Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?
Are you sorry we dressed apart. Does your man?
Hello everybody. Welcome to significant lovers.
We are your hosts and we're cousins.
I'm Kel. And I am Mel.
Mel and Kel Kel Mel is in Atlanta right now.
Yep, on a trip. Mm Hmm.
In a hotel room. Any Georgia listeners listening
right now? You're so far away.
Oh my gosh, actually. I was listening.
Kind of freaky. Two hour and 15 minute plane
ride. It was pretty quick actually.
Surprisingly, I know, but when you just think about
geographically. Like I know the.
Way you are for me. It's weird, I know.
Today I feel like I just was like, you know, some of those
travel days where you're just in a bad mood.
I was just in a bad mood at the airport.
I took forever to get my luggage.
And I don't know, today I've just been so cranky.
So it's a delight to have the podcast.
Today. Oh yeah, Hopefully this cheers
you up the high. Of my day, yeah.
Talking about some other people's relationship problems
and there is a lot today. A lot, a lot.
Today we are talking about the infamous Debbie Reynolds and
Eddie Fisher. And.
Then in parentheses, Elizabeth Taylor OK, so I really will come
up. I don't know their story, so
that's interesting. You say infamous all.
Right. Yeah, this is going to be crazy.
It's a crazy story. And this was recommended by our
listener Charlotte, I think more than once or maybe by two
Charlotte's. But there's definitely 2
messages we got from someone named Charlotte so and.
That would be such a coincidence.
I know it must be the same, and I think a couple, I think a
couple other people recommended them too because they were in
our spreadsheet. But what really caught my
attention to Charlotte in the comments said Debbie Reynolds
and Eddie Fisher lore. And I was like, hmm, that makes
it sound like there's a lot. Yeah.
To explore, and there is, and I'm really excited to be
discussing this today, so let's get ready for it.
So Cal, what 3 words would you use to describe this couple?
Oh, I was thinking about this. Three words I would use to
describe this relationship would be deceptive, naive.
Oh. And closed off.
And that's two words but one term.
Yeah. This relationship, if you didn't
know, is one part of a. Well, I got this might be a
spoiler, but I mean, it's happened a long time ago.
So I think a lot of people already know one part of a love
triangle with Elizabeth Taylor. It is basically the 1950s
version of Brad, Jennifer Aniston Angelina, sort of, And
it's a crazy, crazy story. So I guess we should just get
into it. What's that song that's like the
history book on the shelf? It's always repeating itself.
Oh yeah, that's definitely true. Oh my.
God, I can't wait to hear. So, so so who is Eddie Fisher?
He is. He was rest in peace.
I almost talked I must I almost talked about him in present
tense. I know rest in peace.
Eddie Fisher was born August 10th, 1928 in Philadelphia.
He was the 4th kid out of seven kids and his parents were Jewish
immigrants from Russia, I guess I should say.
By the way, Eddie Fisher, in case anyone doesn't know, is a I
keep saying, Oh my gosh, I I just sometimes feel like I get
so close to these people when I'm researching them.
Like they feel so current. But I know.
I keep saying, I guess it's OK to say in present tense, but he
was a singer. Yeah, we've talked because.
People's, yeah, people's souls still continue to exist after
their death, so. He was a singer and Debbie,
Debbie Reynolds was an actress. And Eddie, yeah, he's from a
Russian Jewish family. His parents last name was
originally Tish, but then they changed it to Fisher in the
1940s census for some reason. So could have been Eddie Tish,
could have been Carrie Tish because yeah, Carrie Fisher is
his daughter. He was a very charismatic kid.
He sang and performed from a young age, as a lot of the
people on this show do. His family called him Sonny Boy
and he became a local star in Philly, performing in shows and
on the radio. And he ended up dropping out of
high school senior year to pursue music that might be in
our drinking game if anyone's drinking along.
He did have a great voice. I, I was listening to some of
his music. He did have really good voice
and he had sort of like a boyish, handsome look.
He's pretty short, though. He's 5 foot five, but Debbie,
Debbie's five too. So works out and he's always
called a crooner. It's always referred to as a
crooner, Yes. He sings like love ballads.
This is a description of him from his daughter in a
subsequent marriage, Jolie. So she didn't know him obviously
when he was young, but this is how she described him, which I
thought was interesting. She said that Eddie was cool and
charismatic, mysterious but funny, and made you feel
interesting and beautiful for a moment.
Oh, for a moment, that sounds kind of like a flaw, actually.
I think it is Mel. I think it is.
In the 1940s he sang and performed in bands when he was
discovered and was put on the Eddie Cantor radio show, which
had nationwide exposure and he was a huge hit on it.
He went viral, basically 1940s version, and then he signed a
recording contract with RCA Victor and became their best
selling pop artist at the time and he was considered a teen
idol. People thought he was really
cute. He had 17 songs in the top ten
in the music charts between 1950 and 1956, and 35 songs in the
Top 40. His song Anytime became the
first record to sell a million copies, and he has his song I
just thought was interesting. He has his song called You're
Breaking My Heart that I think oddly foreshadows his
relationships because the main lyrics of the song are You're
Breaking My Heart, leaving me for someone new dot dot dot.
Oh, I'm just looking him up now. He was pretty cute.
He had kind of a baby face. He did have a baby face.
And I think when you watch him in video, he's like, because I
think in pictures I'm kind of like, yeah, he's OK.
But when I saw him in videos, he did.
He did come off very cute and trying brown eyes, you know, And
I something about the fact that he is kind of short makes him
cute, too. Yeah, but yeah, so he was.
He had a lot of hits in the 40s and early 50s.
And he also had a popular TV show called Coke Time with Eddie
Fisher. How cute.
He had $1,000,000 contract with Coca-Cola and he was called the
Coca-Cola Kid. It was like a nickname.
Oh wait, did you say coke time or cook time?
Coke time? Oh yeah, I thought it was a good
cooking show. He did.
No, just that Coke was the sponsor, I guess so.
So 50s, it's like ultimate 50s. Similar to Elvis, he was drafted
into the US Army in 1951, and he did basic training and then he
served a year in Korea. But unlike Elvis, his handlers
were actually able to ensure that he would spend two years in
the military as a soloist in the US Army band, rather than do
active duty actual duty. Oh, that's sick.
Yeah. So elevation in the Army.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was just a music he like
entertained the soldiers basically.
It's really nice. Yeah.
But definitely doesn't. I mean, I wouldn't want to be in
the military, so I get it. But it does make Elvis look
pretty tough that he actually, because I was reading into his
like, wait, So what did Elvis actually do?
And he did things like, I mean, he didn't actually go to war or
anything, but he did like vehicle maintenance and just
munitions work and latrine cleaning.
And you know, he did legit work, but.
Steady Fisher. Everyday man.
Yeah, yeah, but he was. A singer in the band and.
One of the better positions to. Be.
Yeah, And that's nice that they had a band.
