0:00

Hey,

0:00

podcast listeners, Meredith Davis

0:02

here. Here's an exclusive preview episode

0:04

of the new series Elizabeth the first.

0:06

It's the new podcast from imperative entertainment

0:09

about a truly remarkable woman

0:11

Elizabeth Taylor, the very

0:14

first influencer. Katie Perry is

0:16

such a fan she is hosting this series

0:18

and you will learn so much

0:20

about this legend. If you love

0:23

this preview, there's nearly ten hours

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of audio from the full series available

0:28

where you can binge right now. just

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search Elizabeth the first on any podcast

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platform or click the link in the description

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of this episode. But let's begin

0:37

your preview right now.

0:39

We spent a lot of time with jewelry

0:41

and it was really really she

0:44

loved it. She just loved it. It was it was

0:46

a passion.

0:48

she loved this jewel because she

0:51

she was fascinated by these

0:54

minerals, by these jewels, by the

0:56

way that they look she would

0:58

take them out and and and just

1:00

hold them and play with them.

1:02

And from what I know she

1:04

said much later in life, how

1:06

she always believed that she was, especially

1:09

with her jewels, a

1:11

custodian rather than

1:13

an owner of

1:15

these objects that she

1:17

she appreciated their value and

1:20

it it wasn't

1:22

out of, let's say, like, arrogants

1:25

or selfishness.

1:26

It was it was she just

1:28

loved

1:28

jewelry.

1:30

And she had the means to

1:32

her and Richard had the means because he he

1:34

he bought her, you know, a lot of her

1:36

big famous jewels.

1:39

The most

1:39

important piece Elizabeth owned

1:41

was the Crop diamond.

1:43

It's an asher cut. That's

1:45

a thirty three carat diamond. The

1:47

crop diamond was owned by Vera crop,

1:50

who was part of the crop family, who had been

1:52

involved in the in World War

1:55

two, they had supplied

1:57

munitions to the Nazis.

1:59

When

2:00

Elizabeth got it, she just thought

2:02

it was like really a big fuck

2:04

you to to the to the Nazis,

2:07

to the cops. Like, now look at

2:09

it. It's on a nice Jewish girl now.

2:11

it was such a beautiful diamond. I

2:14

mean, I think she felt like it had been released

2:17

and vindicated and

2:19

and and and it was her really

2:21

her signature piece. I'm not sure

2:23

Elizabeth would say that, but she wore

2:25

it in so many photoshoots. She

2:28

wore it every day, frankly.

2:30

You know, she wore it when she

2:32

went to bed at night.

2:33

One jewel became so famous. because

2:36

of the story of Richard buying it for Elizabeth,

2:38

the world of joy and press spontaneously

2:41

and unanimously named it

2:43

after them. The Taylor

2:45

Burton Diamond. The first

2:48

celebrity hyphenate was born.

2:50

So this amazing

2:53

sixty nine carat hair shaped diamond

2:55

came up for auction. And

2:57

Richard wanted to buy for Elizabeth. It's

3:00

before he bought her the Crop diamond, which

3:02

became the Elizabeth Taylor diamond.

3:04

he wanted to get it for her. And

3:06

he told

3:08

their lawyer, Erin Frosh, that

3:10

he could bid up to a million

3:13

dollars.

3:14

So he ended up not getting

3:16

the diamond because he'd only allowed

3:19

a budget of a million dollars, only.

3:22

Aristotle

3:23

onasas was bidding against him. I think

3:26

he was trying to get it for Jackie Kennedy or

3:28

Jackie onasas at that point.

3:31

Cartier bought it for fifty thousand

3:33

dollars more. Richard

3:34

didn't get it and he was devastated.

3:37

and he said he has to get it

3:39

for Elizabeth. And I probably

3:42

he was competitive.

3:44

He

3:44

offered Cartier fifty

3:46

thousand dollars more

3:47

and they agreed

3:50

as long as it could be left on display

3:52

in

3:52

the store window in New York

3:55

and then in Chicago. And

3:57

it's called the Cartier Diamond at that point.

3:59

And we have

3:59

a scrapbook that

4:01

Cartier put together.

