Hillary White Jean walks into Radnor Memorial Library as if dressed for a chic Sunday brunch, complete with a fedora, Marc Jacobs bag, fur-covered clogs and oversized sunglasses. She always looks glamorous; no one said she didn’t have style. But they have said that she is a con artist, a fraud, a member of the Haitian mafia, and worse.
~ Melissa Jacobs Main Line Tonight
I don’t know this writer personally. But this is quite the story she is laying out. I believe she is laying it out as it is being told her by the now infamous Hillary White Jean, or whatever the arrangement of the names are at present.
I don’t know what to think here do you? Did the court dockets get something wrong? I’m reading this whole story and I’m just left wondering how does any of her “story” justify what happened? Why is there so little personal accountability? Are people really supposed to believe that this is all just some great misunderstanding?
So yes, our beleaguered shopkeeper without a home who now says she has like a showroom or something on some website and now wants to tell her story but what does she actually deserve? Is she really “breaking her silence“ or is this just the latest step in some grand plan?
The one I feel sorry for is her teenage daughter who has to go to school and keep her head up in the midst of all of this. Being a teenager is hard enough, without all this “extra.”
I find myself going back to the original Savvy Main Line article. What was not accurate?
It’s just that every time something else is revealed about this woman there’s so much more to unpack. And I just don’t understand the seeming lack of personal accountability do you? It s like you can almost hear Keith Morrison from Dateline NBC narrating a two hour Dateline.
Lots of people have crazy growing up stories, especially if they are immigrants from war-torn countries. And I happen to have a friend who did mission work in Haiti for years. So I know from their accounts how bad it is. but how are we to know if her father’s affiliation with Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier? That man was overthrown in 1986 and died in 2014. Allow me to share what this man was like, and his father, who preceded him:
Jean-Claude Duvalier (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃klod dyvalje]; 3 July 1951 – 4 October 2014), nicknamed “Baby Doc” (Haitian Creole: Bebe Dòk), was a Haitian politician who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father François “Papa Doc” Duvalieras the ruler of Haiti after his death in 1971. After assuming power, he introduced cosmetic changes to his father’s regime and delegated much authority to his advisors. Thousands of Haitians were killed or tortured, and hundreds of thousands fled the country during his presidency.[2] He maintained a notoriously lavish lifestyle (including a state-sponsored US$2 million wedding in 1980) while poverty among his people remained the most widespread of any country in the Western Hemisphere.[3]
~ Wikipedia
That guy was essentially a despot / dictator, yes? So would you want people to know your late father was affiliated with a person like this? Especially given what Haitians went through because of these regimes? And what they continue to suffer from today?
That’s a very weird thing to brag about. And then there’s the whole posting her immigration papers and passport in screenshots for this writer. Why? Has anyone ever said she wasn’t a US citizen?
Then, supposedly she lived in Connecticut with a lavish lifestyle with rich relatives? And her mother leaves her there and returns to Haiti. That’s actually very sad. But is it the truth?
This story is quite fantastical. And there is this definite sort of rags to riches about it, but it still doesn’t explain the trail of destruction, vis-à-vis, failed businesses and owing people money does it?
And the story of sexual molestation. Are their actual police reports to back this up? and again, if all of this is true, it’s horrible, but does that justify what we have seen unfold before our very eyes?
This woman describes herself as kind-hearted and how is that even possible given things like the court docket about witness intimidation, or whatever it was?
New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, anyplace else? One of the biggest questions people are asking is how she has been able to get these fairly expensive retail spaces to lease multiple times?
And then there is this from our heroine’s Instagram. “The woman behind the scandal”? Is she for real? Do we think this is possibly a case of all attention is good attention? It’s all a misunderstanding?
My my my quite the contrast with this:
“I’m not a con artist,” she says. “I’m not a criminal. I’m nothing like that. I am a very kind-hearted person. Everybody that I owed, I intended to pay them. And I apologize to those that I’ve hurt. From the bottom of my heart.”
She still lives in Wayne, despite the scandal. “It’s horrible to tell you the truth,” she says. “I’m scared. I don’t go anywhere. It’s a small town and everyone knows me. It’s devastating. Whatever happened, I didn’t intentionally make it happen. I didn’t do it maliciously to hurt people.”
