How Elizabeth Taylor stole close friend Debbie Reynolds’ husband Eddie Fisher in notorious scandal
WHEN English film beauty Elizabeth Taylor stole her close friend Debbie Reynolds' husband it sparked a scandal which became known as Hollywood's great betrayal.
At the very height of Reynolds' stardom, Eddie Fisher began an affair with Taylor after her own husband Mike Todd was killed in a plane crash.
It was a love triangle which made headlines around the world and Reynolds - who died of a stroke overnight - later spoke about the betrayal on many occasions.
Reynolds and Taylor first met when they were just teenagers.
“I went to MGM when I was around 17, and Liz was there too, but she was already a star,” Reynolds once told People magazine.
“We went to school together on the lot, when she was in between films. 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.”
As they both climbed the Hollywood ladder, Reynolds and Taylor became great friends.
In 1955 Reynolds married the first of her three husbands, Eddie Fisher, and together they had two children, Carrie and Todd Fisher.
But there were problems with their marriage, particularly in the bedroom.
Two years later, when Taylor married Mike Todd [her third husband], Reynolds was even her maid-of-honour.
Tragically, Todd was killed in a plane crash in 1958 and both Reynolds and her husband stepped up to comfort the devastated star.
Reynolds certainly wasn't concerned when singer Eddie moved in with Taylor so he could keep an eye on her.
“He went with my blessing,” Reynolds wrote in her memoir, “The four of us were so close, I was sure he could comfort her.”
Two weeks after Todd’s death, Taylor and Fisher went to New York together and it quickly became clear to Reynolds her marriage was over.
“When [Fisher] left, I raised the children,” Reynolds said. “He never sent any money, so I found it a little scary.”
Hollywood was stunned by Taylor’s betrayal and both she and Fisher were crucified by the press.
Infamous gossip columnist Hedda Hopper interviewed Taylor at the time and the movie star wasn’t at all apologetic about what happened.
“You can’t break up a happy marriage,” Taylor reportedly said.
“I’m not taking anything away from Debbie Reynolds because she never really had it.”
When Hopper asked Taylor what her recently deceased husband would have to say about the drama, she said, “Mike is dead and I’m alive. What do you expect me to do? Sleep alone?”
Reynolds gained the public’s sympathy as a result of being wronged by Taylor and in 1960 she managed to put the saga behind her when she married her second husband, Harry Karl.
Fisher soon knew how Debbie felt when in 1964 Taylor left him for Richard Burton.