4:03

Once Richard got it for Elizabeth,

4:06

it was the Taylor Burton diamond.

4:09

Richard felt like Elizabeth had to have this diamond,

4:11

and he was really proud to buy her these

4:13

big jewels. Like, it brought him so

4:15

much joy. When

4:18

somebody would go to the trouble

4:20

to pick something special out for

4:22

her, that they thought she would love and

4:24

they were right, That

4:25

was the real gift.

4:29

Barbara

4:29

Berkowitz was Elizabeth's

4:32

attorney for three decades and continues

4:34

to be one of her great protectors. Barbara

4:37

remained counseled to Elizabeth for the rest

4:39

of her life, including providing

4:41

legal services, for the Elizabeth Taylor

4:44

Foundation from its inception?

4:46

I was once with her

4:48

and I had to have her sign something.

4:50

I love pens.

4:52

Whether it's a mon blanc pen or

4:54

a Cartier pen, I like pens and

4:56

I like fountain pens. So

4:58

I asked Elizabeth to sign something

5:00

and I handed her my pen and

5:03

she started looking at it with

5:05

her her eyes and I'm

5:07

going, oh, I'm screwed.

5:09

And she's like Barbara,

5:11

I really like this pen. Well,

5:15

I didn't wanna give her my pen,

5:17

but I'm like, okay, I'll buy you one

5:19

for your birthday. She

5:21

liked what she liked and she wanted it.

5:23

but she was also very generous. She would

5:27

send things to people. One

5:30

of the jokes in my household at the

5:32

time when I was living at my parents' guest

5:34

house is jewelry would

5:36

show up. Well, my father

5:38

said, how in

5:39

the hell are you ever gonna get married? With

5:42

her giving you all this jewelry, who

5:44

can compete with this? I

5:46

wanted someone to try, but I was I'm

5:49

very happy with Elizabeth's jewelry.

5:52

It wasn't just the

5:54

jewelry. Elizabeth and Richard

5:56

both had the passion

5:57

of artists who appreciated great

5:59

art

5:59

by others. For Elizabeth, it

6:02

was an eye she inherited from her father,

6:04

the art dealer. The tailor's

6:06

new find things. Elizabeth knew

6:08

what was great, what was beautiful,

6:10

and it fueled her. By

6:13

surrounding herself with great art from

6:15

fashion to precious stones,

6:17

to masterpieces. She was also

6:19

building a legacy of wealth,

6:22

like a boss, Ruth

6:24

Pelticin, the editor

6:25

of Elizabeth's book, my love

6:27

affair with jewelry, saw it firsthand.

6:30

We

6:30

were working on the book Elizabeth's

6:32

home in Bel Air. And

6:35

so in the home where

6:37

there are things like Oscars, statuettes,

6:40

but there are a lot of painting. And

6:43

a lot of these paintings burden had

6:45

bought at

6:47

auction

6:47

or in a gallery.

6:50

Now

6:50

as an art book editor, I knew

6:53

right away what I was looking at. I

6:55

had walked in the room and I thought,

6:58

What did I say? I said,

7:00

to Sam, to myself, it

7:02

was really extraordinary. And,

7:04

you know, we had a pretty good sense. We've

7:06

done a lot of our

7:07

homework before we went there. But

7:10

Richard Burton was

7:12

sue generous. He

7:14

had

7:15

what we call a natural eye. He had

7:18

an instinct for beauty, an

7:20

instinct for beauty. Richard

7:22

yours and

7:23

I call him Richard only because Elizabeth did.

7:26

Richard Burton could see a

7:28

bracelet and know it was

7:30

great. yes, then he'd get the bona

7:32

fives from the auction house, you know, how many

7:34

carats was the ruby

7:36

heat treated

7:36

or otherwise, and etcetera. But

7:40

he had an eye through

7:42

beauty. And

7:44

you can train a lot

7:48

in someone. You can train

7:50

someone to buy art. You can train

7:52

someone to buy jewelry. You can train someone to

7:54

decorate their house. But do they have

7:56

a feel for it? Do they naturally

7:58

come

7:58

to it?

7:59

He did.