Hillary says that she is depressed, even suicidal, which her husband and son confirm. More than anything, she wants to tell her side of the story. That, she thinks, will clear her. It may, or it may add fuel to the red-hot fire. But it seems fair to let her speak. And so, Hillary White Jean starts to tell her story.
~ Hillary Jean to Melissa Jacobs Main Line Tonight
So does the Instagram of it all sound like a suicidal woman? And what will people tell you about the truly suicidal? Something along the lines that they won’t tell you they are suicidal?
And does a woman who is suicidal reach out to a milliner about a custom bonnet for an event down south in late April?
And if she’s not going anywhere why do people report when they see her at places like Whole Foods and the ACME? And people who have reportedly seen her having said she’s like running around in sweatpants with a baseball cap on and sneakers it’s more like she’s dressed to the nines right?
And where is her “showroom” she is advertising?
It’s an interesting series of articles for sure. The second part has also dropped. I can only scratch my head….
The writer Melissa Jacobs opens her article with the opening of Hillary Jean Jean Hillary Hillary White Jean Hillary White Jean Joseph’s Glen Mills store. Mentions again the PR person, Sarah Doheny but Sarah Doheny was not the PR person in Glen Mills was she? Is the truth actually there was another PR person down there? A contract was signed yes, on July 6, 2021. But it wasn’t for the then Glen Mills store, it was covering her planned move to the Main Line which as per Doheny, Jean had decided the Main Line would be better for her “brand.”
In October 2021, Hillary opened HJ Boutique in Wayne, a town in the heart of the Main Line. To Wayne, Hillary brought some vendors she’d had at her short-lived boutique in Glen Mills, including jewelry from Jill Jacobson and vintage pieces from the collection of Nancy Volpe Beringer, a Philadelphia designer and “Project Runway” alum. Hillary also had the same PR person as in Glen Mills: Sarah Dohney.
With Dohney’s assistance, Hillary hosted a well-produced grand opening party. Both women were dressed to the nines and broadcasting their goal of bringing Rodeo Drive to Wayne. Together, they batted away questions about the quick demise of the Glen Mills shop, stating that the Main Line was the right place for Hillary’s boutique. Why? Unclear….Things soured between Dohney and the Jeans. Hillary produced copies of emails and texts showing how toxic the relationship became. Dohney believes that the Jeans owe her money. The Jeans say that Dohney bullied them into signing contract extensions, which they terminated via an email. The Jeans did pay Dohney’s YUBpr company $10,000 and more than $700 worth of clothing, as evidenced by an invoice provided to Main Line Tonight. “I do not owe Sarah Doheny any money,” Hillary states. “To be clear, I don’t owe her a dime.”
~Main Line Tonight 3/31/23
So the purported contract extension? Was it really an extension or is it just a payment plan on monies owed? This extension plan was given to the good shopkeeper that October night of her first Wayne opening, so if she felt as if she was being forced, why sign? I am told by Doheny that last payment on invoice was 12/26/21 for $4000, which went against the balance owed, so how is it no money is owed? And yes, full disclosure, I do know Sarah Doheny. Rather well in fact. And on a professional capacity, I think the Main Line Tonight founder and in this case writer Melissa Jacobs also knows her going back to Melissa’s days at Main Line Today magazine.
shown to Main Line Tonight?
shown to Main Line Tonight?
I also have questions about what publicist Sarah Doheny may have or may not have said at this opening party. So I reached out and asked if she had offered opinion or spoken about the prior store. She said to me (and I quote):
“ No one ever ever spoke to me about the former store. I never ever spoke to Melissa or anyone regarding that on that evening.”
~ Sarah Doheny
I was given above screenshot from Doheny‘s Venmo account. Which I think is interesting. Screenshot (Mar 31, 2023 10:26:50 AM)
What I also find interesting is peppered throughout both of these articles is this Hillary woman’s version of her reality. And is it she really just doesn’t understand how things are done or how they should be done in business or is it the truth that she can handle?
And all of these people who are owed money are real people. They are all different creeds and cultures, which is why there is something that I really have a problem with and it’s the whole thing with race.
Being Black On The Main Line
By that time, local media were celebrating Hillary’s store as the first Black-owned business in Wayne. One problem: It wasn’t true.
Over the last 20 years, more than one Black-owned business operated in Wayne. Hillary clarifies that hers was the first Black-owned fashion boutique, which seems plausible. The media’s miswording of Hillary’s statement may not be her fault, but she didn’t correct them.
