When Richard Burton died suddenly in 1984 he was married to Sally Burton. Shortly after he died, Sally kind of went into hiding. Oh, she would come out for interviews and such if she wanted to, but rarely did. She has just chosen to live life quietly. Until now. She recently went to an annual Richard Burton tribute in Wales and basically went off about how she was tired of hearing about her husband and the love affair he had with Elizabeth Taylor.
"I get pi**ed off with all the talk of the great love story. Yes, they were in love but they divorced twice. That means their marriage didn’t work." You know, she has a point. Granted they were only married a year before he died, but he was married to her and not to Elizabeth Taylor. Maybe Sally and Richard had the great love story. I think it would suck pretty bad if the man you married was constantly in the headlines for a relationship he had before the two of you ever got married, especially when he could have been with Elizabeth, but chose to marry Sally instead.
Richard & Elizabeth sell stories. Richard & Sally not so much.
ReplyDelete^ exactly
ReplyDeleteAlso she waited until Elizabeth passed to say anything....
ReplyDeleteSally knew all of this before she married him, granted she probably expected him to live longer than he did but still, she shouldn't be surprised. I think lots of us get involved with people who aren't good for us and seem drawn to that person even though we know they are bad for us. I don't think Richard and Elizabeth had a great love story, more of a dysfunctional kind of thing if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteShe knew the drill. I'm sure she's sick of it, but still.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth and Richard were a romantic fable, real life doesn't sell as well.
I think Liz & Dick were more of a lust thing - who hasn't had a boy or girlfriend you wanted sex with all the time but were horribly incompatible with outside of bed? I think that was the case with them. With Sally - who knows? I heard he was very happy with her so hopefully it was more of a love relationship.
ReplyDeletesorry, can't say I blame her. Granted, she knew the deal when she married him....but I imagine it still grates.
ReplyDeleteIt's because Liz never let the public forget he was the love of her life. She wrote a book even with his love letters etc.
ReplyDeleteLiz may have written that he was the love of her life, but she has said that about Larry. I was married for 30 yrs to the Love of my Life. He had been married before for 4 yrs. and she left him for his best friend. Then after we had been together 25 yrs. she called him and begged him to move in with her divorce me and marry her. He laughed and told me about the call. Some people just look for attention.
ReplyDeleteShe also said Mike Todd was the love of her life.
ReplyDeleteLet's get real, Liz was a slut..They just got married in those days to legitimize it. SusanB is probably right, incredibly passionate and sexual but that's not real "love". Real love has all that passion and a tenderness and compatibility that lasts the test of time.
ReplyDeleteI def. have to disagree about Liz being a slut, compared to other stars of the day especially. But I suppose that depends upon the definition of the word slut.
ReplyDeleteAnd he cheated on Liz. Perhaps that was the greatest love affair, but as Sherry pointed out, there is more to real love.
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ReplyDeleteElizabeth said Mike Todd was the love of her life. She was a mess when it came to "love"... see Eddie Fisher, Larry Fortensky, and that politician guy.
ReplyDeleteI guess you can't blame a girl for trying, but I think she was just in love with love and really didn't care deeply for her own kids or the men in her life as much as she loved her dogs.
the true love(s) of her life were her diamonds.
ReplyDeleteagree w/Enty.
ReplyDeleteand thanks Enty, for those delicious posts over the weekend! what a treat for all of us.
Liz Taylor wasn't a slut. She married the men she slept with.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading an interview with Ginger Rogers, well into her old age. She was asked about her multiple marriages (I think she had 5), and she said that the actresses of that time like herself (and I believe she mentioned Taylor specifically along with others), got married if there was the possibility of children coming from the relationship. They couldn't shack up, they couldn't have children out of wedlock, they couldn't have any hint of a sexual scandal, because image was everything and it would ruin their careers.
I know Liz wasn't a slut..I just could not find the right word for it..It was the only way you could legitmize your sexual affairs back in the day with the sexual mores of the times. She was just one of those women who was in love with love and confused sexual attraction for "true love". I believe she even said as much later in life or am I remembering someone else?
ReplyDeleteDon't we all have our toxic exes, the ones who were just not healthy for us but we can't help feeling something for? Most of us grow out of that and recognize it for what it was -- Liz never did that
ReplyDeleteI think Liz admitted to be in love with the idea of love. She was in the habit of marrying men who she dated for any length of time. Her philosophy was "We've been together for a while. We must be in love. Let's get married!" There's a certain nobility in that attitude, but it's also somewhat naive and can lead to terrible heartache.
ReplyDeleteI can see why Sally feels this way. She's been quiet for 27 years. With Liz's death, the whole Taylor-Burton saga is being rehashed and Sally just doesn't want to deal with it. I can't blame her. It's one thing to know what's out there. It's another to have it pushed into your face.
sherry, you hit the nail on the head. back then, remember ingrid bergman got run out of the US for sleeping with a married man. totally different times. liz married them until she was tired of them.
ReplyDeletei've always felt sorry for burton's widow because this story wouldn't die. that would piss me off too.
liz couldn't stay married to anyone. she was a romantic twit and didn't really understand what it meant once the lust wore off. oh, and the booze didn't help.
I agree with Seachica - we all have that one relationship that we can't ever completely get out of our thoughts. The difference is most of us move on and learn from the experience.
ReplyDeleteYeah Nancer, and even if Sally was only married to Richard for one year before his passing that still does not make their relationship any less significant. We too frequently equate time spent with someone as a measure of our feelings and we all know that's just not the case. NOT to diminish long term relationships by any stretch but when you get lucky enough to find the right one, sudden death of your spouse makes it all the more bittersweet.
ReplyDeleteI think Liz was in love with Monty Cliff but since Monty did not swing that way she fell in love with love. "If you can't be with the one you love...Love the one you're with."
ReplyDeleteLook what she did to save his live when he had the car accident.
Can't say as I blame Sally for being bothered by it, but I don't think it's fair to blame Liz. I can't really recall her going on and on about Burton being the love of her life any more than any of her other husbands. It always seemed to be other people painting that picture.
ReplyDeleteI recently saw Carrie Fisher's show Wishful Drinking, and she does mention Eddie and Liz, but doesn't seem to harbour any resentment towards Liz, but people paid money to hear about it.
@Amy - Liz didn't write the book about her and Richard, someone else did.
ReplyDeleteYes, she has said Mike Todd was the love of her life, but let's not criticize her for that - he died a tragic death. She wore his charred wedding ring after he died. Eddie insisted she take it off.
IMHO, Mike Todd was the love of her life and she chased that love for the rest of her days.
I'm not a big Liz Taylor fan, but she said ALL of her husbands were the "love of her life" at some point. I saw her interviews with Burton, and it did not look like a healthy relationship. They seemed drunk for most of it.
ReplyDeleteSally has a point. Burton chose to marry her and not Liz.
I'm not sure that Sally was totally quiet. I think she spoke up when they speculated that Liz would be buried next to Richard in Switzerland. I agree with the other posts (i.e. Liz in love with love) but I would just add that I don't think Liz liked growing older. Undoubtedly memories of Richard in their career and sexual primes was nicer than the realities of aging.
ReplyDeleteAnyone interested in this story should really read Furious Love - it details Liz's life pre-Burton, and continues all the way through to his marriage to Sally. He quite loved Sally, yes, but the relationship between Liz and Dick was one for the ages. A very good read.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record, I think you can be madly in love with more than one person during your lifetime.
1 year? please. they never found out if their marriage would work. there was no hashing it out and working on things and over coming mistakes. he and liz had a whole hitory. he and this woman had a year.
ReplyDelete