The world's fourth richest woman, Germany's Susanne Klatten, is worth $12 billion. But she too, like Bettencourt, would prefer to forget the last year.

The BMW and Altana pharmaceutical heiress was recently forced to go to the police after a former lover, Helg Sgarbi, allegedly threatened to post videos of the two having sex on the Internet. Klatten, who's married and has three children, was blackmailed by her clandestine lover, who had secretly videotaped the two in hotel rooms on several occasions and demanded millions of dollars to keep quiet.

Bravely, Klatten turned Sgarbai in and faced public humiliation, rather than pay his extortion. In March, Sgarbi was sentenced to serve six years in prison for the attempted blackmail.