Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?
Are you sorry? Does your man?
Hi, welcome back guys. Welcome, significant, lovers.
Significant. Lovers.
We are two cousins. My name is Mel.
And I'm Kel. And we are continuing our saga
that Kelly had started a couple weeks ago.
Yes, we are. We are picking back up.
I hope you guys are still interested, but you know this
chapter is very different from the other one I would say.
We started with Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher and we moved on
to Eddie Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor, and now we are moving on
to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Married twice. Yes, they were called many times
by the press the marriage of the century, 20th century.
And yeah, their claim to fame is that they were married twice.
Why did that happen? Did they end up together?
No. But it's a really crazy story.
I've been like in so deep in this, in the research recently.
It's I'm like losing my mind, but it's really fun.
So I hope you guys enjoy it and I wrote down this quote that
Elizabeth Taylor said once she said in her biography.
Since I was a little girl, I believed I was a child of
destiny. And if that is true, Richard
Burton was surely my fate just to set the set the tone for the
episode. Interesting.
I wonder if she kept believing that.
You know what I kind of think she did?
Well, to marry someone twice, how many people can say that
they've done that? That's pretty interesting.
I mean, I also got divorced twice, so can we skip ahead to
the poll that you ask people, 'cause I think it's a really
interesting topic. Yeah, so this isn't the first
time we've covered a couple, like broke up and got back
together many times. And thinking John Mayer and Katy
Perry, they broke up and got back together many times.
Who else? There's Brenda's.
Song and Trey Cyrus broke up and.
Back together a lot. Yeah, I know there's been more.
I asked our patrons a poll. I said breaking up and getting
back together. How many times is too many?
And I only asked this like 2 hours ago, but a bunch of you
have already answered. And so 30% of you said once.
Once we're over, it's over. 52% said 2 to 3 *, 13% said three to
five times, and 4% said however many times it takes.
Life is complicated, yes. And Muna commented, I would
almost say two times should be its own category.
After two times we done. I say at least two times because
sometimes you can break up due to timing, like moving away from
a city, but you meet up again later in life and still have
chemistry. But even then, if it doesn't
work out a second time, not meant to be.
Yeah, I do think that life is complicated.
Like it's What are the reasons for the breakup, like, Muna
said. So would you be, would you say?
The last choice, No. There's no number.
No. I think at a certain point
maybe, maybe 3 breakups is too many breakups.
I mean, honestly though, really, most couples I know, not
everybody. There are some exceptions.
Most couples I know, once they break up once, and then if they
get back together, whatever the cause for that breakup was,
unless it was something like distance or college or
something. Yeah, when they get back
together, I feel like it often doesn't last.
I agree. I agree it it does seem that
way. It is also just a lot to go
through having many breakups. It's very hard.
And Luna, I appreciate you saying that because I once had a
a relationship where we broke up twice and then I really was
overthinking it afterward if I should have given it another
shot. But yeah, 2/2 was it's a lot to
like to think OK it's over. You know, like you're rebuilding
yourself esteem. You're like you're really trying
to think, OK, this is my life now, I'm single, you know,
you're like restructuring your whole viewpoint and then for you
to get back together it it's so emotional and like a roller
coaster and it's just it's really hard.
I think the couples that break up like five times, I mean,
that's just a lot to put your heart through.
Exactly. And I feel like if you've
already broken up many times, there's not as much keeping you
together anymore because they're like, well, we've already done
it before and then it maybe feels a little bit less
permanent too. So the idea of saying I'm
breaking up with you doesn't hold the same weight that it did
in the beginning, so you're more likely to break up and then get
back together and do it again and it becomes a cycle.
Also, I feel like it creates a weird power imbalance.
Whoever did the breaking up, if it wasn't mutual, or whoever was
broken up with, they're always going to feel inferior.
Maybe like they're walking on egg shells when you're back
together. And then also also possibly the
one that did end the relationship could be kind of
seen like they're in the dog. I was like, they're in trouble
or something. Like.
You cause problems or I don't know it.
I think it's it's tough. I really admire the people.
That said once once we're over, it's over.
I don't know if I'd necessarily have the strength to be that
kind of person unless something like really bad happened, but I
I do really admire those people. Because also, I feel like in the
beginning of a breakup, all you want is that person to come
crawling back and be like, I'm so sorry I made a mistake.
But now at this age, I do want to be like, if you're willing to
lose me, like that's it. Like, I want the stakes to be
really high. Good, but good.
Good. Yeah.
I feel like that does require some confidence.
I think a lot of couples get back together too, because then
they get out into the dating scene and they realize like, oh
shit, this is not, not what I thought it would be.
And they get really lonely. So then they just come crawling
back for the wrong reasons because they just want something
that's familiar to them, like maybe Christmas is coming up or
Valentine's Day, they want a date to something and it's just
easier for them to hit up their ex, 'cause they're not starting
from Ground Zero. So I don't think.
I don't think that really works too.
Well, we'll see that in this couple for sure.
They were together for 13 years, on and off.
Yes and yes, married twice. And they were insanely famous.
I feel like we almost as modern people, cannot almost come from,
comprehend how famous they were. They really their only peers
were the couple we just discussed, the Duke and Duchess
of Windsor, Edward and Wallace. They hung out with them because
they were on their same level and also were extremely hated by
the public. Oh wow, Scandalous.
Yeah, they they're a couple friends with them.
Wait, so were Liz and Dick extremely hated?
They were. Oh, they were.
And as we discussed in the Eddie Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor
episode, we'll have a little bit of overlap and I'll try to fill
you guys in if you didn't hear that episode.
Liz and Dick, Richard and Elizabeth, their relationship
started in Italy during the Cleopatra shoot.
And that's when the term for paparazzi was coined, because
they were in Italy. And it means buzzing insects.
So it's just like they're claimed to fame.
Yeah. But if I do describe this couple
in three words, I would say fiery.
We've heard that before. Destructive and jewels.
Jewels, OK or bejeweled? Bejeweled.
Yep, I just had to put it there. And yeah, a a big source I used
for this was the book Furious Love by Sam Kashner and Nancy
Schoenberger. And I used some other like
online sources and videos and stuff.
But it was a really great book. So if you're at all interested
in this couple, I really recommend it.
I intended to just kind of like skim it and look for things, but
I really got sucked in and read the whole thing.
So it was great. OK, I'm going to start to do a
little bit of a summary on Elizabeth Taylor, just in case
someone didn't hear it last time.
But she is an actress, of course.
They're both actors. She was born in England, 2
American parents. She was a child star and then
later went on to have adult roles.
You know, you can kind of think of her like a Disney Channel
star to say like people grew up with her.
She was very talented and beautiful.
She started to become a little bit of a diva as a teenager and
in her early 20s and was seen as a real sex symbol once she
transitioned to adult roles. She famously had eight
marriages, 7 husbands. So before Richard Burton, she
was married to the hotel heir Conrad Nikki Hilton in 1950.
And then the British actor Michael Wilding in 1952, and
then the producer Mike Todd in 1957, who tragically died in a
plane crash. And then the 4th husband was
Eddie Fisher, as we've been talking about recently, he was
married to her best friend Debbie Reynolds, that whole
thing. She did have a lot of health
issues. She.
Yeah, she did have a lot of health issues.
I feel bad in the last episode. I was like, oh, she's kind of
overdramatic about things. I think maybe both can be true
at the same time, if that makes sense.
But she did, she did have issues.
I mean she, I think when she was in the movie National Velvet and
she was young, which was about a girl that rides horses, she fell
off a horse and she had back issues forever after that and
she had a lot of ovarian cysts, things like that.
Then as we said in the last episode, she had really bad
pneumonia and was in a coma. And yeah, so she, she did have a
lot of health issues throughout her life and she was a very
successful actress. She won the Academy Award for
Best Actress in Butterfield 8, and that's before Richard
Burton. And she was known for being
pretty, like quite a party girl. She drank a lot.
She didn't really take good care of herself.
She didn't eat very well, drank a ton.
I cannot say that enough, but she was still very beautiful.
OK, so then Richard Burton, who is he?
An actor, very esteemed actor. He was born November 10th, 1925.
So he was a Scorpio and she was a Pisces, by the way, if you
guys are into that. And so he.
Was older than her, he. Was, but he was actually only
about 8 years older than him. So we're getting closer.
Yeah, getting closer. He was from Wales.
He grew up in a very large, pretty poor family in Oh my
gosh, I forgot to look up how to say this.
It's a Welsh town. Welsh is very hard to pronounce
if you don't speak it. Pontra Heidefin maybe is how you
say it. It's a hilly small mining town.
He had twelve siblings. His.
Yeah, his father worked in a coal mine.
Well, yeah, Elizabeth Taylor had one brother so, and she was
pretty wealthy, so they they definitely were from different
backgrounds. His father worked in a coal
mine, His mother was a barmaid and his father was a very
serious alcoholic, like insanely like drink 12 drinks a day, very
severe alcohol alcoholic. And Richard was only two when
his mother died. Shortly.
After giving birth to the 13th child, so.
Oh my God. Childhood.
So his dad had to raise 13 kids? Mm hmm.
But it sounds like his oldest sister primarily took care of
him and his brother too, So. Gosh.
All the siblings helped out. Richard was a great student,
well, at least in English. He loved poetry and writing and
reading. That's his lifelong passion.