I know that is really nice. But while he was in the
military, he was still able to like, have television
appearances and release music that maybe he recorded ahead of
time or something. Like his career didn't stop, it
just kept going. So he kind of benefited,
benefited from that. And I think before Debbie
Reynolds, he was quite a ladies man and had a lot of flings with
women. And I also read that he had a
fling with Princess Margaret so. Wow, I've been really.
That's crazy her lately because I'm rewatching The Crown.
Oh really? Yeah, that's interesting.
I wonder when it's. Crazy how cut.
I know it's crazy how connected everybody is.
So he hasn't met her yet, but who is Debbie Reynolds?
Oh, my gosh. So she's an actress.
You might know her from movies like Singing in the Rain or How
the West was one. She got an awesome yes.
I was going to say those of us, you know, like millennials,
younger generation, probably know her from Halloween Town as
Grandma Aggie Cromwell. She's so cute.
I was I was rewatching clips of her.
She's beautiful as a grandma. Oh my gosh, she's such a
beautiful woman and she's just so cute.
How she? Is vastly overrated.
Sorry, what? What were you?
Saying no it is cute how? I mean I I'm all for natural
beauty and stuff but I just think it's cute how much she
still like did herself up with makeup and her hair and just
cute. Yeah.
Debbie Reynolds had a very long acting career and she was born
April 1st in 1932 in El Paso, TX.
So Eddie is 4 years older than her.
Her real name is Mary Frances Reynolds, and she went by Franny
when she was younger. So Franny Franny Reynolds.
But then Debbie became her stage name.
Yeah, I guess they didn't think Franny was hip enough.
I don't know. Franny Reynolds, I think.
That's cute. It is cute.
But Debbie's like, oh, Debbie, think of that time period.
I could see that being like the cool girl.
It's so interesting how people just change their names and, you
know, everybody calls her that. Like, does she just think of
herself as a Debbie? I guess so.
I know. Her father was a Carpenter for a
railroad company. Her mother did laundry to make
an income. So she definitely grew up pretty
poor and she had an older brother.
She was raised in a very strict Nazarene church and she has said
that she was raised very Victorian, so very formal, I'm
guessing very strict. She was a Girl Scout and she was
very into it. She loved talking about the Girl
Scouts. I know she was a very wholesome
girl. When she was younger she was
very clean cut. Her family moved to Burbank, CA
when she was seven years old in 1939 and when she was 16 she won
Miss Burbank Beauty Contest and she was offered a contract with
Warner Brothers and that's when she was given the stage name
Debbie. So she was signed to Warner
Brothers. And sorry, I think I have the
beginning of the story again. I do that a lot so.
I'm like, wait, like I just said that.
Well, she was discovered by Warner Brothers and MGM.
Somehow they both companies were fighting over her.
They both wanted to sign her and they had to flip a coin to see
which one would get. Her.
And that's really cute how fair that is.
I know it's really fair. Like, all right, let's just.
I know they could have been like, oh, I'll offer you more
money or something. Yeah.
Warner Brothers won the coin toss, and she was with them for
two years. But then when Warner Brothers
stopped making musicals because musicals was really her thing,
she moved to MGM. To me, Debbie seemed like a very
fast talker, very energetic, funny, charismatic.
She's a lot of impressions. She kind of reminded me of Ann
Margaret a little bit. She's like how much of A
performer she was and she's a very light and funny person and
she's very open and almost matter of fact about her life.
Debbie Reynolds became friends with Elizabeth Taylor.
She's a big star back in the day but became friends with her age,
17. Wait, that's things.
They were friends. Yes.
And this is going to be a love triangle.
Yes. Oh, OK.
I know. So Debbie Reynolds became
friends with Elizabeth Taylor at age 17.
Yeah. So she knew Elizabeth before
Eddie. They went to school together on
The MGM lot. And Debbie said of her, I was
just a beginner and she and I were not in any manner alike,
but we got along very well because I was in awe of going to
school with Elizabeth Taylor and if anyone said they weren't,
then they were lying or blind. Debbie made a big splash in the
movie 2 Weeks With Love in 1950, and then she was in the movie
Singing in the Rain, which people call the best musical of
all time. She had never been kissed before
until Singing in the Rain when she was 18.
Her first kiss was with Gene Kelly.
I know. That's sweet.
It's crazy. Like that'd be a rarity as a
actress especially. I know she was very wholesome.
Yeah. She really was.
She even said that she thought she would just act for a few
years and then go back to school and become a gym teacher.
A gym is so cute. Yeah, but she never did go to
college. Her acting career was a success.
She was in many movies and TV shows and musicals and stage
shows. But we're still in the 1950s,
and Debbie meets Eddie Fisher. She wrote about this in her
memoir She wrote. The first time Eddie Fisher
asked me out was as his guest for his opening night at the
Coconut Grove in Hollywood. Her friend was sitting next to
her and she said that she left the show when she saw all the
photographers taking pictures of Eddie and me together.
I didn't learn until much later that he'd also invited her.
I bet he went to her house right after he dropped me off in
Burbank. So this is her with like,
hindsight, I guess. But.
Wait, is the friend also Elizabeth Taylor or is it?
Different. No, it's a different.
It's a different. Friend.
Oh wow, interesting, that kind of reminds me someone I dated
but whatever who always just had a million people he was talking
to at once. I feel like Eddie was that way,
but I don't think Debbie knew that at the time.
Yeah, she wrote about that same night later in her memoir in
regards to the movie Athena she wrote.
Probably the most memorable, memorable thing about making
this movie was meeting Eddie Fisher.
Eddie was then a famous singer with his own TV show, and he was
constantly being interviewed. When asked by a reporter what
young lady he would most like to meet, Eddie answered Debbie
Reynolds. So Joe Pasternak brought Eddie
to the set one day and introduced us.
We had our pictures taken and then lunch at the commissary.
The next day, Eddie called my house and invited me to his
opening at the Coconut Grove, a popular nightclub at the
Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Los Angeles.
Johnny Grant, mutual friend of ours, had given Eddie my phone
number. My mother was thrilled.
She was a fan of Eddie's TV show.
And how old was Eddie at this time?
Because he seems pretty established already.
I have to figure this out. She's like 18.
Yeah, I think so. So he would be 22, I think.
So it's not like a crazy age difference, but he but he does
have more experience than her. And by the way.
Kind of like he is a ladies man and what you said about like can
make people feel special for a moment.
That is very dangerous, I feel, especially.
It's very dangerous. When they make you feel special.
Yes, keep that in mind. What is it from?
Oh, Eclipse. Eclipse game, I was going to
say. By the way, every single person
in this story has at least one memoir.
I love that. Or two, it's kind of ridiculous.
No, I didn't. I read excerpts from them, but I
didn't read them all. No, but it's kind of crazy.
So that's gonna come up a lot. We don't know a ton about their
early courting days, but they did send telegrams to each
other. I'm assuming they went on dates
and it was very cute and they probably drank Coca-Cola.
And there is one telegram that she mentioned in her book.
There's one telegram he wrote. Debbie as a joke, said just
picked up a magazine and didn't see your picture or mine either.
