Every wild story has a beginning. And an end. The history of Elizabeth Taylor’s husbands, all seven of them, is truly a wild story. One that started when she was merely 18 years old with a hotel financier (and Paris Hilton’s great uncle) named Conrad “Nicky” Hilton. Here’s their story.
It was the wedding of the year (1950) and MGM Studios, for whom Liz was already a veteran actress despite her young age, knew how to throw a party. There were 700 guests, including Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire and Spencer Tracy. The wedding cake was massive and the wedding dress, a gift from MGM, was an ethereal design by Helen Rose, who also designed Grace Kelly’s wedding dress. As a side note, the dress was auctioned off in 2013 and plowed through its sales estimate of just over $50,000 and instead bringing in a whopping $188,175. Whomever won the dress will have to have a tiny waist – the measurement at the time of auction was 22″ which was altered from its original 20″ waist at the time Liz wore it.
And the engagement ring? We all want to know about the engagement ring, right? Well, at the time, it was quite a statement piece set in platinum, weighing in at 4 carats and costing Nicky $10,000 (about $105,000 in today’s dollars). But as we now know, that was nothing compared to what was to come for Liz and engagement rings. 😉
Sadly, the marriage didn’t even last a year. A mere 205 days after saying “I do” they had decided that they didn’t. After a three month honeymoon, during which the two reportedly fought hard, things were unraveling. By December (they had wed in May) Liz was moving out and their divorce was granted in January the following year.
Ok, Liz Taylor marriage number one is in the books for us. Next week? Marriage number two. Stay tuned.
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