The incredible life of Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon

Tamara Mellon, the co-founder of luxury shoe brand Jimmy Choo, is one of the wealthiest women in Britain with a net worth around £180 million ($280 million).

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She is also arguably one of only two women on The Sunday Times Rich List of the UK's 1,000 wealthiest people who made her own fortune, rather than inheriting it or being married to someone rich. (The other being is Harry Potter author JK Rowling, whose net worth is £570 million.)

She had an affluent start to life. her father is stuntman and Vidal Sassoon owner Tom Yeardye. Her mother is Chanel model Ann. But she rose to the top of the fashion industry through her own business acumen and eye for trends.

She's so ruthless she once sued her own mother over Jimmy Choo's assets that she claimed didn't belong to her. And she ended her partnership with the company founder who's name was used for the luxury brand company, in a bitter corporate divorce.

Her personal life has been just as colourful. She met her banking heir husband Matthew Mellon in Alcoholics Anonymous, only to part ways after allegations of drug taking and affairs. 

Here, Business Insider details her life through pictures and excerpts from her book "In My Shoes" and interviews with Vogue and the New York Times.