And his real name is actually Richard Jenkins, but he went by
Richard Burton. This is kind of strange because
that was his mentor's last name, so that his schoolmaster was
Philip Burton and he saw a lot of potential in Richard and
wanted to help him. And he took him in and helped
him go to school to become an actor.
And Richard became Philip Burton's legal ward and changed
his last name to Richard Burton. Oh wow.
So we like kind of almost like adopted him.
Yeah, he's very strange. And Richard's dad accepted it
and was OK with it. But based on what I've read, it
seems like Richard always felt kind of guilty about leaving his
father and changing his last name.
And then also later in life like leaving Wales.
It seems like he always felt a little tortured about all of
that, like he turned his back on where he was from, you know?
But he was very proud to be Welsh.
He was known for being very handsome and charismatic, but
also self-conscious of the pockmarks on his face like acne
scars. So that's like his one flaw.
He had a deep love of poetry, Shakespeare, Wales and liquor,
and was known for having a very deep voice.
And he was more of a stage actor in his 20s.
He was known for acting in Shakespeare plays throughout the
1950s, and then he transitioned into the movies, and he's also
notably a ladies man. But interestingly, I read that
he said that he tried homosexuality but it didn't
take. Oh, that's really brave of him
at that time, to be open about that.
I know it is really brave. Didn't take.
Yeah, didn't stick. Yeah, he's a very serious actor.
Like he was known for knowing all of his lines and even his
Co, Co stars lines on the first day.
He just took it very seriously when he met Elizabeth Taylor.
I mentioned this in the last episode, but he was married to a
Welsh woman named Sybil Williams.
Well, Sybil Burton, because they were married, who was also Welsh
and had been a stage actress, but she retired from the stage
once they married and they had two doctor.
Two doctors they might have. They had two daughters, Kate and
Jessica, and Jessica had severe mental disabilities actually,
which is very hard I think, for civil to deal with because
Richard was, as I said last time, pretty much always
unfaithful too. Poor Sybil, but he would always
come back to her. As she said, Richard was already
drinking very heavily when he met Elizabeth, so it wasn't a
new thing when they started getting together.
But he also always felt on top of the shame of leaving Wales
and leaving his family, he always felt kind of ashamed
about being an actor. He thought it wasn't a very
noble pursuit and wanted to be a writer.
But I mean, he just kept doing it.
Yeah. So I don't know, but Richard and
Elizabeth, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard, Liz and Dick, How did
they meet? OK, as I said, they met on the
set of Cleopatra that they both starred in, but they had
actually encountered each other briefly before that in 1953.
So almost 10 years earlier, they had met at a Hollywood party,
and Elizabeth apparently disliked him.
She thought he seemed full of himself and that he talked too
much. And he had apparently laughed
out loud the first time he saw Elizabeth, just because of how
ridiculously beautiful she was. But I don't think they really
talked that much or made too much of an impression.
But yeah. Then almost 10 years later,
January 22nd, 1962, they met again on the set of Cleopatra.
But they're both married. Mm hmm.
Apparently there was a lot of Hemming and hawing before they
actually spoke to each other on set.
And then Richard said, has anybody ever told you you're a
very pretty girl? And I think he was kind of
joking, but she thought it was a lame first line to say and was
not impressed. Yeah.
I feel like that kind of sets you up because I guess, I mean,
I guess you could say thank you. But then what if you're like,
yeah, people have like, then you sound kind of conceited like
some people, I guess. Yeah, she was so confident.
I'm sure she had some clever response to that, but I know
it's a it's a weird thing to first say to some somebody, but
as they started acting together, they had a lot of chemistry and
attraction to each other. And during a kissing scene in
Cleopatra, they apparently kissed longer with each take.
And yes, the director, Joseph Mankiewicz shouted, would you
two mind if I say cut? And then said, does it interest
you that it's time for lunch so they would just keep making out?
Oh my God, Can you imagine that? Like you, you're married, but
you have feelings for somebody. But your job, it it forces you
to kiss that person. Feel like in a way I could never
be an actor, because then it's like, me neither.
You're just tempting what your body already feels or what you
should be suppressing. And how can you then, if you're
kissing on screen like, then forget about it.
I know. I feel like actors always try to
act like that doesn't happen or it doesn't matter.
Or they're like, oh, it's not romantic, 'cause there's all
these guys on set and you. Know, they're always like, did
you see that interview with Zendaya where someone said, you
know, is it weird for you and Timothy to kiss?
And she was, I think it's our job.
So it's not weird. Yeah, OK.
But like. Most of us don't have a job
where we have to kiss our Co worker so.
Clearly it happens because it's happening now with the Liz and
Dick. Elizabeth ended up dragging her
director's chair next to Richard and it stayed there throughout
the rest of the shoot. OK, yeah, so they're getting
really close. I'm sure Eddie Fisher was having
a meltdown. And then yeah, they pretty much
embarked on a full on affair that the public soon knew about
'cause there were pictures of them together, kind of like RTJ
and Amy episode. You know, like people couldn't
get enough of it. They were just countless
magazine and news newspaper stories written about them, and
Vatican even published a letter denouncing them because they
were just flagrantly, like out in the open, having an affair.
Oh my God. Wait.
A Congresswoman in Georgia called on Congress to make Miss
Taylor and Mr. Burton ineligible for re entry to the United
States on the grounds of undesirability.
Wait, so how did people like paparazzi?
Is how people knew about it. OK.
Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.
And then I think it was just becoming obvious and people were
just telling the press and but yeah it was it was captured by.
Paparazzi. Well, I mean, I can understand
why people are annoyed with them.
I I think it it's going a little too far for the Vatican to be
commenting in Congress, but. The fact that they are shameless
about it and they don't seem to feel guilty.
Like at least have some decency do it buying closed doors.
But if you don't even feel ashamed, geez.
I mean, what precedent does that set for people so?
And at this point, people were already annoyed with Elizabeth
Taylor for the Debbie Reynolds thing.
And then this happened just like, Oh my God, what is
happening to this country? I think people, I think people
were really panicking, not just because of what these two
individuals were doing, but they thought it was like a reflection
of, you know, morals going down the toilet, like, you know, the
country changing. I think it was almost like a
panic. Movies at the time were becoming
more scandalous. I think it was just a.
Oh yeah, that makes sense. Time for people?
We've talked about this gossip being representative of
society's values and morals, and so for any episode we do, I feel
like there are people who are like, mind your business, that's
their personal lives at the end of the day.
Like, we are social creatures. And the reason we talk about
these people's people is 'cause it's like a warning to other
people of what is socially acceptable in society.
So if two people are very openly having an affair and people
aren't commenting on it, then it's almost like, wait, is that
OK to do? I feel like it creates a sense
of panic, like you said, with like our morals just going down
the toilet. So people feel compelled to be
like, no, this is wrong. I want to say it's wrong because
I don't want my husband doing the same thing like I don't.
Know people are nervous. Like, is this going to happen to
me? Yeah, exactly.
It's it comes comes from an empathetic place, really.
It does. It does.
But it was getting out of hand, actually.
The Cleopatra director had received bomb threats.
OK, that's too much. And put detectives in the movie
as extras to make sure everything was OK.
Damn, yeah, it was getting crazy.
And as I mentioned in the last time we discussed Elizabeth
Taylor, she would go back to Eddie, was kind of back and
forth, but eventually she decided she wanted to be with
Richard. She didn't care about Eddie
anymore. Richard was her future.
Richard wasn't sure. He was always afraid to leave
his wife, Sybil. He felt really terrible about
it. He seemed more anguished about
it based on the biographies of Red and his daughter.
Jessica was facing possibly lifelong institution at the time
for her disabilities. Oh gosh.
As I said last time, Sybil also attempted suicide his wife, so
it was just a really bad time. And Elizabeth wrote in her
biography. She said, I loved Richard so
much that for the first time it was an unselfish love.
I didn't want to marry Richard because I didn't want him to be
unhappy. I didn't want Sybil to be
unhappy. I would have been perfectly
content to just talk to him on the phone every once in a while.
Oh my God, if I was civil, I would still not be OK with that
and. I mean, yeah, she's trying to
say that she would be with him in any way, like they didn't
have to be together together. But that's not really true
because your affair did resume. I don't trust her.
I don't. Trust her at all.
I think she's just saying that because she wants to feel better
about herself, right? Yeah.
I think, to be honest, sorry, what?
I think someone like her doesn't know what selfish or
selflessness is. I know, I agree.
But yeah, they they had called off their affair briefly, but it
resumed again because they started another movie together.
Oh my God, of course called. The VIPs.
And no, I meant to like, look up how some of these Welsh names
are pronounced and I didn't. That's good.
Wait. I feel like it could be fun to
just like, guess. And then if if you're Welsh,
you're like, Oh no, it's going to.
Go on. It's going to go on Google
Translate. Oh, Efar.
OK, that feels kind of weird for me to say.
Richard had a brother, Efar, who he admired the most, basically
his favorite brother. He really looked up to him.
And Efar, Efar. Sometimes it feels kind of weird
when you're speaking, you know English to say a word in
another. Accent I know.
It just feels phony. But anyway, his brother E4 was
furious when Richard was putting Sybil through this public
affair, and him and his brother found themselves in a screaming
match one day, shouting through the mail slot of the house, and
his whole family disapproved of what he's doing.
