In 1985 Georgette Mosbacher appeared on the radar screen of Texas high society like some dazzling UFO. But the flame-haired beauty and cosmetics entrepreneur—who was then the new wife of Houston oilman Robert Mosbacher—didn’t remain unidentified for long. Together the couple pursued their respective careers and their mutual avocation, Republican politics. When her husband was tapped by the first president George Bush to be Secretary of Commerce in 1990, Georgette took her skills as a hostess to Washington, D.C. But in 1997 her storybook life blew up when Robert filed for divorce, leaving her devastated: “It’s as if someone takes a hand grenade and throws it in the middle of your life,” she told the New York Observer. But she called on her inborn resilience and bounced back. Today she says, “Do I think there is life after marriage? You bet. I love life, period. Every day is an adventure.” Even more than before, the business of the 54-year-old, still-glamorous Mosbacher is business. She lives in New York, is dating “no one,” and has poured herself into the expansion of Borghese cosmetics, of which she is the chairman and CEO. Her political presence is somewhat attenuated in Washington, D.C., thanks to her decision to support John McCain over George W. Bush in the presidential primaries, but she is still involved in Republican politics on the state level as the national committeewoman from New York. Aside from some financial interests and old friendships, she has left Texas far behind.