What are we going to do? He said that yeah, that's.
Cute it is. He is charming.
There have been reports that people have written about that
Eddie and Debbie's marriage was arranged by MGM and that they
sold the couple as America's sweethearts.
But Debbie, I don't think has that perspective at all.
And I just think that like him, it seems like he was asked who
do you want to meet? And he said, Debbie Reynolds.
Like to me, that doesn't mean it was a fake relationship or, you
know, like it was all PRI think that when you become famous,
that's like one of the perks of being famous is people like who
do you want to meet? OK, we'll set it.
Up for you, you know, exactly because it's like, I mean, that
would be like even in real life if you said, oh, there's someone
that you know, at your college or something, oh, I really want
to meet them. And someone that you say that
you might be like, oh, I know them.
I'll set you up like we can go to this party.
And yeah, when you're famous, you just have connections.
So if you want to meet them, you can.
What's holding you back? I know I I actually always
delusionally think I don't even want to be famous, but like if I
was, if someone asked me, like who do you want to meet?
I always because I feel like that's a question they ask.
I don't know why. Yeah, they do.
I always think about who I would say.
I kind of, you know, they say don't meet your idols.
They do. I don't know if I would want to
meet my favorite celebrities I know.
Maybe maybe not your favorite, but maybe just someone that
seems interesting to you. I would love to meet like Oprah.
Oh yeah, that would be cool. I feel like that wouldn't
disappoint because she knows how to have a good conversation.
Exactly. You know, that's a good, that's
a good idea. But I also read that his manager
didn't want him to commit or like get married yet.
So that makes me think it wasn't, you know, like a setup
or. No.
PR or whatever. But I'll, I'll talk about that
more later in 1996. This is way in the future.
But he talked about the beginning of his relationship
with Debbie and he said, I fell in love with Debbie like
everyone else did. I watched it singing in the
rain. I watched it in Korea with a lot
of other guys. So he had a question on her.
Well, they're dating now and they become engaged In 1954.
They had a huge engagement party at the Beverly Hills Hotel with
400 people. Wow, that's iconic.
I know that's like a wedding. Yeah, literally.
It's weird. Wow, that's huge extravaganza.
I wonder it's for the pre party. I wonder if everyone invited to
the engagement party is then invited to the wedding?
You know what, Mel? I don't think they were.
That's such a good point because I think the wedding was a little
smaller. Yeah.
That's weird though. I know.
Yeah, you would expect the. You would, apparently.
I don't know if this was at the engagement party, but the
comedian Henny Youngman joked that Debbie's engagement ring
was really a broken piece of a Coke bottle.
Since Eddie was Mr. Koch, I thought that was funny.
They were very publicly in love. Eddie would bring her on stage
during performances and would call her my Princess and she
would call him my handsome Prince.
And she went to Philadelphia to stay with his family.
And she wrote in her memoir that this was a really happy time in
her life. Interestingly, she also wrote
that Frank Sinatra advised her to break off her engagement with
Eddie Fisher and said you should think twice about that, sweetie,
Why? Is it because he knew what Eddie
was like or because he wanted? Debbie, I think because he knew
what Eddie was like. Oh, interesting.
Yeah. Or I feel like that's.
A good question for the audience, like if you only saw
the good parts of someone, but then other people were saying,
hey, like you might want to rethink this, what would you do?
That would be so hard. I know if it's just hearsay, but
like to you, they're like an incredible person and the
relationship is great and you're super happy.
Yeah, that is a question. What do you think, Mel?
I kind of feel like at this age in my life, like it depends on
who it's coming from. But that's true.
I don't think I would be able, my anxiety and everything, I
wouldn't be able to just let it go and be like, oh, you don't
know what you're talking about because obviously it must be
coming from somewhere. Yeah.
I think you would kind of know in your gut if the person was
saying something true or not. You know, I think you'd kind of
know if if they were confirming your suspicion or if you're
like, what? No, maybe that's naive of me,
but I feel like she, I don't know what she thought.
I don't know what she thought of that.
But if she had any suspicions about Eddie not being who he
seemed, then maybe she would have listened to him.
But I don't know. That's tough.
Yeah. And it definitely does depend.
Like, if it's someone really close to you, you want to kind
of think about that. But.
Yeah. If it's just like an
acquaintance, that I don't know. Also, if it's like another in
this situation, it's another man.
It makes you call to question like, well, what are what's your
motivation here? Yeah, I know.
I, I would be kind of skeptical of Frank Sinatra's advice, so I
don't know just from what I've. Especially if you're like,
actually heard of him. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's Debbie Reynolds. So as I said, she was friends
with Elizabeth Taylor and her boyfriend, then husband at the
time was the producer Mike Todd, who was her third husband.
In case anyone doesn't know, Elizabeth goes on to have seven
husbands. That's like her claim to fame
besides being an actress. But Mike with his husband and
Elizabeth, Eddie and Debbie were all friends.
They were a couple friends. In 1955, Eddie and Debbie got
married. They were married in the
Catskills in New York. And the wedding was really
beloved by American audiences. People were calling them
America's sweethearts. And I have a newspaper article I
want to read. It says singer Eddie Fisher and
actress Debbie Reynolds, who kept the show business world
agog for a year with their romance, were married Monday
night in a 3 minute ceremony. Eddie kissed his bride with
gusto and she side with delight. Sullivan County Judge Lawrence
Cook performed the simple ceremony in a cottage at the
Hotel Grossinger, a Catskill Mountain resort 100 miles from
New York. Eddie got his start there six
years ago. Eddie Mumbles.
The young couple repeated their marital vows in clear voices,
but Eddie's I Do was barely audible.
In the living room of the cottage crowded crowded with
relatives and friends, 6 candles burned in a Candelabra.
The room was banked with white flowers.
In another room, A6 tiered 5 foot wedding cake was the
centerpiece for the wedding reception.
After the ceremony, Judge Cook told the bride and groom, I know
the ceremony was planned for yesterday.
I admire you, Mr. Fisher for keeping the precepts of your
religion and you, Misses Fisher, for respecting your husband's
beliefs. Yom Kippur.
He referred to the Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of Atonement,
which began Sunday and ended the sundown Monday.
Eddie is Jewish and spent the day at a quiet religious service
and meditation. The wedding was delayed for an
hour because the bride's mother, Mrs. Maxine Reynolds of Burbank,
CA, arrived late. Heavy traffic held her up and
she needed time to dress for the new jewels.
Oh, I like that detail. OK.
That seems very real to me too. I OK, just a little bit more
about the claim. I asked, I asked Charlie this,
like, do you think people actually get married just for
PR? And he said, yeah, sure.
And so then I was researching it and I came across some articles
saying that like, there have been celebrities that get
married, but they don't actually get married.
Like they don't actually legally get married.
They just have a wedding. Oh, really?
Like, yeah, there was like some reality people.
Brody Jenner. Yeah, I think so.
There's been people, they just never actually do it.
It's like they just have the ceremony and party.