I mean, they were really serious Welsh Baptists as well, and they
did not believe in divorce and they were totally on Sybil's
side. And we're just really, really
mad at Richard about this. So he started drinking even more
every day and people were getting worried about him.
And there was this one story. So he is still with Sybil, but
he is seeing Elizabeth Taylor. One day, Richard and Sybil were
at this intimate dinner party with another couple, I think it
was just the four of them. And they're at the couple's
house. And during dinner, Elizabeth
kept calling their house to talk to Richard.
And he was just really distressing for Sybil.
Wait the the. Party is taking place at their
house. Richard And it wasn't at
Richard's house, it was at the other couple's house.
Oh, but so, Elizabeth. Somehow got the number and was
calling. There.
Oh, that's creepy. I know.
She's not like, OK, yeah, you want to talk to him on the phone
every now and then? How about not when he's at a
party with his wife? I know.
That's not so innocent. Eventually Richard did decide to
divorce Sybil to marry Elizabeth, but it it took a lot
of trial and error starts and stops.
When he first went to London to ask Sybil for a divorce, he
broke down. He couldn't do it.
And it seems like when he was with Sybil he did want to be
with her. But then when he was with
Elizabeth, he wanted to be with Elizabeth, but Richard and
Sybil. Sybil did finally divorce
December 5th 1963 on the grounds of abandonment and cruel and
inhumane treatment. Oh God, I know.
And Richard wouldn't see his daughters for two years after
that, and Sybil actually didn't speak to him ever again.
Wow, Good for her. It's crazy.
Never. So how did he get to even see
his daughters? Like I know I was 1/3.
Party. There must have been.
Wow, I still don't understand how she pulled that off.
Oh my God. I mean, that's really painful.
It's almost like he he died in her perspective.
Oh, and by the way, her Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie
Fisher haven't been officially divorced yet.
Oh my God. Because Eddie Fisher was
dragging his feet on divorce papers, but it was finalized
March 1964. It's crazy that everything with
Eddie, all that was only like 4 years ago.
Yeah. I just can't believe how much
has happened. Way too much.
So 10 days after divorce was finalized with Eddie Fisher,
Elizabeth and Richard flew to Montreal, where they were
married in a private ceremony. Elizabeth wore a $150,000
emerald and diamond necklace that Richard had given her with
matching earrings. It was Richard's second marriage
and Elizabeth the 5th. Oh my gosh.
And the next day, Richard resumed his role in Hamlet on
stage in Toronto, because he was, yeah, performing in Hamlet
at the time. And apparently he was at this
Toronto show that the term Dick and Liz.
One word was first used by Toronto newspapers to describe
all the hoopla going on. Dick and Les.
Dick and Les and after that
Toronto performance. And after his curtain call,
apparently he held out his hand to Elizabeth to join him on
stage and he called out. I say we will have no more
marriages And the audience cheered.
OK, I mean, Mel's not in Friends.
I mean, I know. The end.
I guess they're, like, relieved. I was going to say, imagine
being one of Elizabeth's friends.
And you're like, every time you catch up with her, it's like
something completely different. Like, oh, my gosh, Liz, I'm so
sorry your husband died. Yeah, I know.
Next thing you know, she's telling you about her new man
Eddie. And, like, wait a minute, wasn't
that your friend Debbie's? And then I'm sure she didn't
really have that many friends because people are scared.
Like, they're like, Oh no, Like, she might get with my husband
next. But then and then you're hearing
about this Richard guy like it's way too much.
It's a lot. I just thought this was funny.
It's not so much about their relationship with each other,
but I guess it just shows what it was like at the time.
So the Hamlet production was on tour.
It was going to different cities and the next food of Boston.
And apparently they had the worst crowds, mobs, fans
surrounding them ever. There was like shouting, clawing
at the airport and the hotel when they arrived and at one
point Elizabeth was being pulled in opposite directions at the
same time by people, and it was just insanity, all these crowds
rushing around them and Richard said, I've never seen anything
like this before. It's outrageous.
We had crowds like this in Toronto, but police gave us
adequate protection and Elizabeth said.
I've encountered mobs all over the world, but nothing to this
extent. And it's funny, I kept reading
like even later in life that for some reason Boston was the
craziest place. Like they got the most
attention. Wow, the craziest fans.
And we're from there. So it's just funny like.
Why? I know, I wouldn't expect.
That they literally said that again later, like Boston was the
worst. That's so funny to me because
Boston is so Catholic and so they're like upset about the
divorce or something. They're like Catholic, but
they're also like rough around the edges and.
I know, yeah. There's people screaming,
yelling, trying to grab them. It's kind of scary.
Were yelling like with anger or like, just 'cause they love?
Them, I think. I think kind of both.
I think some, I think mostly people were so excited to see
them. And then some people might have
been like, I love you, but some people might have been booing
them a little both. And during one of those Hamlet
performances, a man stood up and booed Richard, and Richard was
really thrown off by that. He'd never been booed before.
While performing, and afterward he was venting his anger to
Elizabeth in the hotel room. And in anger, he kicked the TV
screen, slicing his toe, and it set off an enormous fight
between them. Slicing his toe.
Remember, TV's back then were, you know, like a glass?
Yeah. Square.
It wasn't all the TV's we have now.
He basically just stuck his foot into a window.
Oh my God. And the journalist Richard Stern
recalled visiting the hotel to interview Richard a different
day. And when he arrived, they were
having loudest, he said most tremendous fight you ever could
imagine. But he also wrote, I had this
feeling they really deeply loved each other.
I. Don't know.
I mean, like, I feel like intensity like that is often
romanticized. It's like sexy that they're like
fighting and they have like passionate sex and stuff.
But I think what's the proverb like?
Love is patient. Love is kind.
Like, I don't. I think if you really love
someone you wouldn't be like punching things and throwing
things and like almost in a way it's physically threatening,
even if you're not hitting them to be to be violent like that.
And I don't think that's really love.
In my opinion, they. Fought a.
Lot. I think it's selfish.
I I think it's like love and that, like you want them to do
what you want them to do or whatever, and like you want to
be with them. But I don't.
I don't think it's like love in in a way that's selfless, like
like, she had said earlier. I know everything's about
balance. I mean, some fighting is OK, but
when you're yelling and screaming, yeah, almost every
day like that is. I don't think that's good.
And I I personally don't like over the top displays of anger.
Me neither. Oh my God, this.
Is very childish. But I guess some people do like
that. Some people want that I.
Think Elizabeth kind of loved it.
She thought it was thrilling. God, it's toxic though.
It's very toxic. Like just become AI.
Don't know, like ride a motorcycle if you want to throw,
like go rock climbing. Like adrenaline.
Yeah. Adrenaline.
Yeah. Go to LA Pouch.
Go Cliff. Diving like Twilight to raise
money for Philip Burton, so Richard Burton's mentor somewhat
adopted father to raise money for his music and dramatic
Academy. Richard and Elizabeth did a
poetry reading performance together which is pretty cool.
They just, you know, we're on stage and recited poetry.
And there was a standing ovation when it was over.
And they raised a lot of money and they got a lot of offers to
do more poetry readings. And afterward, they got
incredibly drunk, of course. Yeah, of course.
Well, that probably. Oh, sorry, I was going to say
that probably contributed to their fights.
Yes, that's true. They went hand in hand.
Weirdly, Eddie Fisher showed up after the performance to their
hotel and to their hotel room and walked in while Richard and
Elizabeth were in the middle of a fight.
Wait, was Eddie? Is he doing there?
Was Eddie still married to Elizabeth at this point?
No wait he he has no self respect like go.
Home. This reminds me.
This literally happened in the Elvis and and Margaret episode,
though like Elvis just showed up.
Yeah. Tell room one time that's.
Weird. Scary.
Like, what are you doing here? OK, in the hotel room?
Like, not just like it In the hotel In the lobby.
Apparently the room and he, he said her makeup, because this
was in his book. Of course.
Maybe he made it up. I don't.
Know. Oh yeah, maybe.
But why is he? That's embarrassing, I know.
He wrote. Her makeup smeared, her voice
loud and thrill. Elizabeth was furious about
something, and I thought I was married to that woman, That wild
thing. dot, dot, dot. The battle was over and we both
got what they both got, what they wanted.
Burton, a superstar, and Elizabeth had someone else to
pick up after her. And I guess Richard was still
feeling really guilty about Sybil and his daughters.
And he was sending thousands of pounds to his brothers and
sisters and whales, and he tried to find jobs for a lot of his
siblings in the movie business, trying to support them the best
that he could. I think, 'cause he felt so
guilty. OK, now we're In 1965, Richard
began filming the movie The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, which
also starred his former Co star and former lover Claire Bloom.
And Elizabeth was not happy about that at all.
They had had so him and this Claire Claire Bloom actors had
had a passionate affair before Elizabeth but while he was still
married to Sybil and yeah, she was, Elizabeth was extremely
nervous about this and she made a point to always be on set of
that film. And Richard, we're starting to
have tremors and handshaking from all of his drinking.
Oh. Wow.
Nerve damage. How old is he at this point?
Like in his 40s? Oh, he's born in the 20s. 5.
Yeah, in his 40s, yeah. Born in 25?
Yep, so he's 40. So that can happen.
Though if you are an alcoholic, you can destroy your nerves.
