Even after a settlement reached earlier this month between Saints owner Tom Benson and a group of his former heirs, the granddaughter who was effectively cut out of the will maintains she’ll still have a role.
Rita Benson LeBlanc, who was fired by her grandfather in December 2014, told Bruce Schoenfeld of Sports Business Daily that she’d always have some connection to the Saints and Pelicans.
“No matter what happens in the litigation,” she said, “I’ll still be a partial owner.”
Details of the settlement have been few. In fact, the settlement may have been hastened along specifically to keep details of the family businesses out of the public eye. But throughout the ugly family squabble, LeBlanc (who was fired along with her mother and her brother) has stayed out of the public eye.
She’s still involved in many local charitable affairs, but no longer attends league meetings or has any other apparent dealings with the team.
“I wouldn’t say I’m happy,” she said. “I’m fulfilled. I don’t have a private life. There’s miserable things in the press and miserable things that aren’t being reported. No family should have to go through this.”
The story details some of the uglier parts of the split with the family, and describes her as someone saddened by her loss of contact with other NFL owners as well as her grandfather. It’s not much of a peek behind the curtain at a woman who was the presumptive heir to the franchise, but it does underscore how bitter the squabble truly became.