So yeah, I just find it hard to believe people would literally
like, have children. Yeah, especially for their
religious parts of your ceremony.
I just don't think that you would really fake that.
But I mean, some people do get married for reasons other than
that. They love you.
That's true. That's.
True, arranged marriages and people get married for business
purposes in a sense so. That's.
True, like a huge stretch to think that people would have
ulterior motives. Yeah.
And we've, we've said before too, that like sometimes people
might not even be like consciously in a PR
relationship, but it kind of is, if that makes sense, you know
what I mean? Even like Elton John got married
to a woman like in the 70s or whatever, and obviously that was
like arranged like it was wasn't because he wanted to was like
for the look of it. So I do think people might get
married for those reasons, but. That's true.
Well, we'll, we'll explore.
Debbie has said that she was very inexperienced before their
marriage, that she was a virgin who still lived with her
parents, but Eddie was definitely not 1956 Debbie
Reynolds and Eddie Fisher and had their first child together,
a daughter named Carrie Fisher who you guys probably know.
She's Princess Leia in Star Wars.
She's in When Harry met Sally scene stealer.
Honestly she's hilarious. I have been, I I knew I
shouldn't. I was like getting distracted.
I'm like, this is supposed to be about Dave Reynolds and Eddie
Fisher, but I started going down and Carrie Fisher rabbit hole.
And I know, I know so many people already know this and I'm
like, so late to the game, but she is just awesome.
Oh yeah. She is so funny, so down to
earth. She's like the coolest lady.
I love her. I'm like becoming obsessed with
her, so I know, wow. Yeah, she seemed awesome.
Yeah, So she was born. Eddie and Debbie starred in a
movie together called Bundle of Joy as the leads.
It was a musical and it was a remake of, like, a 1930s movie,
But it was basically about a woman that finds a baby left on
a doorstep and becomes responsible for the baby.
And then she falls in love with Eddie Fisher's character.
And, you know, there's all these like, random reasons that she's
like pretending that's the babe, her baby.
And, you know, but it's it seemed cute.
And maybe I'll like put in a clip of them singing together.
Honest to goodness I do. Honest to goodness, I do.
But apparently according to her memoir, her and Eddie were
fighting a lot while filming this because he was new to
acting, he wasn't an actor and he was sort of struggling and
she would try to help him but he wouldn't accept her advice.
I would get kind of annoyed when she gave him pointers and they
had a fight on the way to set. One day he was picking at her
for wearing a cross necklace since he was Jewish.
They had some like argument about that and they started
fighting and then she said let me get out of the car and she
got out of the car and walked like 3 blocks to set.
So they definitely had some drama during that movie.
Yeah, I could see that she's just trying to help him out.
But yeah, he probably had kind of a fragile ego.
It seemed like he did, but you know, he was just a singer.
Yeah. But people didn't know about
that. They thought it was just, I
mean, I think their marriage was still okay, but they were
fighting. But everyone did still think of
them as this like wholesome couple, America's sweethearts.
They just had a baby and they had a baby in this movie.
It felt like it was really them, you know?
Yeah, I know. I was going to say that's
interesting. The parallel with them having
just had a baby in real life. Yeah, but I bet also having a
newborn at home was like adding stress to them.
Yes, I'm sure they had helped, but.
Probably I read now. I don't remember where I read
this, but I read that Eddie was performing at the Tropicana
Hotel in Vegas and that he had some affairs during that time,
including the model Pat Sheehan. I know, and I don't know if
Debbie, I don't know if Debbie knew about that.
But and then 1958, they had a second child, a son named Todd
Fisher. And Todd is actually named after
their couple friend Mike Todd. Mike Todd and was a Taylor that
couple because they were such good friends with him that they
named their son after him. Oh my.
God, he's such good friends with Todd.
And then later he's going to get with Liz Taylor.
Yes, Todd's. Ex Yes, so tragically, 4 weeks
after Todd Fisher was born, on March 22nd, 1958, Mike Todd was
killed in a plane crash. Oh, that's terrible.
I guess that's a little. Bit different I know it was a
cross country flight on an 11 seater plane.
It was his plane that he called the Liz, and it was heading to
the East Coast and it encountered a storm over Nevada
and the plane went down and Todd, the pilot, copilot and Art
Cohn, who was writing Todd's biography, all died.
It's so tragic. And scary.
Wait so did they name the baby Todd before that or after that?
Yeah, before. Wow, that's kind of crazy.
Kind of weird, I know. He.
Was just like a regular friend. I always thought in Jewish
tradition maybe this is like Orthodox Jewish.
You're not supposed to name your baby after someone who's still
living. That's weird if that's true.
I'm not sure if it is that's I just heard that once, but I
guess that's a little bit different.
Like I said earlier, Oh, he gets with his friend's ex, but I
don't know like if your friend died, I obviously I think you
have to wait a while, but I feel like most people, I don't know
what do you guys think? I feel like most people would
think, Oh I want my friend and my significant other to be happy
and like I'm not around so like. That's.
True. Happy if they can be together, I
don't know. Yeah, I feel like people did
interpret it very differently, like there were two sides to it
for sure. Yeah, that aspect, I know it's
tough, but the fact is he isn't alive to be jealous or anything.
So it it does change things. And they both did love Mike
Todd, so you know. But anyway.
That could be bonding. Yes, but Elizabeth was
absolutely distressed, inconsolable.
She couldn't eat. She was just devastated.
I would be too. I that's just so scary, the
thought of someone dying in a plane.
So I would just feel so horrible if that happened to someone I
loved. So Debbie went over to Liz's
house and offered to to take care of Elizabeth's three
children. She'd have three children while
she grieved. So over the next few weeks,
Debbie was busy taking care of five kids like her two kids and
then Elizabeth's three kids. That's so sweet.
Of her it is really sweet and. Really, really close that they
were helping out in her time. Yeah, I would say they were like
best friends. And Eddie, interestingly, went
to take care of Elizabeth, to cheer her up, to keep her
company. And Debbie wasn't worried.
She said. After all, Eddie had loved Mike,
too. Eddie was just being there for
her during this horrible time. And the weird thing is, in her
memoir, Debbie says Eddie was staying at her house for days
and would come home to get fresh new clothes.
No. Why would he?
Why would he sleep over? I don't understand.
I'm sure she does have other friends who can do that to her.
That is weird to me. That's weird.
That makes me wonder, like, did you think something was going
on? Were you kind of OK with it?
Like why would you be OK with your husband sleeping all over?
It makes me wonder if like something happened before, like
if he they had a even if they didn't act on it, they had like
feelings for each other. Also, I know you're taking care
of five kids on your own. You're taking care of Liz's kids
and she's like up to no good with your husband.
I know it's so strange. I know she's grieving, but that
does not sit right with me. I know that doesn't sit right
with me either. I thought that was really
strange. Like I, I wish I could ask
Debbie Reynolds. Like, what did you think of
that? Why?
Why was that normal for him to
be sleeping over? And also, oh, no, I don't know.
She didn't say. Yeah, she didn't say.