8:01

And I

8:03

think that some of the most spectacular

8:06

pieces, most important

8:08

pieces, Elizabeth's

8:09

collection,

8:11

were bought by Burton.

8:14

And and that's not even because,

8:16

well, how long was he involved with her? It's

8:18

because Yes,

8:19

he knew Elizabeth loved jewelry, and yes, he

8:22

loved gifting her with

8:22

jewelry. But

8:24

it doesn't mean that the gifts of jewelry

8:26

were great.

8:28

it just so happened that they were because

8:31

Burton had

8:32

that instinct, had that

8:34

instinct. He had what we say that,

8:39

aye.

8:39

So never a friend of hers except

8:42

when

8:42

he wanted just On

8:45

one Mhmm.

8:49

On the I called

8:51

them. I

8:52

got you, like, Tuesday person. and

8:56

I never know if knew when

8:58

he would come up

8:58

with the most extraordinary thing

9:01

or open.

9:03

We can't call.

9:05

Uh-huh.

9:06

Open the address.

9:12

and we had Christmas and

9:15

all the fixings and the

9:17

food and the wrapping. and

9:20

mess, and this also, and

9:22

everything to clean up. Liza

9:25

through this. Maybe

9:27

if but Oh,

9:30

okay.

9:31

Mom. Mom.

9:34

Yes.

9:37

Wow. Wow. That's cool.

9:40

bottles for cotton.

9:41

You

9:44

left a

9:45

carton in a

9:48

bottle of

9:50

your Christmas drop.

9:53

Oh,

9:53

she said it was way down at the

9:55

bottom. and I

9:57

lifted the size of the box

9:59

and my heart started

10:01

to deep and down.

10:05

when

10:05

I opened it and

10:08

it was laid

10:10

apart.

10:12

of the most perfect curve,

10:15

stone, of everything,

10:18

the most

10:19

perfect curve. and

10:22

I'm not allowed to scan. I

10:25

think I

10:25

almost found it, but I

10:28

scanned the insurance record

10:29

over for

10:34

and

10:34

I couldn't stop screen. And

10:37

it is the most explicit.

10:40

Perfect.

10:41

Really? I need everything.

10:44

And I it took him four years

10:47

to four years ago. longer

10:50

running to the

10:52

living

10:53

room, maybe sitting in a

10:55

big office back here. reading

10:57

the book and she was waiting

11:00

for me to appear at some time

11:02

after I got through the screen.

11:05

I just threw my

11:07

staff out threw my staff

11:09

out, and it was covered in

11:11

cases and drugs, and

11:14

I I just couldn't get

11:15

out of it.

11:16

I

11:17

almost mother then did that.

11:20

And he was sitting there with this

11:26

not

11:27

all of her friends who gave her jewelry, expensive

11:30

jewelry did necessarily. but

11:32

Burton did. And that

11:34

was really thrilling.

11:36

Oh my god. It just piece

11:38

after piece. I mean, historic

11:40

piece it. at the diamonds, we

11:42

look at the garage, you look at the

11:44

I mean, it just goes on and

11:47

on and on. the

11:49

VCA, Ruby, and Diamond Ring,

11:51

Showhard, necklaces,

11:54

the oh, the bank thief in our pals, the

11:56

angel skin coral and amethis

11:58

suite, the Lamar team, extraordinary

12:00

pieces, extraordinary

12:03

quality pieces. Oh, the

12:04

bouldery. Oh my god. The sugar

12:07

loaf, Safar Khadashan,

12:09

the Sotoir, again

12:11

and again. extraordinary

12:13

pieces.

12:15

That

12:17

is the eye of

12:18

a collector.

12:21

Passionate instinct.

12:23

Passionate

12:24

instinct are pretty much what

12:27

every collector needs.

12:29

And

12:29

after that, it's

12:30

gravy. What can you afford?

12:32

You know,

12:33

that must have it. That's this is

12:36

that Burton, it seems to me,

12:38

was full throttle. He

12:39

was a five forward gear guy.

12:42

And I think those

12:44

two, they made great

12:46

star

12:46

power. They made great

12:48

passion and they shared

12:50

that passion for the jewelry and I

12:53

think

12:53

Elizabeth learned a lot about jewelry from

12:56

Richard,

12:56

and she knew her own

12:58

taste.

