Matthew Mellon who turned his $25 million legacy into a $1billion crypto-currency fortune but suffered from drug addiction and bi-polar disorder has died aged 54 while undergoing treatment at a Mexico rehab clinic. He met his first wife Tamara (of Jimmy Choo fame) at a Narcotics Anon meeting in London after an extreme cocaine addiction in his early adult life; and more recently succumbed to a prescription painkiller addiction costing $100,000 a month.
While it’s tricky to be sympathetic to the very wealthy, he did come from a troubled family. His father abandoned them when Mellon was five years old, later committing suicide, with his mother also a bi-polar sufferer. A Priory clinic shrink said “The very rich can be surprisingly isolated, a little like the very deprived.” Lack of work leaves them with no purpose, structure or community. Years ago one of the Vanderbilts, glooming over the Midas-sized fortune handed to him, said “It has left me with nothing to hope for”.
Born 28 January 1964 in New York, Mellon has an Aquarius Sun conjunct Mars with Saturn also in Aquarius. Those planets are shared by right-wing ‘shock jock’ Glen Beck (10 Feb), Sarah Palin (11 Feb) and former NY mobster John Giotti Jnr (14 Feb).
Mellon’s chart is riddled with inconjuncts, suggesting strain and difficulty fitting in – Pluto sextile Neptune quincunx an overly-expansive Jupiter in Aries; and Pluto sextile a Cancer Node quincunx a self-willed Mars. Plus a Mystic Rectangle of Mercury opposition Node and Pluto Uranus opposition Venus in Pisces, which is difficult to balance. And probably a Full Moon in Leo opposition his Sun. Constantly pulled in different directions, he was never able to centre himself on what was important. And finally a Water Grand Trine of Neptune trine Node trine Venus in Pisces which can pull the individual away from realty, into a dream world of self-protection. That Grand Trine is formed into a Kite by Node opposition Mercury, so he would be highly strung and finely-balanced in terms of mental functions.
In recent years he’s had the tr Uranus square tr Pluto hitting on his Mercury, creating more mental strain; and exacerbating his Jupiter’s tendencies to go over the top.
There are different ways of living out all the above chart energies and sometimes the very rich do make a productive life for themselves. But he clearly never found the stability for whatever reason to make a go of it.
His pleasure-seeking 9th Harmonic was strong and bleak. His 7H which is creative but often slightly mad was also notable. His rise-and-fall 10H and can-be-self-destructive 16H were also heavily aspected.