Apparently. Also at this time, Elizabeth
Taylor's recent ex-husband, so her second husband, Michael
Wilding, was hanging around too. I don't really know why.
I don't know why he resurfaced at this moment, but he was
hanging out, helping out also, and he was hopeful that he was
going to get back together with Elizabeth Taylor now that Mike
Todd had died. So he's also kind of in the
picture. I know.
Oh my gosh. But Elizabeth did get back to
work. She was filming Cat on Hot Tin
Roof and then had to do press for it because this was in
March, so I don't know if they just edited movies really
quickly or something because then the movie came out in
August. So she went to the premiere in
New York and Debbie knew that Elizabeth was there and she
thought that Eddie was on tour performing.
And she was alone in the house with the kids and was feeling
kind of lonely. And she called Elizabeth at her
hotel to chat, and that's when Eddie answered the phone.
Are you? Kidding me?
No. Well, she thought that Eddie was
on tour. Yeah.
So he lied to her. Yes.
Oh, my God. And apparently Debbie said Kids,
that's terrible. Debbie said roll over darling,
and let me speak to Elizabeth. I know it's crazy.
God. She must have had some
suspicions, I think. She must.
I know the sleeping over thing is really questionable to me.
Yeah. She had to have had some like I
think there must have been some denial going on, Debbie told
Daily Mail in 2010. She said suddenly a lot of
things clicked into place. I could hear her voice asking
him who was calling. They were obviously in bed
together. I yelled at him.
I was I just said roll over, darling, and let me speak to
Elizabeth. And she said I was the last to
find out about the affair at There had been hints in the
papers and I had noticed that when I turned up at functions or
parties on my own, my friends were whispering that's.
So it seems like she was so wholesome though too that she
just like. Trusted him.
Yeah, I know. I think she did.
My heart breaks for her. I hope it.
She ended it with him right away, I hope.
Well, no. Nope, no, but I'll I'll get to
that in a minute. That's unforgivable.
That's I know, but so like, how did the public first find out
about this? Of course there there were
rumors in the magazines and such as she said.
But the gossip gossip columnist Hedda Hopper called Elizabeth
Taylor and asked about the rumors about her and Eddie
Fisher. And surprisingly, Elizabeth
admitted to it. She said I don't go about
breaking up marriages. You can't break up a happy
marriage. Debbie's and Eddie's never has
been. And Hedda demanded.
What do you suppose Mike would say to this?
And Elizabeth said, well, Mike is dead and I'm alive, which is
apparently an echo of her lion and cat on a hot tin roof.
And then she said, what do you expect me to do Is sleep alone?
That's so selfish. I mean, I know.
She could just. Go back with the other
ex-husband that's trying to get back with her.
She has a whole line of people ready to date her that she could
pick from. She could get any man she wants.
She doesn't have to go after her friend's husband.
I know, so suck. She's not a girl's girl.
No, definitely not. Definitely not.
I know why why him? I I mean, people have said that
both Elizabeth and Eddie just missed Todd so much that, you
know, they wanted to be with like the person closest to him.
But I mean, that's not an excuse, I don't think.
And you know, I asked you guys on Patreon, I asked a poll just
scrolling to it. I asked about dating a friend's
ex. Now this is not dating a
friend's ex. This is dating a friend's
current husband. But I felt like that was pretty
bad. I felt like that was too
horrible and specific to. Make a poll like who would be OK
with? That I don't know.
But let's just say, OK, let's say she's right and maybe she
was, that their relationship wasn't good anyway.
I mean, they were still married. But kids together?
Yeah, but let's just say maybe Elizabeth Taylor's right and
that they didn't have a good marriage.
Whatever. But anyway, I polled you guys
and said dating a friend's ex an inexcusable offence.
Or is it sometimes justified and 58% of you said it depends, love
is love and 42% of you said never?
OK to date a friend's ex. So it's pretty, pretty close.
How do you feel about it? Well, OK, this situation is
definitely more dramatic than like they're not even broken up
yet. So I think it's a bit different.
And I I agree, like people commented and I do agree with a
lot of people that it really depends.
It depends how close you are with your friend.
I think it depends how recently they broke up.
It depends how serious the relationship was.
But like, let's say it is your best, I think best friend.
No, I don't think that's OK. No, I don't think so, unless it
was like a casual fling and they don't care and they're totally
that's true. And then they're like.
But you, you really have to. You have to make sure the other
person doesn't care, you know, because sometimes people assume
like, oh, it wasn't a big deal, Yeah.
You need your friend's blessing for sure.
Yes. But I think most people wouldn't
unless your best friend didn't really care.
Most people wouldn't do that unless they didn't really value
the friendship that well. And like you might not know that
someone didn't really value your friendship until they did
something like that. Like Debbie probably thought she
was really good friends with Elizabeth.
But like when all is said and done, at the end of the day,
Elizabeth that's true give a shit about her friends because.
She was willing to throw it away.
Yeah, yeah, I want to read some comments, Teresa said.
I got into a serious argument with a Co worker about this.
I am team. It depends forever.
She was arguing so vehemently against it, how it is never OK
under any circumstances. And I was getting so aggravated
because even though I personally would think very hard before
dating a friend's ex, I think relationships are way too
complicated for never slash always type rules.
Like come on, context exists. Yeah, I agree with that.
I do agree it really depends. It's hard to have rules for like
everything Kate said. I feel in some friend groups
there's so much overlap. I feel like it has to happen
occasionally. But I believe in a chart of
amount of time that has passed and how serious the relationship
was to determine what's respectable or not.
Oh yeah, like any TV show, there's overlap within the
friend. Oh, I know, I know.
They're always dating their friends exes.
Yes, Miroslava said. If they are truly over each
other, dot dot dot. Also if the ex didn't do
something really bad, Yeah if. This ex like left you crying and
you were confiding in your friend and they were consoling
you like it's off limits. That's why I think what happened
on Girls HBO was not cool. Oh yeah, I don't think it's
cool, Jessa, no. You listen to Hannah talk about
Adam for years. No, But yeah, I guess some
people just make a decision. They're like, you know what?
This friendship isn't as important to me as this romantic
partner. So, but also I'm going to go.
Shitty of Eddie Fisher to not have some self-control to be
like, I know, like if he wants out of the marriage, that's one
thing. But again, like you can have
your you have options. You don't have to get with your
wife's good friend and like break her heart even harder than
it has to. I know.
And I do think why? I mean, it's probably really
scary when we're not all perfect, you know, we're all
learning on this earth. But it would have been admirable
if someone talked to Debbie about what was happening, you
know, just to blind side her like that is really shitty.
Yeah. And that's like traumatizing,
like that type of betrayal because then the rest of her
life she's going to wonder, like, is anybody even being
honest with me? Can I trust anybody?
Especially the fact that like other people knew Besides like
the fact that she was like the last to know It's.
So sad, so sad. There were tons of paparazzi and
journalists outside their house constantly.
It seemed really overwhelming. And I was just looking at her
memoir and I won't read this whole thing, but it was clear to
me that her and Elizabeth were really good friends.
