JOHN Paul Getty III’s widow has broken a four decade-long silence over her husband’s kidnapping in 1973.

The then 16-year-old grandson of the richest man in the world, John Paul Getty, was snatched in Rome by the Mafia in a crime that stunned the world.

10 John Paul Getty III's widow has finally broken her silence over her husband's kidnapping Credit: Getty - Contributor

In a shocking revelation Gisela Getty has said her husband, known as Little Paul to the family, confirmed he had discussed his own kidnapping with her before it happened.

The story was told in last year's Oscar-nominated movie All The Money In The World and is being dramatised again in Danny Boyle's series Trust on the BBC.

She has decided to speak out following the death of her sister Jutta last year and the release of the two dramas.

Gisela said he talked about his own abduction, aiming to use the profits to create an arts colony paradise in Marrakesh with LSD in the water supply.

10 Gisela Getty has revealed that John Paul III suggested his own kidnapping before he was abducted Credit: Iconic Images - Getty

The now 69-year-old widow told The Mirror: “We wanted to do something better with the money than they did – to make a better world, but it got us into very deep waters.”

Gisela and her twin sister Jutta Winkelmann both shared a bed with the Little Paul in their hippy set-up in 1970s Italy.

The pair, daughters of a Nazi SS officer, were then 23 and already famous in Germany when they shacked up with John Paul in a Roman bedsit when he was just 16.

The hippy threesome imagined a lefty utopia filled with drugs and free love.

She said Paul hatched the plot to fund their Moroccan dream by getting his super-rich grandad to pay a ransom for his kidnapping.

Gisela said: “One day Paul said, ‘I have talked to people. I have this idea to let myself be kidnapped and then get a place in Morocco. I am his favourite grandson. It is all going to be a matter of a week or so.’”

10 Gisela says Little Paul, as he was know, mentioned staging an abduction to fund a hippy commune in Marrakesh Credit: Corbis - Getty

10 Getty was held captive for five months after being snatched by the Italian Mafia Credit: Corbis - Getty

10 Gisela, right, and her twin sister Jutta, both lived with Little Paul in Rome in the 70s Credit: Getty - Contributor

She claimed no one, including Little Paul took the suggestion seriously until the Italian Mafia got involved.

The young Getty had come to know some members of the Roman organised crime world by flogging paintings for drugs.

But after the twins were abducted for two days by a Mafia don named Ciambellone and threatened with rape, strangling and forced to watch porn by coke-fuelled kidnappers they demanded Paul cut ties with the gang.

10 Getty was eventually freed after five months of captivity and the loss of an ear Credit: AP:Associated Press

10 The story was dramatised for the screen in the movie All The Money In The World Credit: AP:Associated Press

10 Trust is a brand new show coming to the BBC about the Getty family story Credit: BBC

10 The new show shows the debauched lifestyle the teenage Getty led ahead of his kidnapping in 1973 Credit: WARNING: Use of this image is subject to the terms of use of BBC Pictures' Digital Picture

Just weeks later he was bundled into the back of a van in Rome and driven to a cave 300 miles away with a ransom of $17million (£11.9 million) being demanded for his release but his billionaire grandfather refused to pay.

He told reporters from his Surrey mansion: “I have 14 grandchildren; if I pay a penny I’ll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren.”

Months rolled by and eventually a bloodied ear was sent to a newspaper along with a note reading: “This is Paul’s first ear.

First look at new BBC drama Trust with Donald Sutherland

10 John Paul Getty III spiralled into alcohol and drug addiction after the kidnapping eventually suffering a stroke in 1981 that would leave him in a wheelchair until his death in 2011 Credit: PA:Press Association

“If within 10 days the family still believes that this is a joke mounted by him, and then the other ear will arrive. In other words, he will arrive in little bits.”

His grandad eventually coughed up but only as much as was tax deductible, lending a further $1million to his son, John Paul’s father, as long as he repaid it plus 4% interest.

Nine men were arrested for the crime but only two were convicted.

Gisela says Little Paul was a “lovely naive boy” who never fully recovered from the “tragic experience” which left him physically and emotionally scarred.

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Little Paul married Gisela nine months after his release and she gave birth to their son Balthazar, now an actor.

But he fell into a downward spiral of drink and drug addiction following his kidnapping eventually suffering a stroke in 1981 rendering him quadriplegic.

He died in 2011 aged 54.

Christopher Plummer replaces Kevin Spacey as oil tycoon J. Paul Getty in new trailer for Ridley Scott’s All The Money In The World