The Hollywood Book of Breakups

by Parish, James Robert

• ISBN13: 9780471752684
• ISBN10: 0471752681
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-23
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

"Half of all marriages end in divorce--and then there are the really unhappy ones." --Joan Rivers Do you suppose that the person who first said "Life is stranger than fiction" might have had Hollywood marriages in mind? Why watch a romantic film starring a leading man and a leading lady when their real-life romances are so much more interesting? It seems that a celebrity's latest film can have a considerably longer life span in the theater than his or her marriage du jour. One would almost think that Tinseltown has come to embrace divorce as an accepted pastime. Some celebrities have seemingly collected spouses over the years, systematically adding notches in their belts of divorces. Cases in point: Zsa Zsa Gabor (nine), Lana Turner (eight), Elizabeth Taylor (nine), and Mickey Rooney (eight). This list appears to make Jennifer Lopez a mere novice with only three marriages, two divorces, and one terminated engagement to date. In The Hollywood Book of Breakups, James Robert Parish looks at scores of hot Hollywood romances that eventually fell apart. From the decade-long union of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman to the "just-for-show" nuptials of Rock Hudson and Phyllis Gates to the four-and-a-half-year marriage of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston to the "other woman" divorce of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Parish covers it all--from the burning embers to the fizzling fires of Hollywood breakups. You couldn't make this stuff up--and James Robert Parish doesn't need to. Hollywood writes its own drama when it comes to scandalous breakups.

Author Biography

James Robert Parish is a former entertainment reporter and the author of numerous books on Hollywood, including The Hollywood Book of Death and Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	1	(2)
Loni Anderson vs. Burt Reynolds	3	(6)
Pier Angeli vs. James Dean	9	(5)
Jennifer Aniston vs. Brad Pitt	14	(6)
Lucille Ball vs. Desi Arnaz	20	(5)
Kim Basinger vs. Alec Baldwin	25	(6)
Ingrid Bergman vs. Dr. Petter Lindstrom	31	(5)
Halle Berry vs. Eric Benet	36	(6)
Cher vs. Sonny Bono	42	(6)
Joan Collins vs. Peter Holm	48	(5)
Joan Crawford vs. Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	53	(5)
Dorothy Dandridge vs. Harold Nicholas	58	(6)
Bette Davis vs. Gary Merrill	64	(6)
Mia Farrow vs. Woody Allen	70	(6)
Zsa Zsa Gabor vs. George Sanders	76	(4)
Greta Garbo vs. John Gilbert	80	(6)
Ava Gardner vs. Frank Sinatra	86	(7)
Judy Garland vs. Vincente Minnelli	93	(5)
Phyllis Gates vs. Rock Hudson	98	(5)
Whoopi Goldberg vs. Ted Danson	103	(6)
Melanie Griffith vs. Don Johnson	109	(6)
Rita Hayworth vs. Orson Welles	115	(6)
Anne Heche vs. Ellen DeGeneres	121	(6)
Barbara Hutton vs. Cary Grant	127	(6)
Jennifer Jones vs. Robert Walker	133	(5)
Nicole Kidman vs. Tom Cruise	138	(7)
Sondra Locke vs. Clint Eastwood	145	(6)
Jennifer Lopez vs. Ben Affleck	151	(7)
Ali MacGraw vs. Steve McQueen	158	(6)
Madonna vs. Sean Penn	164	(6)
Jayne Mansfield vs. Mickey Hargitay	170	(5)
Mayo Methot vs. Humphrey Bogart	175	(6)
Liza Minnelli vs. David Gest	181	(6)
Marilyn Monroe vs. Joe DiMaggio	187	(7)
Demi Moore vs. Bruce Willis	194	(6)
Jean Peters vs. Howard Hughes	200	(7)
Mary Pickford vs. Douglas Fairbanks Sr.	207	(5)
Debbie Reynolds vs. Eddie Fisher	212	(5)
Julia Roberts vs. Lyle Lovett	217	(5)
Meg Ryan vs. Dennis Quaid	222	(6)
Barbara Stanwyck vs. Robert Taylor	228	(6)
Elizabeth Taylor vs. Richard Burton	234	(6)
Uma Thurman vs. Ethan Hawke	240	(6)
Michelle Triola (Marvin) vs. Lee Marvin	246	(6)
Lana Turner vs. Johnny Stompanato	252	(6)
Lupe Velez vs. Johnny Weissmuller	258	(6)
Natalie Wood vs. Robert Wagner	264	(6)
Jane Wyman vs. Ronald Reagan	270	(6)
Bibliography	276	(10)
Index	286