They were in Elizabeth and Mike's wedding.
She was the matron of Otter Honor.
Eddie was Mike's best man. They, you know, hung out all the
time, had dinner. I'm not funny right now, but
there's some story about her like washing Elizabeth's hair.
Like they were really close. So it's not like they were just
acquaintances or something. They were they were best
friends. But Eddie and Debbie didn't
break up right away, though they did stay together for at least
like 6 more months. She really didn't want to get
divorced and she was very religious, she said.
I was very religious, so I didn't believe in divorce.
But they laid guilt on me that I was keeping them and their true
love apart. So I finally let Eddie off the
hook. And.
Interestingly, there were a lot of headlines at the time that
said like let Eddie and Elizabeth be happy.
So even though most people were on Debbie's side, there were
some people on the other side that were like, let him be with
Elizabeth, which I find interesting.
Yeah, that is a lot like Jennifer Aniston.
Yeah. Angelina Jolie, though, 'cause I
feel like Angelina Jolie, she was seen as like the more
obviously. Oh my gosh, it's so similar.
Yeah, like Jennifer is really hot, but like, Angelina was seen
as the sexier one in a sense. And like Jennifer was the girl
next door. And that's so Debbie, the girl
next door, and then Elizabeth Taylor is this seductress sexy
and both both. Like the white swan and the
Black Swan. Yes, and it's the true, like
both of the women they left, four had dark hair.
And yeah. I don't know.
It is interesting. And then there were people on
Angelina Jolie's side, too, you know, They're just like Brad's
not happy with Jen. He should be with Angelina, you
know. People there are contrarians,
yes. But they did get divorced.
Divorced February 19th, 1959 after four years of marriage.
They actually weren't married that long in the grand scheme of
things, Debbie told the Saturday Evening Post.
When I came home from Europe, people kept asking me, will you
give Eddie a divorce or won't you?
It wasn't a new question. Eddie had asked me and I said
no. But when I was coming home on
that plane and I knew there would be people waiting for me
at the airport, I prepared a last statement on the subject.
It was this position in which I am placed makes it necessary for
me to give my consent, but they would have gotten married
anyway. She's and then she said seems
like all I did last year was prepare statements.
It's it was a very pressured year for me.
In that one year, I had enough emotions to wear me.
Out. It sucks, but like at the end of
the day, like you can't keep someone, you can't stay married
if someone doesn't want to be married to you.
So sad. If someone wants a divorce, you
just for your own benefit to let them go.
Later in life, this is way, I mean, I'm jumping ahead, but I
just wanted to put it here because their daughter, Carrie
Fisher, you know, she would do comedy shows.
And she told the story about Eddie leaving her mother for
Elizabeth Taylor. And she described it.
He rushed to her side, gradually moving her to the front.
Oh my. God.
He consoled her with flowers, and ultimately he consoled her
with his penis. Oh my God, did she?
Did he have a relationship with his kids?
So I was going to say this in a bit, but he was pretty distant
with Carrie and Todd, which is sad.
And Debbie said that that was the most hurtful thing that he
did, more than like the whole is with.
Oh, yeah, just that he was dissident.
Yeah, Carrie really had issues with, I think all of his kids
had a lot of issues with him, so I don't think he was such a
great guy. Did he have kids with other
people besides Debbie? Yes, he did.
He did. Later in life, in a Larry King
interview, Eddie claimed that he didn't leave Debbie for
Elizabeth and that they were already going to get divorced.
But then I wrote, what's the truth?
He because if it was true, then like, why did it take a while?
Why, why were people like begging Debbie to let them
divorce? So I honestly, I don't believe
Eddie. I don't really believe things he
says. So I I just don't buy that.
Why don't you like when people say stuff like that we were
going to get divorced. OK, well then why not until you
are divorced? That's true.
Like just get divorced and then get together like.
Yeah, I know because also it seems to me like you were gonna
but you didn't. That seems to me that you were
trying to fix your relationship maybe or trying to work on it.
But then sleeping with Elizabeth Taylor is not trying to work on
your marriage. Yeah, exactly.
There was like absolutely no hope of you making that work if
you do that so. And also like regardless, you
obviously weren't being honest with her about you being with
Elizabeth so it's like a betrayal no matter what.
I hope he felt guilty, but it doesn't seem like he did.
No no, no no. I've I've read people said that
like he I don't know if I included it, but that he doesn't
seem to acknowledge that he did anything.
Wrong. I almost seems like a
narcissist. Mel, that's OK later in this
document, I'm sorry this is getting long, but I have like my
like thesis that he's a narcissist 'cause I think he is.
I'm getting that vibe. I think he is and that's why I
don't believe things he says. Yeah, seems like he's really
good at charming people, but then, yeah, he abandons them
without any remorse at all. Yes, in this rumor that he their
their relationship was just studio arranged was said by him.
So I just don't believe it. No.
I don't believe him. I don't either.
No one has anything good to say about him once I get to know
him. That sucks though, it sucks that
he like comes across so different I.
Know well that's how narcissists are.
They're so charming, they are infectious, they make you feel
so special. That's why they're.
Dangerous. Exactly.
And then I feel like once they betray you, you're still looking
for that person to come back like the original person.
Yeah, where did where did he go? I know.
That's. Because it does seem like the
beginning of the relationship was so happy and sweet and my
Princess, you know, she she also referenced and it's pretty on
open that Eddie did have drug problems and that he was getting
high from his friendly physician, Mr. Needles.
Oh I know, I'm not sure what he's taking with needles but
can't be good. No, it really never is.
It does seem like a source of issue in their relationship was
that Eddie didn't think that she was sexual enough for him.
But I find it kind of funny that twice in her memoir, she said
that Eddie didn't show her what he wanted and implied that like,
maybe if he showed her what he wanted or showed her what to do,
it wouldn't have been a problem. And then she wrote, Obviously
Eddie felt the need to blame our failed marriage on me.
Yeah, that's so. Hurtful, yeah.
But I mean, even though it sounds like their relationship
was kind of strained, I think that they were still definitely
married. Yeah.
You know, she I don't think that they weren't really together,
separated or anything. They definitely were together
when this all happened. Well, it happened so quickly
too. Yeah, yeah, it did.
So three months after their divorce, Eddie Fisher and
Elizabeth Taylor married. Oh my God.
Yep, on May 12th 1959. Weirdly, on Wikipedia it says
that they got married the same day that Debbie and Eddie
divorced. Oh wow.
But that's not that's not true. I don't know why.
It's like I I even saw that online, like they got married
the same day their divorce was finalized, but it's actually
not. True.
I wonder if you can do that if you married in one day.
That would be insane. A lot to process.
Oh my gosh. Yeah.
So as I said, he was pretty absent with his kids from then
on, Debbie wrote. He wasn't mean or vicious to us,
just absent. And Carrie and Todd Fisher have
said many times that Eddie was not present in their life.
But as tough as this was for tearing their families apart,
this did greatly benefit Debbie's career.