The tension between Elizabeth and his ex lover Claire was
taking a toll. And there were stories about
Elizabeth and Richard having shouting matches in restaurants.
Lots of stories of people witnessing them having all out
brawls, fights together, slapping.
It's crazy because this is like the hype, you know?
I think what they would remember is like their honeymoon phase,
like when they were so happy, but there was a lot of fights.
And then I know it's not normal guys.
It's not normal. Elizabeth and Richard signed on
to do another film together. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
I actually watched this movie last night because I felt like I
should see one of their movies and in the movie they play a
marriage that reflected their own a lot.
I could see it. They play this couple that
drinks an insane amount, like throughout the whole movie.
It's one of those movies that takes place over the course of
just one night. But they drink.
They drink non-stop. It's insane and they are
screaming at each other, being so mean to each other.
But then they're like, laugh and be weird and it it's quite
bizarre. But I could see how that's kind
of what they were like. Like they were.
Just. That's interesting.
They're very seem like they're pretty self aware.
Yeah, very strange. They were really good in it
though. Meanwhile, I thought this was
pretty cool to read about. His ex-wife Sybil actually
opened the Club Arthur in New York City, which became the go
to spot for well known artists like Julie Andrews, Leonard
Bernstein, Truman Capote, Princess Margaret have to keep
mentioning the new John. Mayer comes up all the time.
Our new our new down there. And it's a coincidence.
I heard about this club recently.
It's actually where it's believed mixing was first
invented, like layering 2 tables, turntables at the same
time where like one song fades into another.
Oh, that's so wait, shit, she's cool.
Yeah, so like, this is basically where disco was invented.
Wow. Wait, she's like leveling up
after this breakup, though? Yes, and then she actually
remarried a rock musician. Oh, wow.
So. She's turning her life around.
Good for her. It's pretty cool.
So yeah, who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?
It was a new type of role for Elizabeth.
She had always played this really glamorous woman, but even
though she was only 33, she was already sort of being outshown
by younger people. I mean, you know, now it's the
60s. Like this is the age of the
hippie. The glamour of the 50s just
wasn't that appealing to people anymore.
Yeah. And in the movie she plays a
middle-aged woman. I think she plays someone like
considerably older than she actually was, and she gained 25
lbs for the role. And in the book I read it said
women had grown up alongside her as a child, then teenager, then
in her 20s. Now here was Elizabeth, suddenly
older, heavier, disappointed, disillusioned and drunk.
Elizabeth herself would later observe that the woman that
identified with her in a way that they did not identify with
that other larger than life movie star Marilyn Monroe,
because Marilyn never went through menopause.
Yeah. Oh, that's so interesting.
Yeah, as I said in the movie they go all at it, fighting at
each other, all out fighting with each other.
People did notice that during filming this movie, their
marriage had never been better, Elizabeth said.
It was very cathartic because we would get all our shouting and
bawling out on set and then go home and cuddle.
Oh, like, I can see that. I guess maybe, like, couples
should do that if they're having a really tough time.
Fights, yeah, where they channel it, I think.
I don't know, though, like that could lead to real fights.
I would try it. Once, yeah.
However, she did say, even though that did sound almost
like good advice. She did say that the movie was
starting to affect her and the way that they spoke to each
other. She said Richard and I would be
out with friends and I'd hear myself say to him, for Christ's
sake, shut up, I'm not finished talking.
Oh yeah. And then the next morning, I
would think that wasn't me, That was Martha.
Your character. Oh, that actually does not seem
good. No.
Like you would develop pretty bad habits.
I know they did treat each other so horribly in that movie.
OK then I would just want to read to you just a glimpse of
their life because it describes how chaotic their life was, OK?
It says. When the Italian director
arrived at their hotel in Dublin, he found their household
in a not unusual state of near chaos.
Elizabeth had taken in a new pet a tiny, leaping African primate
known as a Bush baby. God knows where she picked it
up, but it was wrecking havoc in the luxurious suite, ripping up
cushions and curtains and overturning lamps.
It had retreated to the bathroom, clinging to the hot
water pipes, while Elizabeth yelled at Richard to come
immediately to rescue it. But Burton was deep in
conversation with Zephirelli on the proposed Shakespearean
production. Will you please stop talking
about your damn Shakespeare? Give me a hand, Elizabeth
streaked and nursing a drink, yelled.
Will you please stop this bloody nonsense with that horrendous
little monster and come and talk to this man?
He's a superb Shakespearean director, and you might be lucky
enough to work with him one day. Can you be more pleasant to him?
I don't care what he thinks of me, Elizabeth retorted.
All I want is some help with my Bush baby.
Oh my God. Don't kids too, don't they?
They both have kids. Why are you taking it, baby?
I just looked it up and like, I can see some people thinking
them, they're really cute, but they have these really crazy
eyes, these Bush babies. Let me see.
They're kind of scary looking Bush baby.
They're. Little, yeah.
How small is it? It kind of looks like a Furby.
Oh, it's. Kind of cute.
But yeah, I could. It's a bit freaky.
Too freaky cute where I leave off.
Oh, something I noticed. Which you'll see soon, because
we'll have clips. But I noticed that her accent
when she was younger, was much more American, and then it
became a lot more English, I think, as she's been with him.
Yeah, she was born in England, but she mostly lived in America,
and they were insanely wealthy at this point.
And an interesting thing I read about them is that they started
having this habit of thinking that people were always giving
them things. Like I read that this actor
Michael York once showed Richard his old rare books and for some
reason Richard assumed they were gifts.
And this photographer, David Bailey, was showing them a new
camera. And with minute, within minutes,
it belonged to them. Oh my God, it's so awkward.
Elizabeth always expected gifts from her directors because
that's what she experienced when she was younger, and she let her
Taming of the Shrew Director Zeffirelli know about the little
this little shop. She wanted something from
Bulgari, which is insanely expensive, and he bought her
what she wanted this gold bracelet that once belonged to
Napoleon. Sister.
The Napoleon. Oh my God, that actor Michael
York described them. He said they were like gods to
be showered with offerings. They strode the world like too
Colossi. They do seem really entitled.
Yeah, they do, to say the least. Actually wrote in my notes for
us to take a break right now. What do you think?
I'm ready to do like maybe like get like go through one more
year and then take a break. OK, OK.
Well, actually all I have for 1966 is a clip that I sent to
you. All right, so now it's 1966,
They are going to be in a Doctor Faustus.
And it sounds interesting they were caught after leaving
rehearsal and it just shows them together.
And yeah, I sent it to you, Mel. All right, let me see.
Richard, how did you go that? Was all right you're.
Happy with the report rehearsal? Yes, you waited a long time for
this. Has it been worthwhile?
Well, we haven't done it yet, you know.
Well, you almost do the hardest part of it, aren't you?
Yeah. Which way do we go?
No, tonight will be the hardest. Elizabeth, your first stage
player, what's your verdict? Oh, good gracious me.
My verdict. Your verdict?
Of the play. Well, I think the play has
proven itself fairly good over several 100 years.
What's? Your verdict of yourself?
Well, I don't know. I have no verdict of myself.
I was nervous. And the audience?
I didn't fall ashamed or anything.
Did you expect to? What did you expect to?
Well, I expect anything. How was your husband off the
record? I thought he was absolutely
marvelous, but I always do. I feel like in that clip you can
definitely see like, she's like being bombarded and it's kind of
overwhelming. But honestly, like, it seems
like their relationship to me seems pretty pleasant.
Like she's like, oh, I'm always super proud of him.
It does, yeah. She's came off very composed.
They seem very happy, so maybe they were.
You would never know that there's a Bush baby wreaking
havoc at home. No, you wouldn't.
The next thing I have is another clip.
So this is talking about acting on stage again.
And this was a big part of Richard Burton's career because
he had started as a stage actor and people can be snobby about
that and thinking that stage acting is more superior to movie
acting. And in this, they're in an
interview together. And basically the interviewer
asks, brings up like, oh, well, what happened to you?
Like you're not taking the stage very seriously or you left, you
left the stage and Elizabeth defends him.
And I just think it's funny if you he says it kind of quietly,
but try to listen for because she sticks up for him.
And then Richard says Elizabeth, pull yourself together and he
starts like, tapping her on the shoulder.
To stop talking. So it's interesting.
So yeah, that's this clip pulling this.
Up Burton have faced the the question of whether you should
have continued as a an imposing and even, in the view of many
people, great stage actor or moved into the world of films,
which is more commercially rewarding but perhaps not so
rewarding artistically. Do you ever regret having moved
into the commercial cinema? Oh, exterior Richard.
That makes me so angry because he has not left the stage.
That's absolute bloody rubbish. Well, last year he just got
through doing a thing here for Oxford on the stage.
The year before that, what was he doing on Broadway?
That was the stage. How can you say he's left the
stage? Because that is not a continuous
stage career in the sense that for example, Paul Schofield or
Laurence Olivier. He's not continuous either.
On the stage, he does deal with some money and so does Paul
Schofield that. Schofield has made one film in
10 or 14 years, and Richard was at one time after Coriolanus,
particularly hailed as being potentially the greatest stage
actor that England ever produced.
I wonder whether in a way you're making of Thousters, which is
the story of a man who sells out for a dream almost.
Is is is that comparable with your decision then?
I don't think so, because. It's kind of sweet of Elizabeth.
Like, I find it endearing that she's sticking up for him.
But she is like, very animated and riled up about it.
