If there was ever a poster child for the notion that money can't buy you happiness, Casey Johnson was it.
Being born into a life of extreme affluence with nearly endless options, Johnson was the classic poor little rich girl -- beset with health problems and inner demons that ultimately overwhelmed her.
As the daughter of Woody Johnson, billionaire owner of the New York Jets, and heiress to the vast Johnson & Johnson family fortune, Casey had so much, she didn't know what to do with it.
"I have so much stuff that, you know, it's almost embarrassing, it really is," she told Page Six Magazine in 2008. "I got my first Chanel bag at 12. I got a $17,000 gold Cartier watch when I was 15."
Still, she hinted that there was a dark side to too much money.
"There's nothing left to want," she said.
Those close to her said Johnson was miserable for much of her 30 years -- battling a debilitating case of juvenile diabetes she was diagnosed with at 8 and never truly becoming comfortable in her own skin.
"Her problems went way beyond drugs, alcohol and diabetes," said one friend. "It was also mental and emotional problems. She had this destructive inability to cope. She would say, 'I have problems in my head.'
A family source largely blamed her diabetes.
"I cannot stress enough this idea between mental health and depression being linked to auto-immune issues," the source said. "For her, depression was a day in, day out issue of dealing with diabetes."
Johnson's troubles came to a head just before New Year's. She was last heard from, via Twitter, on Dec. 29, and was found dead in her Los Angeles home six days later. The cause of death has yet to be determined.
It was a stunning decline. When Johnson first appeared on the scene a decade ago, she impressed veteran socialite-watchers as what one called a "sweet, gorgeous kid."
She had graduated from a top Manhattan private school and been accepted to Brown University -- but then dropped out in her freshman year to take a job interning with PR queen Lizzy Grubman, Gawker.com reported.
She soon gravitated to the fast-moving set -- becoming BFFs with fellow blond heiresses Paris and Nicky Hilton and hitting the nightlife scene with a vengeance. There wasn't a club banquette she wouldn't dance on or a paparazzi she wouldn't pose for.
But while Paris managed to turn her partying into a brand and Nicky chose a quieter life, Johnson appeared to never learn how to switch gears, and began a decade-long run as a gossip-page wild child.
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