from diabetes and borderline personality disorder.

In a series of candid and heartbreaking interviews for my biography, Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty, Johnson's first wife, New York and Florida socialite Sale Frey Johnson, claimed that Woody - 69-year-old heir to the worldwide Johnson & Johnson Band-Aid and Baby Powder fortune - did nothing to help their blonde, breast-enhanced, bisexual heiress daughter as she scandalously spiraled out of control in a haze of Hollywood sex, drugs and rock n' roll.

Because of her scandalous lifestyle, her father, the possible future ambassador to the Court of St. James, cut off all ties for some five years with the first of his three daughters from his marriage to Sale. The other two daughters are Jaime and Daisy

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson (pictured above in Trump Tower on December 5) has been tapped as President-elect Donald Trump's probably choice for US ambassador to Great Britain

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson (pictured above in Trump Tower on December 5) has been tapped as President-elect Donald Trump's probably choice for US ambassador to Great Britain

Both being businessmen in New York, Trump and Johnson have run in the same social circles for years. Pictured above, the men pose with their wives, Melania Trump (left) and Suzanne Ircha (right) at an event

Both being businessmen in New York, Trump and Johnson have run in the same social circles for years. Pictured above, the men pose with their wives, Melania Trump (left) and Suzanne Ircha (right) at an event

Woody tied up Casey's trust fund – millions, including the interest, which had financed Casey's high-style life in New York and then Los Angeles ever since she had received her first big check at twenty-one.

As her mother told me: 'Woody was not a warm, cuddly kind of person. With Casey, Woody was so uncomfortable because he didn't know what to do with her, or how to react to her situation because she was not easy to deal with. 

'She was very complicated, and it was overwhelming in a large part for Woody despite his best efforts…Borderline personality Disorder controlled every aspect of Casey's life. She was unstable.'

The very troubled Sale Trotter Case 'Casey' Johnson – who often partied with the Hilton sisters - Paris and Nicky, and other spoiled Hollywood 'celebutantes' - was found dead on the morning of January 4, 2010, alone in a rented Beverly Hills cottage where she had been depressed through the Christmas and New Year holiday. She had stopped taking her insulin and was swigging an over-the-counter sleep remedy.

In the last couple of years of her life, Casey tried to build a bond with Woody, but failed.

'Casey sent love letters to her father. She FedExed love letters,' Sale told me. 'She called and left voice mails, and Woody chose not to respond.'

When he learned Casey had died, Woody called it, 'The worst day of my life…There's no way to bring her back. I wish I could change it.'

The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that her 'natural death' was the result of 'diabetic ketoacidosis' – a complication of her diabetes, but there were whispers that her death was a suicide. 

A private funeral was held in Princeton, New Jersey. She was buried next to two of Woody Johnson's younger brothers – Keith, who died of drugs, and Billy, killed in an auto accident, and said to have probably been under the influence.

Johnson's ex-wife accused him of abandoning their troubled party girl daughter, Casey (above with Johnson), who tragically died when she was just 32 years old

Johnson's ex-wife accused him of abandoning their troubled party girl daughter, Casey (above with Johnson), who tragically died when she was just 32 years old

At the time of her death, Casey was in a relationship with TV reality star Tila Tequila (right), who was a staunch Trump supporter throughout the recent election. She's pictured above making a Nazi salute with two men at a white nationalist rally and celebration supporting Trump's win

At the time of her death, Casey was in a relationship with TV reality star Tila Tequila (right), who was a staunch Trump supporter throughout the recent election. She's pictured above making a Nazi salute with two men at a white nationalist rally and celebration supporting Trump's win

At the time of Casey's death, her then lover was the TV reality show star, Tila Tequila, who was away visiting her family in Texas. She called Casey her 'wifey.'

Woody was infuriated when he saw tabloid photos of them kissing.

Ironically, as Casey's father, Woody, was making the top of President-elect Trump's list for potential ambassadorships, first reported by the New York Post, Tequila made headlines when she was photographed using the Nazi salute as the guest of honor at a white nationalist rally and celebration supporting Trump's win.

A couple of years before her death, Casey had adopted a baby daughter, an orphan from Kazakhstan, who she named Ava-Monroe, in honor of her idol Marilyn Monroe, who also died young. The adoption was against her parents wishes because they knew Casey was too emotionally troubled to be a single mother.

The tragic life and death of Casey was just one of the horrific scandals to plague the Johnson dynasty. Through the years money and attendant greed has pitted Johnsons against Johnsons over trust funds, wills, divorce settlements, paternity and other familial issues.

Casey's mother and Johnson's ex-wife, Sale (pictured right with Casey), says that Johnson didn't know how to act around his daughter

Casey's mother and Johnson's ex-wife, Sale (pictured right with Casey), says that Johnson didn't know how to act around his daughter

There were drug addictions, alcoholism, overdoses, adultery, homosexuality, a suspected kidnapping, a murder plot, a shooting, tragic accidents, suicide, attempted suicide, and other mayhem, events documented in Crazy Rich.

As Sale told me, 'There's been lots of things going on in the Johnson family that have been embarrassing…It's been a complicated family.'

And as another Johnson relative asserted, 'They are a mixed-up, weird bunch. You couldn't make them up in fiction. The whole family is like a great big spider web that innocent people drop into – normal people who get caught up in the Johnson web of craziness.'

Trump must still formally nominate Johnson for the ambassadorship.

At a recent Jets game, Johnson was seen on national television sitting next to Vice President-elect Mike Pence. And while sources are certain Johnson's the favorite for the cushy London diplomatic post, he could still face opposition in Senate confirmation hearings because of his past history as the scion of a troubled dynasty.

Back in college at the University of Arizona, for instance, classmates and cousins told me that Woody was a stoner and a drinker.