That is so angry. Yeah.
I guess like that is a conflict in relationships, too.
It's like when your partner speaks on your behalf, Like,
they get upset on your behalf. Some people, some people get
really embarrassed by that because they're like, they don't
want confrontation. Yeah, that's true.
I mean, it is a rude question. So I don't believe her first
things. Makes me so angry.
I thought it was kind of cute of her.
It is cute. Even the way he said it was is
very like soft together. He was still a serious stage
actor, but in 1967 alone there were 3 Burton Taylor films
starring both of them, The Taming of the Shrew, Doctor
Faustus and the Comedians, plus Elizabeths film Reflection in
the Golden Eye. So you can imagine.
And it's kind of Burton Taylor Overload.
Oh yeah. People might be starting to get
a little bit sick of them. They bought a 10 passenger jet
named the Elizabeth, and over the next decade they would earn
approximately $88 million, which would be about 800 million
today. And they spent 3/4 of it on
furs, diamonds, paintings, clothing, travel, food, liquor,
yacht and jet. They were just ridiculously
wealthy, and I thought this was crazy when they would be.
If they were in Europe, they would sometimes have their
favorite dishes from restaurants in LA flown to them and vice
versa, like across the world. Oh my.
Like, they're like getting delivery from across the world.
That is. So yeah, I mean, I don't blame
the people for getting annoyed by them.
Like, they're so entitled. You cannot relate to them and
so. Indulgent, too.
And they were. I kept reading.
They were increasingly drinking more, and I don't know how it
can get more and more. I don't get it.
Yeah. And they were filming a movie in
the country. Dahomey.
I hope I said that right. It's now been in.
But they were invited to this state dinner that was held in
their honor with 200 guests, but they failed to show up because
they were too drunk. Oh my God.
And sometimes Richard would just disappear and Elizabeth would
run around calling his name. So it was chaotic.
It's just inconsiderate. Yep, April 1967.
Both Richard and Elizabeth were nominated for Who Was Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? It was Burton's fifth Oscar
nomination, but he couldn't bear to attend and lose again because
he's lost four times already. So he decided not to go.
She has won before, I know, And she wanted to go.
And all of her people were urging her to attend because she
was seen as the front runner that year.
And then Richard told Elizabeth that he had dreamed of her plane
crashing on the way to California.
Oh. My and her husband, previous
husband, had died in a plane crash.
They were in France at the time, so Elizabeth decided to stay
with Richard and not go to the Academy Award.
Her official excuse was that they were still shooting the
comedians their movie and that they couldn't leave, but it
wasn't really true. Richard did end up losing, but
Elizabeth did win. And she wasn't there.
That sucks. And that's so manipulative of
him because I feel like he just couldn't bear.
She was a front runner. He couldn't bear her winning,
him losing. And to say, I mean, maybe it's
true, but I kind of doubt it, that he had a dream that her
plane crashed. Yeah.
Yeah, to to pull that. Like I have a bad feeling about
this. I know.
Seriously. And because she already has
trauma related to plane crashes, she's more likely to take that
seriously. I mean, hey, like, we all have
sometimes a bad feeling about things.
You hear those rare stories where it's like, and then it
came true, but most of the time it doesn't.
If you have a dream of like, something crazy happens, So it's
too bad. Yeah.
I guess it happens sometimes, like we've we've seen people not
be there to accept the reward, but it's really disappointing
when that happens. At least she won once before.
But imagine you're home and then you hear that you won or you're
like, oh, I wasn't there. Yeah, and you didn't even have
to be home. Yeah, it's annoying.
I guess maybe you're like, well, at least I had my life because I
didn't die in the plane crash, but.
She was really awesome in that movie, though I I can see why
she won. I was impressed. 1968, you know,
despite all of the fighting, they were still really crazy
about each other. The book that I read actually
had excerpts from Richard's diary that he wrote in that
Elizabeth Taylor actually provided for the book, which is
pretty cool and in the dark. Oh no, maybe it wasn't.
Sorry it wasn't with Taylor that provided.
It was his wife. His later wife.
In his diary at the time, Richard wrote about Elizabeth
and said she was looking infinitely sexy in the shortest
miniskirt I've ever seen. It barely.
And when she moved it didn't covered her crotch.
Oh my God, he's still really passionate, you know, really
into her. The Burton's decided to buy a
boat and live at sea rather than have a permanent home in any
country. They would simply sail to
wherever they needed to go and just dock there.
And I think it was mostly to avoid taxes.
Their boat was called the Charisma, which merged their
daughters names Kate, Liza and Maria's names.
But makes me kind of sad because Jessica isn't part of it, which
is the mentally disabled daughter.
Oh, that's terrible. I know.
What did they call it? The charisma.
Charisma. Yeah, charisma.
And what are the daughters names?
Kate, Liza and Maria. Kate So they could have done
like Collies Merica or something, I don't know.
That could have figured it out. That's ridiculous, I know.
I don't trust them. The boat had 7 bedrooms and
three bathrooms with a crew of eight people.
Their movie Doctor Faustus premiered and had terrible
reviews. It was a financial
disappointment and this is the beginning of a stretch of films
that they did together. Bombing, getting 4 views and the
public starting to turn on them. And I thought it was funny.
In the book Furious Love, they wrote, what the press giveth,
the press taketh away. Yeah, kind of honestly.
Reminds me of Bennifer Ben. Affleck, Yes, I'm thinking about
that and that that affected their relationship.
Too. Yeah, the bad films.
Because people were like, oh, these people suck and they're
overexposed and we just don't want to hear about them.
Yep. And I feel like Taylor Swift
really runs that risk lately, especially with Travis.
I hate to say it. What?
Is there anything new about
Travis? No, but it's just like we have
to hear about them all the time and like, OK, one, OK, never
mind. I don't want to get into what
what I was going to say 1 football season is enough.
But then it makes it sound like I'm like one of those people.
Like I don't want to see two or suit on football.
Like, it's not that, It's just like it is kind of forced upon
you. Yes, I will say I do feel like
it has died down a little bit it it had came out I.
Think so too, but I think. It would be wise to keep it that
way. I think so too.
But obviously she's just living her life and she's at the game
watching her boyfriend play. This is different.
They are deliberately choosing to act in movies together.
And so, like, it's not just the movie.
It's And you know, keep in mind, like back then they didn't have
as much movies and TV shows to watch.
So it's like everybody has to watch like the same actors on
screen together over and over again.
That would get so boring. Yeah, especially if your movie
theater in town only has like 2 movies or.
Something, yeah, it's like. It keeps being Richard Burton.
Yeah. Oh, my God.
I mean, I think they were talented actors, but let's say
it's just not your thing. I mean, that would be annoying.
Yeah. Yeah.
They started to realize that they were.
They actually, like, sat down and wrote down all their movies.
And they realized that they were more successful when they were
separate. But they did keep acting
together. It wasn't the end yet.
May 1968. This is part of the reason I
called them Bejeweled. Richard bought at auction the
Krup diamond for Elizabeth that was worth nearly $2,000,000.
Wow, it was a very big deal. That same month their movie Boom
With an Exclamation Mark came out to terrible reviews.
And yeah, I actually wrote my note.
My notes kind of reminds me of Jlo and Ben Affleck.
He was taking a toll. And late 1968, it was just a bad
year for them. Elizabeth had gained weight for
the movie and I think was struggling to lose it.
And she was having a lot of uterine pain and she couldn't
work through the pain. And she actually had a
hysterectomy. And Richard was so nervous for
her on edge and was drinking. And he actually experienced A
tragedy. Shortly shortly after this, he
and his brother EFA went to their house in Switzerland and
they were drinking a lot. They were at this like cafe
partying, and it was 3:00 AM and EFA left the cafe to go to the
house to open it up because I think they hadn't been there for
a while. So he was going to, I don't
know, turn all the lights on and unlock the gates and stuff like
that. So Efra went over there and he
was stumbling around in the dark.
He was searching for a light switch to turn on the outside
light and his brother Efra slipped on a grill or something
and he fell against a windowsill and broke his neck and it left
him completely paralyzed. Oh gosh.
And it was just a total, like, random accident.
But Richard was distraught because that was his favorite
brother, you know, who looked up to the most.
And he felt so guilty for it that like somehow it was his
fault. Like he wouldn't have been there
if it wasn't for him. And I really like after reading
about them. To me, this incident is the big
turning point in Richard's life and their relationship, because
he just became like so self-destructive after this.
Oh, I thought, I don't know why I thought you were going to say
the opposite. Obviously it just goes downhill
from there. I thought you were going to say
he, like, starts taking things seriously and oh gosh.
He wrote. I loved Efra the best.
He was nearest to a father to me.
And yeah, the movies were continuing to lose money.
But he didn't die, right? He didn't.
Die. No, but he was just completely
paralyzed. So I think it was just really
hard for him to see. And his brother would continue
to struggle. And he did die young, so it's so
sad. But they were spending a lot of
time with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Edward and Wallace.
Wow. Probably related to them the
most. And there's this.
One night the four of them were hanging out and Richard picked
up Wallace and swung her around the room.
And apparently Elizabeth got so mad that she locked Richard in
the spare bedroom that night. And Richard tried to kick.
Richard tried to kick down the door, shattering the plaster.
And then he wrote in his diary, I better be off to work, because
I behaved with a fair amount of disgrace yesterday.
