In 1958, the other great scandal of the century occurred in Hollywood. Eddie Fisher had left Debbie Reynolds, America's sweetheart, to be with Elizabeth Taylor, who had become a widow after the death of producer Mike Todd. Magazines targeted Taylor, accusing her of being a husband-stealer, while the star of Singing in the Rain plunged into sadness.
This is how Todd Fisher (67), Debbie and Eddie's second son, recalled it in his memoir My Girls: A Lifetime with Carrie and Debbie: "The world was stunned. Eddie and Elizabeth were vilified. Eddie was deemed a womanizing loser and opportunist, and Elizabeth was labeled as a bad girl and a home-wrecking slut. Debbie, the good girl, the innocent and unsuspecting victim and single mother, was globally embraced with love and sympathy."
Time flies too fast. This September 26 marked 70 years since the wedding of singer Eddie Fisher and the prodigious Debbie Reynolds. They were married in a civil ceremony at Grossinger's resort in the Catskill Mountains in New York, where Fisher had started his career six years earlier. When Frank Sinatra found out they were getting married, he told the bride-to-be not to do it because singers tended to be quite unfaithful. And he wasn't wrong.
Regardless of his drug addiction that began in the early 50s with vitamin injections mixed with methamphetamines, Fisher was involved with women as beautiful as model Pat Sheehan, one of the Playboy bunnies in 1958. Debbie put on a brave face. Her greatest joy was her two children, Carrie, the unforgettable Princess Leia from Star Wars who passed away in 2016 from a heart attack, and Todd, named in honor of the godfather, Mike Todd, Taylor's third husband.
Reynolds and Taylor had been friends since adolescence when they met at MGM. When the violet-eyed actress married the Oscar-winning producer of Around the World in 80 Days (1956) civilly in Acapulco on February 2, 1957, the Fisher-Reynolds couple were the wedding's godparents. No one foresaw that soon a love triangle would begin, delighting the tabloids.
Unfortunately, Todd passed away at 49 years old in 1958, leaving Elizabeth Taylor a widow and a seven-month-old girl named Liza an orphan. Devastated and practically on the brink of death from grief, Eddie Fisher went to console his friend. The actress was immersed in filming Cat on a Hot Tin Roof alongside Paul Newman, where the pain seen on screen reflected reality. That consolation turned into love, leading to Fisher and Reynolds divorcing. On May 12, 1959, Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher were married in a Jewish ceremony in Las Vegas.
That event seriously damaged the singer's career, as his variety television show was not renewed that year, leading him to return to nightclubs and lounges. Against all odds, Fisher got a taste of his own medicine when Taylor fell in love with Richard Burton during the filming of Cleopatra (1963). In 1966, during a voyage on the Queen Elizabeth, Debbie and Elizabeth reconciled, while Eddie was left in the absolute darkness.
This second chance in their friendship was evident when following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Taylor offered Reynolds shelter in her luxurious New York hotel. That same year, both starred alongside Joan Collins (92) and Shirley MacLaine (91) in the television movie These Old Broads.
When Elizabeth Taylor passed away in 2011, she bequeathed a pair of large sapphire earrings with a matching bracelet and necklace to her friend. Sadly, the star of Goodbye Charlie (1964) died during the Christmas holidays of 2016, a day after her beloved daughter Carrie.