Elizabeth Taylor’s husbands: All about 7 star husbands

Elizabeth Taylor became known for many things: those violet eyes, her successful transition from child to movie star, multiple Academy Awards, her dedication to AIDS-related causes.

However, perhaps most of all, people remember Taylor as the woman who walked eight times. During her lifetime, Taylor married seven men, tying the knot with one of them twice.

In “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes,” now streaming on Max, the star once again takes center stage, this time with the actress telling her story. But before you play the catchy movie, let’s review the golden girl’s “I do’s.”

First, a list of Elizabeth Taylor’s seven husbands.

Conrad Hilton Jr. (1950-51)

According to a 1996 article in Entertainment Weekly, Elizabeth Taylor was already engaged to two men (football player Glenn Davis and financier Bill Pawley) when she met Conrad Hilton Jr., the heir to a hotel chain and future beauty. – uncle of Paris and Nicky Hilton, in a Los Angeles nightclub in 1949.

The two dated when Taylor graduated from high school. After graduating from school, he began filming the MGM film “Father of the Bride.”

When Taylor and Hilton decided to get married, the studio used the event as a way to promote their film, according to the wedding budget, including the $3,500 cost of the custom-made satin dress. by Helen Rose, the designer behind the dress Grace Kelly wore when she performed. she tied the knot with Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

Shortly after their engagement, problems began to arise in the marriage. Hilton reportedly had a drinking problem, and the two were not very close, Alexander Walker wrote in his 2001 book, “Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Taylor.”

In her 1988 autobiography, “Elizabeth Takes Off,” Taylor wrote that Hilton was “stalking, angry and abusive, physically and mentally,” and The New York Times said in a report 2002 of the actress that Hilton beat Taylor so violently that she broke her stomach.

Eight months after their wedding, Taylor was granted a divorce on the grounds of mental illness. Per People, Hilton died of a heart attack in 1969.

Michael Wilding (1952-57)

Wilding and Taylor first met in 1948 while filming “The Conspirator” in England, and began a relationship when he returned to the country to film “Ivanhoe” in 1951, Walker wrote.

He was 20 years older than her, a fact she loved very much. After Hilton, she wanted “peace and quiet and the security of friendship,” she told Life magazine in 1964.

It was the second marriage for both of them. Together, they welcomed two sons: Michael Wilding Jr. (born 1953) and Christopher Wilding (born 1955).

But as he got older and more confident — and his career began to fade — they had problems, Walker wrote. She added that while she was filming “Giant” in 1955, a gossip magazine reported that her husband had men in clothes visiting. at their home.

The Washington Post’s 1979 obituary (Wilding died after a fall) reported that Taylor considered their separation an “amicable divorce.”

Mike Todd (1957-58)

Mike Todd – who was 25 years older than Taylor when they married – was probably her first true love.

“God, I loved her,” she wrote in the book “Elizabeth Takes Off.” “My self-esteem, my image, everything soared under her happy and loving care.”

They got married in Acapulco, Mexico, where she wore a white halter dress. As for the ring, it was an emerald-cut diamond Taylor called an “ice skating rink,” according to Vogue.

Shortly after their wedding, their daughter, Liza, was born.

In 1958, Todd died in a plane crash while Taylor was filming “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” But he found solace in his work. Playing, he told Life, “is the only time I can work.”

He wrote in his book, “I honestly didn’t think I would live and I couldn’t care less if I didn’t.”

Eddie Fisher (1959-64)

Eddie Fisher was a friend of Taylor and Todd’s. The two sought comfort in each other after Todd’s death, and eventually fell in love. Their affair became even more scandalous because Fisher was married to actress Debbie Reynolds at the time, according to People.

Fisher and Taylor were married in a Las Vegas synagogue, with the bride wearing a green silk dress, Getty Images revealed.

“It was a typical Jewish rabbinic ceremony,” Fisher wrote in his 1999 autobiography, “Been There, Done That.” As usual, Elizabeth was late to her wedding.

In 1983, Reynolds told People, “A man doesn’t leave a woman for another woman unless he wants to. You know, when Mike Todd died, I sent Eddie to help Elizabeth. When I think she had a crush on Eddie. It was a temporary interest in her mourning.”