It is not a good idea to drink so much.
Oh my God, that's crazy. There was a lock from the
outside of the room. I know that is weird.
The. Guest room.
How did that work? Yeah, you just invite guests
over and then you can lock them in.
That's a good. Point Mel.
Odd Bob. It's crazy that this episode
connects to last episode. No, actually 2.
Two episodes ago, yeah, but about Elizabeth, he wrote in his
diary. I love that woman so much
sometimes that I cannot believe my luck.
He was pretty romantic. Like he wrote a lot of letters
to Elizabeth, sometimes even while she was home in the other
room, which is cute, And he wrote about her.
She is a wildly exciting lovemistress.
She is shy and witty. She is nobody's fool.
She's a brilliant actress. She is beautiful, but beyond the
dreams of pornography, she can be arrogant and willful.
She's clever and loving. She tolerates my impossibilities
and my drunkenness. She is an ache in the stomach
when I'm away from her and she loves me and I love her till I
die. That is pretty romantic.
It is so. Then what happened?
What happened? First, more, more jewels.
Burton bid on another famous jewel, La Peregrina, A pear
shaped Pearl that had been given to Mary Tudor, the first
daughter of King Henry the eighth.
I know given to Mary Tudor by King Philip of Spain.
And it was such a famous Pearl that had its own biography.
Apparently it was found. Sorry, this is like unrelated,
but it was found by a slave in Panama who's given his freedom
for it. And then the Bonaparte, like
Napoleon, owned it in the 1800s and Oh my gosh, it's just crazy.
Like all these Royals owned it. And the Prince, this Prince
Alfonso from Spain, wanted to return it to Spain, but he was
outbid by Richard Burton. Wow.
But he it was $37,000, which surprised me because it's less
than that diamond he bought. But it was it was just crazy and
crazier than that. Is that when she got this Pearl
that was so historic she almost lost it?
It fell off the necklace and she couldn't find it anywhere.
And then she saw that the dog was gnawing at it.
The dog. Oh my God.
This has been like centuries of the royal family.
And the dog has it. That just kind of shows how
careless these people are though.
Elizabeth. Geez.
And then he bought her that same year, the most expensive diamond
in the world. He outbid Aristotle Onassis.
He bought it for 1.1 million. And Aristotle Onassis was
supposed to be, I think, the wealthiest man.
Yeah, in the world. So that's crazy.
And to get this diamond, it took three couriers.
Two of them were decoys. Wow.
Three weeks to get the diamond. Three men carried identical
briefcases, only one with the Taylor Burton diamond in it, and
all of them were escorted by armed security guards.
Oh my God. So insane.
I wouldn't want something that expensive.
I feel like that's so dangerous. I know.
When would you ever wear it? I would worry.
Someone would cut my ear off. I know.
Where were they? Earrings, you said.
No, I think it was a diamond. And I think it was turned into a
necklace. Yeah.
And what's silly is I think they had a replica made, and she
mostly wore the replica. Yeah, that's just because it was
too expensive to wear. Yeah, because, yeah, like people
might try to kill her or something to get it, you know?
Yeah, I mean, I I guess it's like an investment.
You can sell it later on and it is only more valuable because
Elizabeth Taylor owned it. But I just, it seems like a
status thing more than anything. Even if I was super rich, I was
saying this to my boyfriend the other day.
Even if I was super, super rich and like money was no object to
me, I still would never be able to justify spending money on
something like that. Or like I would never buy, I
would never buy like a Rolex or something like I just, I
wouldn't be able to justify that.
That's just me. Yeah, lately I do want more
quality jewelry. Like, I would like something
that's real gold or real silver or something.
But I yeah, I don't need like something that's $10,000 or
whatever. I mean $1,000,000.
Like, why do you need a necklace that's that expensive?
It's just insane. Yeah, something you can't even
wear. It's just a total waste.
Yeah, it's obscene. And they kept fighting despite
all these jewels. Richard could say really nasty,
cool things to her, but Elizabeth would turn that to her
advantage, making her making him pay for things he said with
jewels and other things she wanted.
Yeah. So, like, if he was mean to her,
she'd be like, that was mean. Now you have to buy me.
Something. But crazy enough, Richard.
You know, they were drinking so much he was told by a doctor
that he would die very soon if he didn't stop drinking.
Wow. So did he.
So he did stop drinking. Yeah, I know I wasn't.
I wasn't sure what you were asking about.
If he died. He did stop drinking, but
apparently Elizabeth found it very hard to adjust to having a
sober husband because part of their dynamic was drinking and
having fun that. Really.
We talked about this with Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert on
The Future on. If you guys want to listen to
that, that when drinking is something that bonds a couple,
that's not really a good recipe. No, it's not, unfortunately.
Richard was nominated for an Academy Award, but he lost
again. Oh God, does he ever win?
Does he ever win an Academy? Award OK, He's nominated 7
times. Hey, I mean, that's an honor and
it's all it is. And I just want to say, you
know, sorry to bring it up again, but everyone complaining
about Greta Gerwig is like, all right, I know Richard Burton,
everyone who's nominated 7 times.
Yeah. So chill out.
Greta has made like 3 films, you know.
Now it's the Seventies, 1970. They appeared in an episode of
Here's Lucy with Lucille Ball, and their episode was the
highest rated on the show's entire run.
So even though it's kind of like Taylor Swift, you know, even
though everyone's saying, oh, we're so sick of them, people
still turned out to see them and crazy.
This was crazy to me. She was still having issues with
her back and she had a surgery for it.
And while Elizabeth was in the hospital, privacy was just
completely invaded. You know, they didn't have the
automated doors and things like that we have now in hospitals.
And strangers would just walk into her room to look at her and
while she was in bed and apparently a hippie in quotes,
wandered into her room just to have a look.
And it really scared them because the Manson murders had
just happened. So yeah, they were really
freaked out. That's creepy.
That is not OK. No.
And then I have this interview I wanted to show you guys.
They talk about how they like to fight.
This weekend is the 6th wedding anniversary of U2.
At the time, there were a great many people who what?
Do you mean legal? Yeah, isn't it?
Yeah. Listen, well, if you were so
devoted to each other, as I think you are, what about all
these raws? You can't pick up a movie,
magazine or anything about Liz and Dick battling.
No, I must say we enjoy fighting.
I think that fighting was somebody you love and I'm really
sure of. And if you're really sure of
yourself in your love, I think having a fight, an out and out
outrageous, ridiculous fight is one of the greatest exercises in
marital togetherness. I think especially if,
especially if you have no really weak points.
Oh, I see. See, you do not attack the weak
points. They're perfectly obvious.
And Elizabeth of myself. So when I insult Elizabeth,
which I frequently do, I do not attack that soft spot in the
underbelly. And when she attacks me, double
chins you. Bloody well have.
Yeah, she's got a sloppy fat belly.
I never I. Like of his pop marks you.
Know well we can attack those things, but they're superficial.
No, they're ethics. You're.
You're more, you're more vulnerable, I'm sure, on other
things than that. Well, yes, I am, yeah, we have.
We've always had, of course, the enormous problem, Elizabeth and
myself, of my being essentially a stage actor and Elizabeth the
film actress. And so we frequently have lovely
quarrels about that, where Elizabeth describes stage actors
as being full of rubbish. And I replied that more.
More Pontifical. OK, Oh my God.
When I insult Elizabeth, as I frequently do, I don't go below
the belt. I found my.
Double. Chin you have see I here's the
thing. I think that like playful
banter, like some people flirt in a way where they like to like
tease each other and be mean and it's like part like some some
people that like does get them on and like get them going and
they really like that. But like, I don't know, a double
chin commenting on something like that.
I would, I know. I would cry if if my boyfriend
commented on that. He always kind of poked fun at
her, being a little chubby like he calls her Mumpy.
She has insanely thick skin though.
I kept reading. Yeah, she really didn't let
things get to her. Yeah.
That's part of why she can just, you know, hurt people, because
it doesn't hurt. But isn't that interesting?
I I do have to say she was so beautiful like she.
Was. Gorgeous, gorgeous baby.
Just perfect. Yeah.
I love her eyebrows and eyes and.
Just you can see. You can see why she mesmerized
people. This might sound bad, but she
got this out. I don't know if Abby's
listening, but I feel like she would be into Richard Burt.
Why do you say that? Just seems like her time.
A manly man? Yeah, sometime this year too,
Richard. Again, said that Boston, of all
places, is the worst for Mobs, so I just wanted to shout out
Boston for that. There was more spending money
lavishly, health problems, battling alcoholism, which
interestingly, Richard Burton never admitted he had.
He never considered himself an alcoholic, He just said he liked
to drink. They went to Budapest for
Richard's movie Blue Beard. And some people were appalled by
their display of wealth in the communist country and just a
lack of sensitivity to, you know, where they were.
Yeah, because a lot of people were pretty poor at the time
there. And then, sadly, March 21st,
1972, Richard's beloved brother if Jenkins died.
And Richard was devastated. And after writing about his
brother's death, he put down his diary and didn't touch it again
for eight years. Oh wow.
And until this point, he had actually been sober.
Elizabeth had been drinking still, but he had been sober
since. He was told he would die.
But he started drinking again and he just kind of gave up on
his life. He just started being nastier,
just not taking care of himself at all later that month.