12:58

I remember one

13:00

day she asked me to get her

13:03

she had a diamond, a white

13:05

diamond

13:05

and colored diamond tromblum broach

13:08

that was boogery.

13:10

And I

13:11

believe it was a gift from Eddie Fisher when

13:14

she turned thirty. So

13:16

this was

13:16

much later. she knew what she

13:19

had. So whenever I

13:21

would take something in, put something

13:23

in the safe or take something out, I always

13:25

looked at it first. and

13:27

to make sure it was there. And then

13:29

I closed the box and brought it

13:31

to her and presented it to her.

13:34

And I showed her this brooch

13:36

and she said,

13:37

oh my god.

13:41

That is so incredible.

13:44

And I

13:44

thought, but this is your

13:46

broached. You've had this for decades. And

13:48

I didn't say that, but I

13:50

under stood. It

13:51

commanded that kind of attention.

13:53

It it was beautiful. And

13:55

for her to just say, oh,

13:57

great. Thanks. Let me just put it on. It

13:59

didn't

13:59

make sense. It was like

14:02

every time you see something,

14:04

you can still be excited about it.

14:06

And Elizabeth wasn't shy about

14:09

heightening things. You know? I mean, she

14:11

heightened the drama, she heightened

14:13

the fun, and she heightened the

14:15

glamour, That's who she was.

14:17

Everything was heightened because she did

14:19

that. But

14:20

she was completely obsessed with everything.

14:23

jewelry.

14:23

Pay my jewelry mostly.

14:26

She

14:27

had in

14:29

her in her in

14:30

her house of the day, one

14:33

day, arrived there, and she had this

14:35

amazing makeup room. There was a

14:37

big table and she pulled

14:39

out all the jewels for me to see

14:41

lying on her face. She had,

14:42

you know, about the famous diamond. She

14:45

had fake

14:46

was made, I think, two or three,

14:48

and I

14:48

have one. I'm

14:50

I never be aware, like, a

14:52

joke. It's huge, you say, on my finger.

14:55

I never worn it. So I'm gonna end up being

14:57

killed on the street. Somebody doesn't think it's

14:59

real. And

15:00

so I've never worn it. I wear it at

15:02

home when I show

15:03

it to Pete. so funny.

15:05

Yeah. She has that made. We

15:07

went shopping. Okay.

15:09

On Think

15:12

it was on rodeo, and

15:14

Elizabeth wanted to try on rings.

15:16

And

15:17

she takes off the

15:19

crop. and

15:21

she hands it to the

15:23

salesman who starts

15:25

to shake that

15:27

he's holding the truck and

15:30

she's nonchalantly looking at

15:32

rings. Well,

15:33

in the

15:34

meantime, the security guard

15:37

is locking the door. And I'm looking

15:39

around going, what are you doing? And

15:41

you

15:41

see outside, people

15:44

are coming to

15:46

the doors, the double doors of

15:48

the store,

15:50

and he

15:51

locks it so

15:53

that there's not a stampede coming

15:55

in. and

15:55

then it gets so many people. He

15:58

closes the curtains. Well, I

15:59

never even noticed there were curtains off the

16:02

windows

16:02

of this shop. And I

16:04

said,

16:04

what are you doing? He says, do you

16:07

see what she's wearing? He

16:09

goes, I'm

16:09

just one guy here.

16:12

Yeah. The

16:13

shop the the salesperson,

16:16

as I

16:16

said, is shaking. I said, give

16:18

me the ring. So because

16:21

I don't need some some

16:23

guy holding onto her ring, and

16:25

she starts to laugh going, of course, the lawyer's

16:27

gonna take the ring. Of course, I am. I

16:29

mean, I wanna make sure

16:30

she gets it back. On a

16:32

winter night, in a small community

16:34

near Denver, Colorado, Jim Matthews

16:37

arrived home late. He affected to find his twelve

16:38

year old daughter who'd been dropped off after a

16:41

Christmas concert, but he called out for

16:42

her page now and the house was

16:45

eerily quiet. His daughter's shoes were

16:47

on the floor, but she was

16:49

gone. And it would be thirty five years

16:51

before she would be found dead.