She was more in demand than ever.
Like, America really took her side in this love triangle.
However, Eddie Fisher's star power was forever tarnished by
this. Yeah.
His TV show was not renewed in 1959, and he was soon back to
touring nightclubs and lounges. And his son said, well, Todd
wasn't even there. But like, I mean, he was, but he
was like, a baby. But he said there was outrage.
My dad had, like, contracts cancelled for morality clauses.
It literally ruined his career. Wow, yeah, like that Doesn't
really often happen. I know.
Men particularly like Brad Pitt, like his career, did not suffer
at all. Oh my.
Gosh, not at all. But I mean, it's in a way it's
like kind of embarrassing for him.
I'm sure he found other people after Elizabeth Taylor.
But it's like, OK, you leave your wife like you were this it
couple and like you leave your wife to just be like granted, we
didn't know how many times she would get married at the time,
but like the 4th husband out of seven like.
OK, no, Yeah. He doesn't even know what's
going to happen. And that might be the moral of
the story. Sometimes, like a simpler life
is better. Maybe you just should have
stayed with Debbie Reynolds. Like just I, I just don't think
good things came for him after this.
But it's the past. Elizabeth's career suffered a
little bit. There was like a little dip,
like backlash. Some people think she didn't win
the Oscar for Cat on the Hot Tin Roof because of this, but her
career did bounce back and she did win an Oscar later.
But kind of reminds me of like Christmas Stewart.
Like I feel like there was a little while that people hated
her and she lost some roles, but then she came back.
People love her now people don't.
Forget about that. Yeah, so I got to say I am
pretty happy with America for 1950s America for, you know,
seemingly siding with the women more and hating Eddie Fisher.
I'm not going to touch on Eddie and Elizabeth too much because
I'm going to go into them next time.
But As for the rest of Debbie's life, in the 1960s, she
remarried the millionaire businessman Harry Karl, and they
were together from 1960 to 1973. But he had gambling, gambling
problems and he spent all her money and it took, it took her
like 12 years to get out of his debt.
Oh my God, she. Can't.
I know, I know. She seemed to love being a mom,
and she was a Girl Girl Scout troop leader for Carrie Fisher's
troop and her stepdaughter Harry, Carl's daughter.
She continued to act and perform.
In 1965, Debbie and Elizabeth both had movies out at the same
time. Elizabeth was the Sandpiper and
Debbie's was the unsinkable Molly Brown, and this caused the
public to relive and rehash the drama.
Oh yeah, sure. There were, like, magazine
articles. Yeah.
Like, remember when this happened a couple of years ago?
Let's get into it again, I feel like.
People are always doing even like, even though I don't even
think there was necessarily cheating involved.
I don't know, we'll see. But with Selena Gomez and Hayley
Bieber, Oh, yeah, Like, every few years, people keep hitting
them against each other and being like, are you teams,
Haley? OK, that was years ago now.
Yeah, and they still do that with Jen and Angelina.
Oh. Yeah, to this day.
Yeah, so they were pated against each other.
The Sandpiper did do better at the box office, but Debbie was
nominated for an Oscar for Unsinkable Molly Brown.
So who who won that battle? I don't.
It's kind of. I think you're nominated for an
awesome. Yeah, I know.
That's true. But then some people would win
the critical, yeah, that's true critical acclaim rather than the
box office success. Me.
Me too. Me too, Debbie told people in
1983. I never felt bitter about
Elizabeth. A man doesn't leave a woman for
another woman unless he wants to go.
You know, when Mike Todd died, I sent Eddie to help Elizabeth.
I don't think she ever really loved Eddie.
He was an interim interest during her mourning period.
Yeah, that's really mature of her, though.
I saw so much of Shay Mitchell from Pretty Little Liars and she
was giving an interview on a podcast and she said that her
mentality is if you can take him, you can have him.
She's like, I don't want that kind of guy.
If you can take him, he's yours because he's not worth it then.
Which I feel like it's such a good mindset to have of like,
OK, I'm not stressed about someone trying to take my man
because if you want him then OK for it.
Yeah, that's true. That's like Shane Mitchell.
That's very empowering thought to have that is tough.
And I wonder if she came to that conclusion quickly or if that
was like, over the years. You know what I mean?
Well, I'm sure, I'm sure in hindsight, she saw started to
put the pieces together and be like, OK, this guy is this is
his character. And like, I feel like I've been
realizing this too. Like people are only as
attractive as how they treat you.
And so she probably lost her feelings for him when she
realized, like, OK, that's really the kind of guy he is to
his core, the someone who would do that to me.
I agree. 1981, Eddie. Wrote a memoir and he wrote very
bitterly about Debbie Reynolds saying that their marriage was
doomed from the start. And some of the things I already
mentioned that like, oh, we were set up by the studio or
whatever. And Debbie said she'd never read
it. She told people his memory of
what went on in our life is absolutely not true.
I didn't want to read it because I didn't want to get upset.
I'm trying not to dislike him. He's the father of my children.
How disrespectful of him though. OK, I guess like Debbie did kind
of tell her story, but like you haven't even been in your kids
lives and now you're I know. You asshole.
Tweeted on dude you have one thing if he came out years later
and was like had a reckoning and was apologetic.
No, no. And OK, you know what's crazy?
So we had one book and then he had another book which was
basically rehashing the same stories, but this time with like
more sexual details. I know, I know.
And I actually wrote down to Goodreads reviews of his book
because I thought it I thought it supported my thesis that he
is a narcissist. And so this reviewer, Kiana
wrote. But no, he is not an endearing
individual. Still, if you want to read a
truly sensationalist and sordid piece of insanity and
narcissism, been there, done that.
Absolutely delivers. That's what it's called.
And Stephanie G wrote, if you know anything about Eddie
Fisher, I didn't, then I hope you are prepared to learn that
he's a narcissist. I'm not.
Yeah. We're not the only ones.
Yeah. I just think, okay, him changing
the story like that, I think that that is also a tendency of
narcissists to, like, rewrite history because they're like
deflecting blame. Yeah.
And can never self. Yes.
Can never be wrong, can never apologize.
People say that that's a telltale sign of a narcissist is
if they don't apologize. That's a terrible quality to
have, yeah. And I don't know if he ever did,
but like at least publicly, he hasn't really expressed remorse
about it or anything. And yeah, I just think I, I was
just hung up on the him saying it was like not a real relation
or like implying it wasn't a real relationship or like that
it was just studio range. Because I just, she's been
described as as like tough as nails Christian woman.
Yeah. Would she really fake it?
And would she really put put it off divorce for so long?
I just, I don't get it. And then why would she stop
talking to Elizabeth the Taylor? Because she did.
And also, if that was the case, why did you enter into it into
the first place? If you were going to do this?
You probably had a choice there. And he said that he wanted to
meet her. That's true.
And you had two kids who obviously slept together, like.
I know right to later be like, oh our marriage was a sham and
horrible. Like I just don't believe him.
I really feel like he couldn't face any guilt or take any
ownership for what what he did. Obviously.