It's crazy that they did this like his brother just died and I
think like 10 days later they did this two night interview on
TV and they were both really clearly drunk and out of it
during it. And Elizabeth later admitted
that she had made a fool of herself in this interview.
But Richard didn't care, and for the first time in their
eight-year relationship, Richard became unfaithful.
Oh wow. I'm surprised it took him so
long, honestly. I know.
I mean, it does seem like they were really in love with each
other, despite how dysfunctional it was, because he was always a
cheater with Sybil. Yeah.
So it was pretty impressive that he wasn't.
But he, like I said, he just kind of gave up after his
brother died and he hooked up with his Co star, Natalie
Dellen. And I can't believe this in this
saga that we've been doing with the, you know, Debbie, Eddie,
Liz, This is the third time this has happened because at 5:00 AM,
Elizabeth called his hotel and said get that woman out of my
bed. As you re put your.
Why does this keep happening? Somebody calling a hotel and
being like, what are you, Who's in my bed, right?
Now. Oh my God.
So she was pissed. But they didn't break up.
They patched things up and he bought her a large sapphire
ring. Richard, then.
I don't know. I guess he was trying to change
his scene. He announced that he was going
to teach literature course at Oxford and he'd commute from
London while Elizabeth shot a film there.
And he did teach a semester and he seemed to really enjoy it.
Oh, that's nice and was popular with the students.
I know. I don't know why that didn't
continue. After this cheating incident.
Elizabeth became increasingly more possessive and I read this
story about while she was on a film set.
While Richard was filming a movie, a girl had been invited
to Richard's dressing room. I don't know why.
I don't really understand the circumstances, but I don't know
if it was a Trav. But Elizabeth was hiding behind
the sofa and when the girl walked into the room, Elizabeth
jumped up holding a broken vodka bottle and chased the girl out.
Of her room. Oh my God.
It's more violent, but it kind of reminds me of Chuck and
Blair. Like, do you remember when on
Gossip Girl they used to do this thing where Chuck would like,
flirt with a girl and then bring her back to his place and then
Blair would be waiting to yell at the girl?
It was like a game to them. Yeah.
Wait, maybe. I don't know.
That's Imagine being chased by Elizabeth Taylor like a weapon
that would keep you up at night. That is scary.
And Richard said he started to hate the movies that they did
about rich people and it seemed like he started to become like
disgusted with their own life. And yeah, I was just tired of it
and tired of the fighting and the chaos, and Elizabeth was
starting to lose his patience for his drinking, but she
herself wouldn't stop drinking either.
And then July 4th, 1973. I don't know why it was the 4th
of July, but Elizabeth issued A handwritten statement saying I'm
convinced it would be a good, constructive idea of Richard and
I to separate for a while. Maybe we loved each other too
much. I never believed such a thing
was possible. But we have been in each other's
pockets constantly, never being apart for matter, but for
matters of life and death. And I believe it has caused a
temporary breakdown of communication.
I believe with all my heart that separation will ultimately bring
us back to where we should be, and that's together.
Who is she writing this to? The public.
I guess the press. Yeah.
Oh wow. I know.
I feel like she did not need to do that.
No, that's too much information. They're on a break.
And when is this?
This is July 4th, 1973. OK, but do they end up
divorcing? Yes.
This is not a breakup yet. There is more to come.
Richard did enlist a doctor to help detoxify from alcohol.
And just so you know, at this point, she's 41 and he's 47 or
so. They even though they were on a
break, supposedly they did Still keep in touch and the break only
lasted 2 weeks. They reunited in Rome at the
airport and I wrote, I wrote my notes.
Did they really need a statement for only two weeks?
But maybe she didn't know it would be that short.
Maybe, she thought. If she released a statement,
she'd be more likely to stick to it.
That's true. They reunited, they got back
together, they kissed each other at this airport and they were so
happy. But their reunion only lasted 9
days. Oh, because Richard started
drinking again and becoming intolerable to Elizabeth.
And they separated again and this time began divorce
proceedings. Wow.
And Elizabeth told her friend. I don't want to be that much in
love ever again. Oh, that's a devastating
feeling. Both of them started having
flings with other people pretty much right away.
Yeah. In November, I guess a couple
months later, Elizabeth was in the hospital again for an
ovarian cyst. And after her surgery, she had
heard that her friend Lawrence Harvey had died.
And she just felt completely lost, like just horrible.
You know, she's in the hospital, then she hears her friend died
and she called Richard and said, can I come home?
And Richard immediately flew to her as fast as he could and they
were back together OK. Seems like they're both.
I mean, they're not in great places.
Going through breakup takes a lot of stamina.
Like you have to, like be willing to like, grieve that
person and like, push yourself to like, hmm, go through that.
Doesn't seem like they're both in a place mentally to be able
to go through that, even if they should break up.
It's hard, yeah. I guess his first words when he
saw her was Hello Lumpy. How are you feeling?
Oh my God. She was.
But I guess that was his nickname for her.
And then she was smiling and all giddy and said hi POC face.
Oh. My God, and they were.
Hugging and squeezing and kissing each other and they were
all happy. But despite being back together
he he was still back to his out of control ways.
He randomly met an 18 year old girl in front of a local jail.
OK, two red flags here while filming a movie and he invited
her to his trailer and he bought her a $450 ring.
Oh, not as much as the rings he buys Elizabeth, obviously, but
still $450. It's a lot.
Elizabeth was pissed when you heard about this, like, what the
hell are you doing? And he was really falling apart.
Like he was shaking. He looked terrible.
He couldn't get any of his lines right in acting, and he was
rushed to the hospital and he was told that he would be dead
in two weeks if he didn't detoxify alcohol.
He had a temperature of 104. His kidneys were at the point of
collapse. He was just he was dying,
basically, he's in the hospital for six weeks.
Elizabeth stayed in touch by phone, but she couldn't really
take it anymore. And quietly she filed for
divorce. April 25th, 1974 they publicly
announced divorce. So.
Before that, like first divorce, but they had separated twice.
They had said yes, OK, they had started the process of divorce
before, but it didn't. Stick.
Yeah, yes. Wow.
Also, I just wanted to say, like, I know they made a lot of
money, but it seems like their spending is reckless.
It seems like eventually if you keep buying all this expensive
like you have other expenses too, it seems like you would run
out of money. Yep.
And that's kind of the reason Richard kept acting and doing a
lot of movies that he didn't even think were that great,
because their lifestyle was so expensive and they couldn't keep
up with it. Yeah, I.
Hate to read about that. I hate when people do that.
Like you have such opportunity. Why are you being so reckless?
Yeah. Drives me crazy.
Crazy. Also, four months later, after
their divorce, Richard became engaged.
What to the Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia.
Oh my God, how did he meet? Her I don't even know, but
insane. And Elizabeth was very upset
when she heard this. The other Elizabeth and
experienced painful back spasms when she heard.
But the engagement only lasted a few months, and it was called
off December 1974. And she had been seeing this
guy, Henry Weinberg, and she called that off in 1975.
And in 1975, Richard and Elizabeth agreed to meet at her
Swiss lawyer's office to discuss their financial settlement.
Seemed like it was supposed to be all business, but when they
saw each other, they were struck by how good the others looked.
Oh. Yeah, I bet they both brought
their egg in too. Yes, Richard had stopped
drinking again, and he looked slim and healthy, and she was
more slim down, and they just looked good and they fell into
each other's arms, tears streaming, and they were back
together. OK.
Elizabeth wanted to remarry, but Richard was hesitant.
Hesitant. After all, they'd been through.
Understandable. I feel like that would be kind
of devastate, like you're you're back together, but OK, we used
to be husband and wife. How do you just be boyfriend?
I know that is strange. I.
Can kind of get why you would want to get remarried, because
it's like, let's just pick up where we left off.
Yeah, that you're right. That would be hard, I think to
think like, yeah, we were, we were more serious before where
if you still love each other as much.
But it's almost like a demotion. I don't know.
It's. It's strange, yeah.
Elizabeth had an X-ray that revealed a spot on her lungs
that they thought could be cancer.
It turned out to be just scar tissue and they were so happy,
but they had been really nervous.
While they were celebrating the good news, Richard got down on
one knee and proposed marriage. All was happy, but that night he
went out and got drunk. Oh God.
It's so hard to hear. October 10th, 1975, they married
again on the banks of the Chobe River in Botswana.
They had always liked to go into Africa because I guess they got
less attention there and they just liked the beautiful nature
and everything. About a month later, after their
second wedding, Elizabeth went back to the hospital for her
back and neck pain, and she wanted Richard to stay with her.
But this time he didn't want to and he willed her to the
hospital. And when a photographer asked
him to kiss for the camera, he refused.
And in December, they returned to their chalet in Switzerland,
and he went on the ski slopes one day to, you know, just get
away. And on the slopes he noticed a
tall, stunning blonde woman, a former model named Susie Hunt,
And he was captivated by her. But Elizabeth didn't know.
He began seeing this Susie Hunt. And then he signed on for three
months in the stage play Equus, which I always remember is the
play that Daniel Radcliffe was in.
Yeah. And at this time, it's crazy
because they were just, like, so happy to be back together and
remarried, but they were sleeping in separate bedrooms.
I don't know if that's because someone was snoring or
something, but it's strange. And he left Switzerland to begin
rehearsals for his play in New York.
Elizabeth stayed in Switzerland, but Susie went with him.
