Who is Christy Walton?
Christy Walton is the widow of John T. Walton, the second son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, and the mother of Lukas Walton. Forbes’ real-time list valued her at $22.8 billion on 18 June 2026, according to a Stacker compilation of the data 6. Forbes named her the richest woman in the world for several years in the 2000s and 2010s 1.
How did Christy Walton make her money?
She inherited Walmart shares after her husband died. John T. Walton was killed in June 2005 when the experimental aircraft he was flying crashed in Jackson, Wyoming. Forbes first assumed she received nearly all of his estate and put her at the top of its richest-women lists; in 2015 a Wyoming court unsealed a 1982 premarital agreement showing that the estate had been split, and Forbes cut her fortune sharply while her son Lukas joined the billionaires list 2345.
Early life
Christy Ruth Tallant was born on 8 February 1949 in Jackson, Wyoming, to Lewis and Doris Tallant, and she grew up in the area. Some sources give a later birth year, but Wikipedia lists 1949. She graduated from high school and not from college 17.
Husband and son
She married John T. Walton, who had a net worth of about $195 million when they wed, according to the premarital agreement. They had one son, Lukas, born in 1986 13.
Where she lives
She lives in Jackson, Wyoming 68. Read Christy Walton’s family and our ranking of the wealthiest women in the world.
Christy Walton net worth
Forbes valued her at $22.8 billion in June 2026, about ₹2.1 lakh crore at ₹94 to the dollar, up from $18.5 billion in July 2025. Her fortune was $41.7 billion in March 2015 69. See Christy Walton net worth and our Alice Walton profile for the wider Walton family.