16:53

After the discovery of Janelle Mathew's

16:55

body in two thousand nineteen, the police

16:57

turned their attention to a man who had

16:59

told law enforcement years ago.

17:01

that he knew something. But they dismissed

17:04

him. The man did seem

17:06

obsessed with the case, but is that all

17:08

he was? A true crime

17:10

fanatic or a killer? Now,

17:12

a jury will decide if Janelle's

17:14

murderer was hiding in plain sight

17:16

the entire time. Wondering campsite

17:19

media's podcast suspect is back for a

17:21

second season with a story that attempts

17:23

to separate one man's true

17:25

crime obsession from a motive

17:27

for murder. Prime members.

17:29

Listen to the Amazon Music exclusive

17:31

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17:33

the snow, in the Amazon Music

17:35

app. Download the app today.

17:38

Elizabeth

17:38

said, you need to get a piece

17:40

of jewelry every

17:42

time you work or

17:44

something that matters to you.

17:46

I always ask for a piece of jewelry

17:48

because I love jewelry,

17:51

but it can't be commissioned.

17:53

I mean,

17:54

I know that my

17:56

business manager is gonna pay for

17:59

mistress's is

17:59

mistress's boob job know,

18:02

I'm gonna send kids through college

18:04

that there's all these con my agent,

18:06

my lawyer, my business manager,

18:08

there's all these commissions. want something

18:10

that is just for me and so that

18:12

I can look at my life and look at

18:14

my career and look at all these

18:16

beautiful pieces of jewelry and

18:18

be able to say, I did

18:21

this. This is only for

18:22

me.

18:23

And that is

18:26

very revealing story in, you know,

18:28

in in Elizabeth's life. She loved

18:30

jewelry from the time she was a child. I mean, it

18:32

was a complete passion for

18:34

her There

18:35

is incredible saviness in the

18:37

trait of Elizabeth's, the jewelry

18:39

gifts she acquired, and

18:41

required as part of her studio

18:44

contracts. are the perfect example of the

18:46

interwoven value of Elizabeth's

18:48

nature as both a boss and

18:50

business and a woman of

18:52

passions. All of it was

18:54

authentic, Elizabeth. I don't

18:56

know how

18:57

this person came to us, but we ended up with this

18:59

guy Jess Moore again. As her business

19:02

manager, He said, you know, Elizabeth doesn't realize

19:04

this or remember this, but I was

19:06

around as some part of her

19:08

management team when she was with

19:10

Richard Burton. and

19:11

he said, she ran that

19:14

show. Richard was

19:15

doing whatever Richard was doing,

19:17

but Elizabeth was absolutely running the show.

19:19

which was really important information

19:22

because it's not something Elizabeth would have

19:24

talked about. And it I think

19:27

it's just important to understand, you know, Elizabeth the

19:29

Elizabeth Taylor Richard Burton

19:32

Show was

19:32

huge. We

19:34

know that, and

19:35

it was global.

19:37

Elizabeth was running that thing.

19:39

We have

19:39

some expense report,

19:42

like financial records from that

19:44

period and the

19:46

amount that they were spending

19:48

was

19:49

spectacular, but they were also

19:51

bringing in a lot of money too.

19:54

Coming off of Cleopatra, her next

19:56

three films, she

19:58

pulled in over

19:58

a million dollars

19:59

for each. So it was she

20:02

gets out of the studio system as this massive success

20:05

and then

20:05

incorporates her own production

20:08

company to employ herself

20:11

essentially

20:11

and

20:12

then loan herself out, you know, through her company

20:15

back to MGM for a

20:17

bigger payday.

20:19

If

20:19

to remember the

20:22

original loan out agreements when

20:24

she was at MGM between MGM

20:26

and production

20:27

companies, she

20:29

literally flipped the script by incorporating

20:31

her own production company,

20:34

employing herself and then

20:36

loaning herself out and

20:38

ironically back to MGM

20:40

for the first two films

20:42

she did after Cleopatra.

20:45

These were

20:45

the VIPs and the sandpiper both

20:47

with Richard Burton and both for which

20:49

she earned over a million dollars.