Unbeknownst to Elizabeth and upset that Richard had left
without her, Elizabeth took up with a 37 year old advertising
executive that she'd met at a discotheque.
OK, so they're both. Yeah, yeah, they're both.
Cheating. Yeah, yeah.
But that's not AI feel like they're both really possessive
and jealous, though. I don't.
I don't see that going. Well, Nope.
Richard called Elizabeth from New York.
She's in Switzerland and asked her to come to New York.
So she did. She was all happy.
He greeted her at the airport with a big kiss.
But when they got to the hotel, she checked into a separate
suite, which is kind of odd. Yeah, Richard had been doing
pretty good health wise. Susie didn't really drink, and
it was actually a pretty healthy companion for him.
But Elizabeth didn't know that. Like she.
I don't think she even knew Susie existed.
And she could tell something wasn't right, though, because he
was acting distant and tentative.
And that's when he told her that he wanted a divorce.
Oh my God, to be with Susie. Yep, he got with.
Apparently had only invited Elizabeth there to tell her that
he had fallen in love with Susie Hunt.
That's terrible, I know. I do think if you want to break
up with someone and you want to do it in person, you go to them,
do not make them travel to you and then they have to get back
on the plane. Yeah, that's terrible.
Selfish, especially because the person probably excited to see
you. You should surprise them.
I don't. Maybe not surprise them, I don't
know. I do feel bad, despite
everything. I do feel bad for Elizabeth And
she started yelling and said why the hell did you have me come
all the way here to tell me that?
And she left New York the next day.
Yeah, I don't blame she. Agreed to a divorce, and then
she flew to LA and checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel because
she couldn't bear to be in any of their shared homes, and she
withdrew from hosting the Tonys. Oh, wow.
August 1st, 1976 their divorce was finalized.
OK, just a little more about their lives because crazy enough
it doesn't stop there. Richard and Susie did marry OK,
and they weren't together for a long, pretty long time.
But they divorced six years later, so it wasn't forever.
Elizabeth quickly remarried the politician John Warner Junior, a
wealthy Virginian Republican, and he became a senator.
And while she was with him, she put her career aside to be a
senator's wife, which wasn't that unusual.
It might sound crazy, but she had always talked about wanting
to retire from acting. But she did become very bored
and restless and I think felt kind of suppressed in that
relationship. And they divorced after four
years. I wonder if she married him just
to be like to have someone else since Richard left me somebody.
I know in 1982 Elizabeth threw a large gala celebration for her
50th birthday and she arrived at the party arm in arm with
Richard Burton. What?
What the heck? They danced together and maybe
spent the night together. The press was ecstatic.
They might be hiding, Were they? And then the two of them agreed
to starting to play together and they would tour the country.
It was called Private Lives and it started out great.
They were so happy. This is awesome reunion.
I'm guessing that they were romantic together.
Yeah, but by the end of it, they couldn't stand each other.
They were so over it. It was like the last nail in the
coffin. Like, Elizabeth was late all the
time drinking. They were fighting, yeah.
And it it just ended in disaster.
I think they stopped showing up. And like the understudies had to
stand in and Richard said he would not act with her
understudy anymore and he just disappeared and it was not good.
Yeah, I guess sometimes with those relationships, like we
talked in the beginning about how many times you have to break
up with someone, some of those relationships might be so
intense that you have to do it over and over and over again
until you're like, wait, this actually is boring?
I actually don't like this person.
I feel like by the time they did this play together, yeah, in the
80s, they realized like, I'm I cannot take this anymore.
Because they probably, like, spent all that time longing for
the other one too and building it up in their head.
And then once they get back together, they're older now,
they've had other partners, they've probably hopefully
matured a little bit. And then it's like, oh wait,
this doesn't hit the way it used to.
And the play was getting bad reviews, so.
It was just. Then, on a whim, it seems
Richard married his young assistant Sally Haye.
Oh Yep, so that was his fourth marriage.
But sadly, his marriage to Sally Haye didn't last too long,
because August 4, 1984, Richard Burton died of a cerebral
hemorrhage at age 58 years old. That is very young, but I mean
writing was on the wall there. It was.
It was for, like, decades. Yeah.
Elizabeth fainted when she heard the news, and she later said I
was still in love with him the day he died.
I think he still loved me too. His wife Sally asked her not to
attend the funeral because it would be a huge distraction.
Yeah, so she didn't go, but she did visit his grave, and it's
kind of sad. The paparazzi were like hounding
her, and her bodyguards had to hold open umbrellas to shield
her to get a little privacy. But she did apparently go the
next morning to see his grave, and then she went to Wales to
visit his family. It's sad.
And then just to wrap up Elizabeth Taylor, because I
don't know if we'll cover her again.
Probably not. But in 1988 she attended the
Betty Ford clinic rehab after relapsing the prescription drugs
because she had a problem with that.
And it's interesting, she was one of the first celebrities to
be open about going to rehab. Like before that, people were
very private about it. Or, you know, it was kind of a
new thing. And I do appreciate that about
Elizabeth. I feel like she's always been
very open. Yeah, and vulnerable.
But while she was there, she met this young, good looking
construction worker and former trucker Larry Fortensky, who was
20 years younger than her and she married him her 7th husband.
Wow. They were married for five years
in the late 90s. Yeah.
They weren't together until death was part in the late 90s.
Elizabeth did survive a brain tumor, which is incredible.
And she did also lots of work for AIDS research and funding
because she actually, I never mentioned it because didn't
really fit in the story. But she did have a lot of gay
men friends that she was really close to even back in like the
50s. And she and her friend founded
the National AIDS Research Foundation and it's pretty
amazing. Like, even when people were
terrified of the disease, like they didn't didn't know what it
was. People were afraid to like even
be close to people with AIDS. At the time.
She did things like visit them in the hospital and sit in bed
with them to show that, like they weren't dangerous and they
weren't untouchable. So that's really nice of her.
Yeah. And I guess till, I think till
the end of her days, she had a photo of Richard hung in her
bedroom, her and Richard in Oval frame.
And I think she always loved him and he always loved her.
It's just they couldn't always be together, you know, They
couldn't really make it work. She died on my sister's
birthday, March 23rd 2011. Oh.
I was going to say it does seem like she loved Richard Burton
the most. But it does.
I mean, Mike Todd sadly passed away so who knows what could
have been but. That's true.
It seems like, I mean, she has a such a fiery personality.
I feel like Richard Burton was like her true equal in a sense,
but like together, those two personalities would never work.
What do they call that? Like a twin flame or two people
who it's like the opposite of or different from a soul mate.
It's like two people who are like they pass through each
other's lives and they connect and it's so strong.
But like, they're not really meant to be together forever.
It's just what, what did they say?
Everyone's for a season or a reason or whatever.
Yeah, I I think definitely they they meant a lot to each other
and it was obviously really passionate, but it just wasn't
stable. But sometimes there are people
like that in your life that make a huge impact, but they're not
really meant to maybe be in your life.
Forever. Yeah, exactly.
But like, it doesn't mean that they're not any less than what
they were, if that makes sense. Like even if you had to break up
some relationships maybe are not meant to be till death do us
part, but that doesn't mean it wasn't like successful for what
it was and you can still. Have a relationship with someone
like this might sound weird, but even if you don't talk to them,
I know what I mean. Yes, we this came up in our
Carly Simon and James Taylor, another Taylor.
Taylor. Taylor, Taylor, Taylor.
I wonder if they're related. And Carly said something like
I've accepted the fact that, like, I still love him and I'll
always love him, which I think is really therapeutic for some
people to hear because they might really struggle to get
over someone thinking they have to fall out of love with them.
But you can still love someone and accept that you are not with
them. I agree.
And that you're better off not being with them.
So that was Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Wow. Thank you for listening.
What a flagship episode. Thank you.
So next week is our last episode before summer break.
Yes, OK, Next week's episode, believe it or not, is connected
to the saga that I've been hosting with the Debbie, Eddie,
Liz, Richard. But it's none of those people.
It's not any of this war, but it is related to them.
This person is connected to them, and it's a relationship
that stands on its own. People have requested this
relationship, you know, without any connection to Elizabeth
Burton or Debbie Reynolds or whatever.
So I don't know. Do you think that's enough of a
hint? I think.
So yeah, OK. And then on our Instagram before
the episodes come out, we usually tease with a picture and
people guess. So if you want to check that out
for another hint if you just can't wait.
On. Tuesday on Tuesday before the
episode comes out. And yes, we are going to be
going on a little break for the summer, so our next episode's
Patreon, Patreon only. And if you want to join the
Patreon, now is your time to do so, because you won't be able to
join it while we're on a break, which is so annoying.
Like it's it's not up to us. But Patreon just does it that
way. If we pause payments, people
can't join. So we want to just get the
message out there because we have so many Patreon episodes
that if, if you there's one that you really want to listen to,
this is the best time to sign up.
Because you'll pay $5 and then you'll get to listen to all the
episodes you want, and then we'll resume back in August.
Yep. And that'll be like 42 episodes,
yeah, or so. So I think.
It's like 45 because we have a lot of episodes.
That are like, Oh yeah. Cup like updates and stuff like
that too. That's true.
More than 40.
Well, thank you guys so much for joining us on this whirlwind
Wednesday. Yep.
And we'll get back together next week.
Yeah. Bye.