The Jeans feel that racism played a big part in the failure of their business and the flogging they received on social media. There’s no denying that racism exists everywhere, including on the Main Line. Were the Jeans discriminated against? Probably. But in the end, the only color that mattered was green. They owed people money, and that was the real problem.
~ Melissa Jacobs Main Line Tonight
People I know who are black, brown, and biracial, including on the Main Lne have found it offensive the way Hillary Jean throws race around. She did it on her social media accounts before some of the accounts either disappeared, had things deleted, or she blocked from public view.
What I have been told by friends who are black, brown, and biracial is in their minds stealing is stealing and it doesn’t have a color chart. And they also have a problem when people get caught doing things wrong and the first thing they scream no matter what their skin color is racism. One said to me quite succinctly that it wasn’t a question of race, it was a simply a situation of right and wrong. Now because I grew up on the Main Line, I can say honestly it is indeed an area with racial problems. But is someone getting in trouble with the law for stealing really a racial issue?
Racism is such a hot button issue as well as very, very real, right? So how does it make people feel to have someone accused of crimes essentially in part blaming it on race? Is that right?
And this article now kind of says that she acknowledges she wasn’t the first black on business in Wayne? But she did not correct that illusion with the media who did these big reports about her, although she recently corrected her own website?
Other things I find fascinating go back to the way this former shopkeeper based on her own words in this Main Line Tonight interview seems to feel what the process for renting stores and leaving leases and the use of bankruptcy is? Bankruptcy is designed to help people but not to help them again and again dodge their financial responsibilities?
According to that document posted above, the recently bankruptcy for Hillary Jean was dismissed. So what does that mean regarding all the money she owes all these people ?
And let’s talk for a minute about what she and her husband and writer described as the “flogging” in social media over all of this? Is that what they are implying caused this to happen as well? Social media?
Before she got caught, her social media was what she wanted the world to see, her version of reality, right? Now that is not necessarily unusual and much the world of social media, and when you put it out there to be larger than life and hanging with Bravoleberities, well when scandal comes, it’s bad, right? Oh and a petit mot about Bravoleberities, a reminder of you will. Part of their job is to pose for photos with people. It doesn’t make them a close personal friend.
Another thing to consider. People had been talking about this for quite a long time. She had made a flashy splash into Wayne, an opening full of media, pomp, circumstance, and a step and repeat. Then a move to another location, with another flashy event this time featuring a step and repeat with a real housewife of New York City? And then one day, this store was stripped empty, so she thinks people weren’t going to talk amongst themselves on and off of social media? Especially with all of the social media profiles?
This former shopkeeper hurt a lot of people by her actions, including me because there was an attempt to doxx me along with Sarah Doheny. And another thing I don’t understand that Melissa Jacobs’ articles have brought out to the front is with this whole scenario, why does Hillary Jean seem so fixated on Sarah Doheny? Is it just me or is that a little sketchy?
And let’s talk about one of the other victims here: Reuben Tehrani. While I do not know his brothers, when I still lived on the Main Line, I actually met him for tea a couple of times. I remember it well because he served the loveliest of Jasmine teas. Such a sweet man, and seriously? The most gorgeous rugs! (If you’re ever in the market for rugs, he and his brothers sell the most glorious rugs. Bryn Mawr Oriental Rugs across Lancaster Avenue from the Bryn Mawr ACME.)
I will never forget the photos in Savvy. The well decorated store windows, and then the pack and run emptiness. The rent equivalent of dine and dash.
So she gets arrested in July, throws a lavish step and repeat party featuring former RHONYC Dorinda Medley in September, and then it all went up in smoke by year end? And after a year living on the Main Line she is telling Main Line Tonight she is writing her memoirs called “Being Black on the Main Line”?
The 2nd of the two Main Line Tonight articles ends with an insane quote from La Grifter de Wayne, I am not repeating it. Melissa Jacobs captured it all. It’s always something to hear someone refer to themselves in the third person. And investors? Really? New business? What version of her name will it be now? This is like the most twisted emperor’s new clothes ever.
So we now have three pieces to read (including the Savvy article) about this woman. Plus the court records they all talk about. The people she has hurt and owes money to are real people with real businesses, so how does she live with this? And somewhere I still hear Keith Morrison narrating and the sound from Law & Order……
