The Tiffany yellow diamond has only been seen publicly four times in 147 years—here's who wore it and everything you need to know

The Tiffany yellow diamond has only been worn by a select few famous women, here is a rundown of the famous women who have been honored to wear this luxury item.

The 128.54 yellow-carat diamond was acquired by Tiffany in 1878 after it was discovered the year before in the Kimberley diamond mines in South Africa. The stone was sold to Tiffany for $18,000 and was cut into a cushion-shape brilliant diamond with 82 facets.

In the 143 years since Tiffany acquired this diamond, it has only been publically worn by four different women. 

It had its first public outing in 1957, on the throat of socialite Mary Whitehouse. Meaning it was a remarkable 79 years after Tiffany first acquired the gemstone that it was first seen. Images of the stone on Mary Whitehouse do not exist and, as the stone has been placed in a variety of different necklaces, it is unclear what the stone may have looked like at this time.

Audrey Hepburn was pictured with this iconic diamond around her neck just a few years after Mary in 1961.

The actress wore the diamond in a necklace that was specially designed for the occasion by Jean Schlumberger. The piece was titled the Ribbon Rosette necklace and featured the large yellow diamond prominently in the design.

Audrey wore it during the publicity for one of her best known films, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

As it exists now, the necklace has undergone a complete redesign and now features a much smaller, diamond-encrusted chain that focuses on the yellow diamond as its main feature.

Lady Gaga was the next lucky lady to take the yellow diamond out, 58 years after Audrey Hepburn. She wore the famous necklace to the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2019. 

The singer and actress wore the iconic piece with a black ball gown and her platinum blonde hair tied up so that the focus of her outfit was on the unique jewelry. Seemingly it was a lucky charm for the star as it was during this awards ceremony that Lady Gaga won an award for her performance in A Star is Born. 

Most recently, Beyoncé has worn the necklace as part of a campaign for Tiffany & Co. In the image, the singer wore it as she and her husband Jay-Z posed in front of a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting titled 'Equals Pi.'

Beyoncé paid homage to Audrey in this image as she wore a black dress, updo hairstyle, and long black gloves—reminiscent of the late actor's most famous role.

Tiffany & Co said about this image, "The priceless Tiffany Diamond has only been worn by three women since its discovery in 1877. Today, @Beyonce becomes the first Black woman and fourth person to wear the legendary stone.  #AboutLove  #TiffanyAndCo"

Tiffany's yellow diamond has been an influential piece of jewelry and has even been a pop culture reference in a range of films.

Kate Hudson wore a replica necklace in the film, How to Lose a Guy in 10 days. Similarly, the stone has influenced other jewelry pieces such as the diamond necklace worn by Anne Hathaway in Oceans 8, or Kate Winslet's heart of the sea necklace in Titanic.

It is clear that this enormous diamond is a celebrity in itself and has remained a permanent fixture of fashion culture for nearly 150 years.