 In 1958, she met Verna Hull, a wealthy painter/photographer and the stepdaughter of a Sears Roebuck heiress.They had a nine-year friendship that included travel, an interest in art and rented twin penthouses in New York.When Colbert bought a house in Barbados in the early 1960s, Hull bought a house next door, amid rumors that their friendship was a romantic one, which Colbert denied.