In Max’s book, Taylor calls his marriage to Fisher “a big, terrible mistake”. The couple’s relationship ended when Taylor fell in love with her “Cleopatra” co-star, Richard Burton.

Fisher and Taylor divorced in 1964.

Richard Burton (1964-74; 1975-76)

Although Richard Burton had seen Taylor at a party in Hollywood in 1953, sparks did not fly between them until they met on the set of “Cleopatra,” where he played the title role against his Mark Antony. Both were married at the time.

“I’ve always believed that I was controlled by my own desires, and I can’t pretend that I didn’t know what I was doing when I was involved with Richard,” Taylor wrote in her autobiography. home.

According to 2009’s “Angry Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century,” by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger (cited by Vanity Fair), Fisher called home one more time and Burton answered. .

“What are you doing in my house?” Fisher asked.

“What do you think I’m doing?” Burton replied. “I’m f——– your wife.”

This fact, which Taylor and Burton did not bother to hide while filming in Italy, angered the pope, who published an announcement in the Vatican newspaper accusing them of “sensational adultery.” writer Roger Lewis told People. Lewis borrowed the phrase for the title of his 2024 book, “Erotic Vagrancy: All About Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.”

In 1964, Taylor and Burton were married. Taylor wore a floral headpiece, along with a baby yellow chiffon dress, designed by “Cleopatra” designer Irene Sharaff, in Vogue.

The couple became as famous for their feuds as their expensive habits.

“Richard fails to behave with genuine happiness. It’s fun to watch, “said Taylor, following the episode of “Furious Love”. Our fights are fun screams, and Richard is like a little atomic bomb going off.

In 1974, the marriage fell apart. However, a year later, they rekindled the spark. This time, Taylor wore a green ombré dress and decorated her hair with feathers. The two said their vows in Africa, Vogue reports. But they divorced again after a year.

“When you’re in love and passion like that,” Taylor would say in 1973 according to Vanity Fair, “you grab it with both hands and wake up the storm.”

John Warner (1976-1982)

The first time Taylor met John Warner was when the Virginia senator was tasked with escorting the star to a dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth II at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, People they report.

Taylor liked that Warner had a horse farm.

“I think he fell in love with the farm, and I think I brought the horses,” he joked to the publication.

The two married in 1976, with Taylor wearing a fur coat and head covering, Vogue reported.

In 1978, Warner was elected as a senator and served five terms, from 1979 to 2009., according to his biography in the book of Congress. It seems the heavy part left a mark on their marriage.

“He knows he wasn’t the love of my life,” Taylor told the Times in 2002. “And I know I wasn’t the love of his life. But we loved each other. We got along wonderfully until he decided to become a politician. Then he married the Senate. “

They drifted apart, but remained friends. Sometimes he even took her to events and sometimes chatted with her.

“We always signed off, ‘Hey man, until we talk again,'” Warner told People. He was always very disorganized.

Larry Fortensky (1991-96)

Taylor’s last marriage was to a common man. Larry Fortensky, according to IMDb, was 20 years younger, dropped out of high school, and worked in construction. The two met at the Betty Ford Clinic.

In 2011, Fortensky spoke to People about meeting Taylor for the first time.

He said: “I knew who he was, but I can’t tell you that I remember watching his movies.” She was funny and sweet, and the more I got to know her, the sweeter she became.

Their wedding in 1991 was a show that was attended by famous people and was attended by Michael Jackson, who walked Taylor down with his son Michael, People reported. She wore a Valentino lace dress for the wedding, which Forbes estimated would cost $2 million.

But regular Fortensky was not ready for the limelight.

“Those cameras everywhere,” he told People. “Elizabeth was used to it. I never got used to it.”

After the couple divorced, they remained friends.

In 2007, The Associated Press asked Taylor if she would remarry. His over the top behavior was so awesome that it became a meme before memes took over the zeitgeist.

“Marry me!” he shouted. “Noooo!”

He kept his word. Taylor remained single until her death in 2011.