Changed his story. The sham was him, obviously.
And even this New York Times article from 2004, it was
talking about Carrie's Carrie Fisher stand up show and her dad
Eddie Fisher was in the audience and she was like cracking jokes
at his expense. And, the article said, and
throughout the confrontation, the 76 year old Mr. Fisher
smiles and chuckles that his daughter's needling with the
benign, madding complacency of a lifelong narcissist.
Oh my God. And then it continues, Mr.
Fisher clearly has not been forgiven, perhaps because he
apparently still does not understand or care to learn what
he did wrong. And this kind of family tension
is not limited to Hollywood stars and their children.
Wow, yeah, it's really hard to forgive someone who's not sorry.
It is, it is. I think that you can have some
empathy for them maybe because like, he's clearly messed up.
Like I think he did drugs a lot. And people that act that way,
you know, don't know how to love really.
And it's it's sad at the end of the day, but they can cause a
lot of destruction. So, yeah, sorry.
I, I have like so much more. I like compiled all this
evidence that he was a narcissist.
Also that Debbie wrote he blamed me whenever he made mistakes and
also I mentioned this before that his daughter Jolie Fisher
from his other marriage also she has a memoir and she trashed on
Eddie Fisher a lot and she mentioned that in his memoir.
This is crazy with the memoirs. Instead of rap battles, it's
like memoirs. In his memoir, he misspelled his
daughter Trishas name throughout his own book.
I think so. And Jolie said.
Like really, how could that happen?
Oh. My God, I.
Know. Unless the copy editor corrected
it, but. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, really bad so. So even his own daughter, not
just Carrie, but his other daughter was like, this guy kind
of sucks, I think. It'd be different too if he did
that but he was still present father.
But the fact that he also, like, neglected his parental duties
and let his ex-wife be like a single mother, it's just
unforgivable. So Debbie Reynolds did have a
third marriage to real estate developer Richard Hamlet.
She seemed to really love him, but he cheated on her, too.
And my God, I know. I feel bad for her that she had
these three marriages that seemed to cause her a lot of
difficulty. I know.
Like what's it all for I? Know.
But she did seem to gain a lot of confidence and nonchalance as
she got older and always had like a sense of humor about it.
Like in a interview in 1992, she's just really casually said,
I have terrible taste in men. I know what's all for.
I don't know. But she seemed to have a really
loving relationship with her kids.
And what's most fascinating, or one of the most fascinating
things about the story, is that Debbie and Elizabeth eventually
reunited. Really.
But maybe I should say that for next episode.
Oh, what do you think? I don't know.
I'm, I'm, I'm OK with the cliffhanger.
OK, OK. Yeah, I'll put it.
I'll put it in there to the Express in 2015, Debbie said.
My 3 husbands all left me for another woman.
Obviously I wasn't a very sexual lady.
My husband's all I know. My husband's all repeatedly said
the same thing, that I was not a very passionate woman.
I've never wished they had more sex.
I was never a sex queen in real life, and I never, I was never
pursued by men. OK, I don't think that's true.
I think you were pursued by men. I was friends with Elizabeth
Taylor, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, and they craved and
loved sex and talked about it. They were a very sensuous woman,
desiring passion. It seemed to me I was more
interested in raising my children, not in pursuing my
husbands. I appreciate her being honest
about that. I feel like most people would
not and it's interesting. Almost seems to me like she's
trying to take some responsibility or something.
Yeah, but I feel like a lot of women feel the same way.
Yeah, me too. But also it's like, OK, he
wasn't really that present of a father.
So like, she didn't really have time to be probably as sexual or
like as fun because she was the one who was raising the kids
like pretty much all on her own. That's true.
And that takes a lot out of you, but you're still working.
I mean, she they probably had to help, but yeah.
And I think that turns you off, too, when your husband is not
very invested. Like why would you want to?
Sleep. Yeah, exactly.
To reward them. But I don't know, I mean, I
still, I still think even if you don't have high sexual urge, you
could still make it work. I don't think that has to mean
that. Yeah.
And that's something that you can like communicate in a
healthy way. That's true.
That's why I wrote for one of their words was did I say closed
off? Because I don't think they
communicated very well. No, to to me, it seems like they
had issues and they didn't know about it.
They were kind of just quietly thinking about their problems
and not expressing it. I don't know.
Eddie Fisher gets any better. Yeah, but she did write.
I can't regret Eddie Fisher. When we first married, I loved
him dearly, and we had two beautiful children who were the
joys of my life. And he's given me a source of
jokes for the past 50 years. Thanks, Eddie.
Oh my God, Yep. So I get intrigued.
I'm so intrigued by how her and Elizabeth reunited.
It was a perfective. Professional.
I'm not gonna say don't Google it.
Don't Google. Got it, you guys.
You got to listen to the next episode to get the scoop.
I was going to share it, but you know what I that dawned on me,
it'd be good to because the story's going to keep going, so
maybe it makes sense to do next time.
I'm so intrigued. Who gets custody of you?
No competition here, obviously, Debbie.
Debbie Reynolds. I know.
I'm surprised that the Fisher kids even kept his last name.
Me too. Why did they do that?
Yeah, I'm, I'm so intrigued to do that poll on our Instagram
because I bet somebody will still say Eddie Fisher.
Always won, except for Albert Einstein.
He got no love. With the wow which is.
Crazy because like, he was a celebrity in that.
Relationship. I love those polls man.
I know. The past two relationships we've
had, they stayed together, so we haven't done it in a bit.
I know I, I feel like there have been times when the couples have
stayed together and we still did it.
But I I do worry like it's a distasteful oh, but.
I know, I know. Sad, but one of our couples,
Sasha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher, broke up.
Now we can do a little. Custody know.
I don't know if we should wait a little bit.
Oh, also, Gypsy Rosen Ryan broke up too.
Oh my gosh, yeah. This has been a crazy time for
significant. Levers.
And Robin Suki had a baby. Yeah, lots going on.
All all like in one month this all happened.
I know our significant lovers are.
They're busy. They are.
Well, I guess that is the story
of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.
Thank you guys for listening. Thank you Kel, that was so
interesting. Busy makes me sad though.
I know I I just think, I think it was a hard time, but I do
think that Debbie Reynolds is a tough lady and I think she still
had good experiences, but it is sad.
I wish that she like went on to found someone who like really
valued her and she lived happily ever after.
But I guess I know we don't always live happily ever after
with a romantic interest or it's not.
I guess just if it ends badly doesn't mean that it was bad.
I don't, I don't know, like her other teen husbands.
But that's unfortunate though. I know I wish that too for her.
It does seem like she kind of lived happily ever after next
door to her daughter. Like it seemed like she was
really happy living by her. So right.
Well, I already spoiled it. Next week is about, let me tease
it. It's about two people we talked
about this episode that got together after one of their
spouses died and the other person left their spouse.
Oh my God, who's the tough one? Yeah.
All right, well, we'll get back together next week with the
mystery couple. Bye.
Is your heart beat with pain? Shall I come back again?