20:52

Elizabeth success

20:52

in business was forged on

20:54

the obstacles she faced. Beginning

20:57

with the fallout over

20:59

that massive payday Elizabeth negotiated

21:02

for herself with Cleopatra.

21:04

And what was the problem? What

21:06

was the go to excuse

21:08

from the men who didn't want to pay

21:11

her? Her scandalous press.

21:14

Always the press. A forever

21:16

thorn in her side. we

21:18

were sued.

21:19

What these people that

21:22

sued us tried

21:24

to say was that

21:26

our scandal had

21:27

kept the audience

21:30

away.

21:30

Now come on. So

21:33

we

21:33

sued back. Richard

21:36

was wonderful. He walked into

21:38

the lawyer's office, which

21:41

was

21:41

pride something

21:43

or rather than something or rather.

21:46

And he

21:47

walked in and

21:50

said, had a

21:50

good had a good day, mister

21:53

Pride. Pride

21:57

as

21:57

income of it before a

22:00

fall.

22:01

Mister Fry didn't get it.

22:04

It

22:04

was bullshit, and Elizabeth

22:07

and Richard fought until the end.

22:09

She ended up making over seven

22:11

million dollars with all of

22:13

the overtime. but they

22:14

took away the ten percent and

22:16

they took her costumes away.

22:18

So Elizabeth had negotiated ten percent

22:20

of the absolute gross. However,

22:23

She lost it in a lawsuit, and

22:25

they came in all her she had all the

22:27

costumes and they came in with a big truck and took

22:29

them all away, but she kept a couple.

22:31

two three were

22:33

hidden away. They

22:35

may have recovered some of Elizabeth's

22:37

gross profits, but the studio's

22:40

overages from their poor management of the

22:42

production stuck. Elizabeth

22:44

made her money, had her

22:47

freedom, ruled her burgeoning empire.

22:50

And the reckless studio, the corrupt system

22:52

that had literally owned her and

22:54

controlled her and forged her

22:56

rebellious spirit, finally,

22:59

broke. Well,

23:01

it what's the beauty and the poetry and

23:03

the whole thing is that Elizabeth, you

23:05

know, went from this studio

23:07

system, which is basically where Hollywood had

23:10

been, did Cleopatra, it

23:13

broke

23:13

Fox. they

23:16

shut down production on everything

23:19

else. They

23:19

had Elizabeth's and Marilyn's films

23:21

in production, but obviously, Marilyn's went

23:23

away. And so it was the only and

23:25

they shut down the whole studio. There was only

23:28

one building that was

23:30

operating as it was the editing building.

23:33

because

23:33

they had no money,

23:35

and they had to get cleopatra

23:38

out. But it

23:38

made tremendous amount

23:41

of money it was not a failure. Whatever

23:44

her

23:44

disappointments may have been,

23:46

Cleopatra provided the vehicle for the

23:48

Taylor Burton sensation. Elizabeth

23:51

knew that every time she stepped out

23:53

wearing a piece of her jewelry, she

23:55

would be photographed. As

23:57

her fame continued to skyrocket

23:59

she was making her jewelry collection

24:02

just as famous right

24:04

along with her. Whether or

24:06

not this was a conscious effort,

24:08

it turned out to be a highly skilled

24:10

use of publicity and

24:12

the first celebrity use of the press

24:14

to build one's own brand.

24:16

Elizabeth was just being authentic, Elizabeth.

24:18

Wearing her jewelry out and

24:20

about was who she was. As

24:23

a woman who shared with others

24:25

all that she loved. And the press

24:27

multiplied around her because of

24:29

it. There was no ceiling to

24:31

Elizabeth Taylor's fame. No

24:34

exhaustion point, no oversaturation.

24:38

This escalating fame, it

24:41

was new. Other

24:43

celebrities couldn't figure it out. And despite

24:45

the Preston cockeded rivalry with

24:47

another great beauty, Elizabeth

24:50

was generous with her spirit.

24:52

when her rival needed it the most.

24:55

Since why we have

24:56

all those great photos of

24:58

Maryland towards the end of her life because she

25:00

was doing that just show that

25:02

she was just as valuable as Elizabeth Taylor.

