Donatella Versace, the artistic director and co-owner of Versace, has dressed dozens of stars throughout her illustrious career, and she’s also a proud mom of two. The fashion designer married former model Paul Beck in 1983, and they welcomed their first child, daughter Allegra, three years later. The pair expanded their family in 1989 with the arrival of their son, Daniel. In 2000, Versace and Beck divorced, per The Guardian. Speaking with Lenny Kravitz for Interview Magazine in January 2012, Versace opened up about the difficulty of balancing being a mom and running a successful fashion house. “My family is the most important. I’m Italian, so you know that. I think it was harder when my children were little. But I try to spend as much quality time as I can with my family,” she said. “They understand what world they were born into, but it’s still very difficult. There’s a lot of tension during the creative process.” Versace continued, “It’s a great process, but there is a lot of insecurity — and there are a lot of deadlines. To forget all of that and go home and have a nice time with your family … Sometimes that’s very difficult. You can’t be two different people.” Here’s everything to know about Donatella Versace’s kids: Allegra and Daniel. Allegra Versace Beck, 37 Versace and Beck welcomed their first child, daughter Allegra Versace Beck, on June 30, 1986. At just 11 years old, Allegra inherited a 50 percent stake in Versace when her uncle Gianni Versace was murdered in July 1997. She also became the owner of a villa on Lake Como and a New York townhouse, per The Guardian. Allegra had a close relationship with the iconic designer, who referred to her as his “little princess.” During an interview with SSENSE in 2018, Versace said the large inheritance was a “burden” placed on Allegra at such a young age, which ultimately made her stay on board at Versace. “Gianni idolized my daughter and always called her ‘my little princess’ but he put a tremendous burden on her with his will. Making headlines at the age of 11 — I wouldn’t wish that on any child,” she said. “By giving half of Versace to my daughter, he forced me to take responsibility for the company until she came of age. Without this trick in the will, I might have left the company after his death.” Though Allegra came into control of her 50 percent stake in Versace at 18, she didn’t accept the shares or take her place on the board of directors until 2011, when she was 24, per Grazia Magazine. Despite being part owner of a legendary fashion brand, Allegra mainly lives her life out of the spotlight. She studied drama, art history and French at UCLA and Brown University, per Harper’s Bazaar. Speaking with La Repubblica in June 2011, Allegra shared that she prefers anonymity and enjoys working for other fashion houses, per HuffPost. “I’ve spent some time working with a non-Italian designer, I’ve been helping him organize fashion shows, the advertising, also helping with the creative part. But the great part about this work is that I am no one,” she said. “They pay me, also, of course, for now not enough to live without worries, but I think you can get used to everything, if you feel free, if you are yourself and not what others want you to be, if you don’t see a photographer around every corner, if you do not bury yourself in cruel gossip that does so much harm.” By 2018, however, Allegra had embraced her role at Versace. Her mother told SSENSE that she worked for the brand’s younger product line, Versus, and was a respected member of the board. “She is highly intelligent and a very keen observer. Everyone pays rapt attention whenever she takes the floor at a board meeting — not because she owns half of the company, but because she asks the right questions,” Versace said. In March 2020, Versace and Allegra donated 200,000 euros to the intensive care unit of Milan’s San Raffaele hospital amid the COVID-19 outbreak. “Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this disease and to all the doctors and medical staff who have been working heroically non-stop in the past weeks in the effort to take care of our loved ones,” the mother-daughter duo said in a statement “This is when we, as a society, need to stand together and care for one another.” Daniel Versace Beck, 35 Versace and Beck welcomed their second child, son Daniel Versace Beck, in 1989. Not much is known about Daniel, as he prefers to live his life out of the spotlight, but Versace has occasionally opened up about her son in interviews. During her chat with SSENSE in 2018, the designer revealed that Daniel lives in London and works as a rock ‘n’ roll musician, previously playing in a band called Nucleus. “He plays all the instruments himself when he records an album, and he’s an excellent player,” she said. “He also had good teachers. Elton John gave him piano lessons when he was little, and my friend Axl Rose was one of his guitar teachers later on.” Versace also opened up about how Daniel doesn’t want “anything to do with the Versace name” and adopted a new moniker to maintain his privacy. “He believes the name Versace would damage his integrity as a musician and give him an undeserved advantage,” she explained. “I don’t really understand that reasoning, because you’re either a good musician or a bad one. But it’s his life. He makes the decisions, and it seems they’re the right ones. You should see him at his performances. It’s rare to see a person whose music makes him so happy.” Speaking with Kravitz for Interview Magazine, Versace shared that the “American Woman” singer is one of Daniel’s musical inspirations. “He plays guitar. A long time ago I gave him a guitar strap with your name on it as a gift. And he still wears it. You’re one of his heroes,” she told Kravitz. Though Daniel is not involved in the family business, he did inherit an extensive art collection when Gianni died in 1997. His uncle left him his personal collection, which is reportedly worth millions of dollars, per The Guardian.
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