Today he's lucky he's not crippled – or dead. In one serious incident, he was on the way to a party with friends – all were drinking, and when he took a break to urinate, he stepped backwards in the dark and fell off a cliff, breaking his back. 

It took months of rehabilitation for him to walk again, and today he still walks with a very slight limp.

His ex-wife, Sale, described him back in those days as a 'party animal.'

After Woody and Sale were divorced, Trump introduced Sale to to her future second husband, the African-American one-time football star and sportscaster Ahmad Rashad

After Woody and Sale were divorced, Trump introduced Sale to to her future second husband, the African-American one-time football star and sportscaster Ahmad Rashad

And a close family friend, Dr. Ed Saltzman, Casey Johnson's pediatrician who brought her into the world, and who got to know Woody and Sale when they were still just dating, told me:

'Woody had habits that weren't necessarily approved by society,' suggesting that he had had an addictive personality. 'I know he did a lot of partying, and Sale put a stop to all of that…And he stopped the drinking – and I'm talking about heavy drinking…Sale had a lot to do with Woody growing up.'

With platinum businesses in New York, the staunchly republican Johnsons and the Trumps have had close social ties.

After Woody and Sale were divorced – sources told me she received as much as $100 million in settlement in her 2001 divorce – it was Trump who introduced the former Mrs. Johnson, a Jewish native of St. Louis and a republican, to her future second husband, the African-American one-time football star and sportscaster Ahmad Rashad.

He was previously married to Phylicia Ayers-Allen Rashad, who had played Bill Cosby's wife on TV's 'The Cosby Show.' At the Rashad wedding, O.J. Simpson was the best man.

Trump played Cupid in introducing Sale to Rashad in 2005 when both were playing at Trump's newly opened Donald Trump National Golf Club in the New York suburb of Briarcliff Manor.

As Sale recalls the momentous introduction and meeting:

'We all happened to stop at the little shack to get a sandwich, and Donald introduced me to Ahmad that day. When Ahmad got back on the course he asked Donald about me, and Donald told him that I knew everybody, that I was involved in a lot of things, and then Ahmad had his assistant try to find me.'

Woody remarried, too, to Suzanne Ircha, in 2009
They have one son together, Robert Wood Johnson V

Woody remarried, too, to Suzanne Ircha, in 2009. They have one son together, Robert Wood Johnson V (right with Suzanne)

They were married in November 2007 at a fancy Manhattan restaurant. Later, after Casey died, Sale and Rashad would raise Casey's daughter. But their marriage ended in divorce.

Woody remarried, too, to a glamorous, brassy much younger woman, Suzanne Ircha, who had a son with him, Robert Wood Johnson V.

Casey and Ircha did not get along, and Woody ordered Casey off an estate he owned in Easthampton when she arrived in hopes of introducing her father to Casey's adopted daughter. 

Ircha had even called the cops to evict Casey.

Since Trump's presidential campaign began, Woody Johnson has been a major supporter. He was active on the Trump Victory Committee and was appointed vice chairman.

 In the glitzy Hamptons on Long Island, Johnson hosted big-money fundraisers for donors, including just appointed treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Johnson serves on Trump's inaugural committee.

Johnson also has close ties to outgoing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a vocal Trump supporter who now seems to be out of the inner-circle. Johnson & Johnson has been headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, for decades.

But Johnson's only public connection to Great Britain - besides Johnson & Johnson doing business there - is that his NFL team, the Jets - played in London last year, beating the Miami Dolphins, and Johnson's team, which hasn't won a Super Bowl since 1968, and is having one of its worst seasons this year, is scheduled to play four games in London in 2017, as the NFL is becoming popular in the UK.

At a recent Jets game, Johnson was seen on national television sitting next to Vice President-elect Mike Pence

At a recent Jets game, Johnson was seen on national television sitting next to Vice President-elect Mike Pence

The two spoke during the first half of the Jets game against the Indianapolis Colts on December 5

The two spoke during the first half of the Jets game against the Indianapolis Colts on December 5

When Johnson purchased the Jets in January 2000 for a whopping $635 million, in a deal brokered by Goldman Sachs, two of the team's prized coaches quit. One of them was Bill Belichick, the coach of the Jet's biggest rival today, the ever-winning New England Patriots.

Belichick left because he didn't favor the new owner, according to sources. And as odds would have it, Belichick is President-elect Trump's idol. 

Before the election Belichick reportedly sent Trump a letter congratulating him on his winning campaign and declaring, 'Your leadership is amazing…make American great again.'

Staunch republican Sale Johnson, who bred prize-winning golden retrievers, despised the Clintons, so when President Bill and first lady Hillary came to her in hopes of getting a dog for daughter Chelsea, Mrs. Johnson gave them a resounding no. The last two in the litter went to two other wealthy republicans.

Robert Wood 'Woody' Johnson IV has been hoping for a top administration appointment, especially an ambassadorship, since he worked diligently in Sen. John McCain's failed 2008 presidential campaign against Barack Obama.

At a Jets game, Sarah Palin, the vice presidential choice, was his guest in the owner's booth. He had turned his notoriously secretive fifteenth-floor office in Rockefeller Center, as I documented, into 'McCain campaign central – a war room where he made dozens of daily calls soliciting money.'

There was speculation that Woody was so influential behind the scenes that he maneuvered the 2008 republican national convention be held in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which just happened to be his mother and Johnson dynasty matriarch, Betty Johnson's hometown. 

Because the host committee was facing a budget deficit of some ten million dollars, Woody, his mother and some wealthy friends were said to have written some big checks to help pay for the first-ever national political convention held there.

As a GOP insider tells me, 'Woody deserves the ambassadorship. He's been a good and loyal friend to the party, raising millions of dollars, and hopefully Donald will reimburse him with London.'

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