25:05

I mean, Elizabeth certainly wasn't

25:08

jealous of Maryland. Actually, I think she

25:10

felt kind of kind

25:12

of protective of Maryland in

25:14

a way even though they didn't know each other.

25:17

There was

25:18

a person, but unfortunately he

25:19

died last November, he

25:22

told the story that

25:23

Elizabeth had told him where

25:26

she called Marilyn and

25:27

said what the studio's doing to you.

25:30

Because Marilyn stopped showing up on showing

25:32

up on set. She was calling in

25:34

sick and saying

25:36

happy birthday to

25:39

the president on national television.

25:41

She'd called in sick. She'd been

25:43

calling in sick and suddenly they see her on

25:46

television. So they fired her. and

25:48

Elizabeth called her on the

25:50

phone and

25:50

said, maryland

25:53

Marilyn, I

25:53

understand what they're doing to you and I understand that

25:56

it's wrong. and

25:57

I'm willing to walk off the set of

25:59

cleopatra

25:59

in solidarity. Marilyn

26:01

said,

26:02

you know, Elizabeth it

26:04

isn't really worth both of us ruining our

26:06

careers, but thank you. And

26:10

Elizabeth said, well, let me give you

26:13

one piece of advice. When somebody is

26:15

telling you something that isn't right,

26:17

you walk away and

26:20

you just keep on walking.

26:25

She did Cleopatra because she asked for an

26:28

astronomical amount of money and got

26:30

it. She met Richard

26:32

Burton. he's a movie star. Now she's

26:34

in a marriage with a working

26:37

actor. And

26:38

they made

26:40

something like thirteen films together,

26:43

I think, and she also was

26:45

making so much money that

26:47

it was hard to say no.

26:49

Now she had a partner in this.

26:51

Now her husband was an was a

26:53

movie star also. And they could

26:55

make movies together. that is

26:57

very different because Elizabeth could

27:00

share this life with him and

27:02

because they became I

27:05

don't

27:05

know, the first multi

27:08

hyphenate. They were doing

27:10

this together. And it

27:11

was all headline news, and they were

27:14

knocking wars off the headlines. And so all of

27:16

that was super fun with

27:20

your husband.

27:22

and Elizabeth was in control of her

27:24

career. But there

27:25

came a point where the

27:28

marriage was obviously having

27:30

trouble passion

27:31

could not triumph over tragedy

27:33

with the second great love

27:35

of Elizabeth's life. Richard

27:37

was drunk all the time.

27:39

And Elizabeth told me that he

27:41

got sober. And III

27:43

think she didn't she didn't get sober.

27:46

she

27:47

saved his life because he was gonna

27:50

die, and she convinced him to

27:52

get sober, but she

27:54

didn't quit. and

27:55

they got divorced and Richard

27:57

was sober. They got

27:58

back together and

28:00

married for the second time, but

28:02

what Elizabeth told me is that

28:04

drinking again and she couldn't

28:06

go through that.

28:09

Cleopatra

28:09

and the birth of

28:11

the Taylor Burton era. was

28:13

a fiery and full expression of

28:15

the complexity of Elizabeth's character

28:18

in ways that the press

28:20

used and manipulated around the sensation of her

28:23

life events, tragedies,

28:25

from which she survived and

28:28

thrived. In this chapter,

28:30

Elizabeth learned that the power of

28:32

embracing her own authenticity as

28:34

an artist, woman, and boss,

28:37

was the key to having control

28:39

in a life of soaring

28:41

fame. Throughout the ordeal, she

28:43

remained true to herself. and it would

28:45

take her the distance. With this formula, when

28:47

it came to power and influence,

28:49

Elizabeth had longevity. But

28:52

here's the thing about being a true influencer. At

28:55

the level of Elizabeth Taylor

28:57

and having longevity,

28:59

the headwinds never stop.

29:02

Despite all of her success from Cleopatra, the

29:04

road ahead was not going to be an

29:06

easy one. She would need

29:09

to stretch and reinvent

29:11

herself once again. In the

29:13

eyes of the world, in order

29:15

to tackle what would become her

29:17

life mission her

29:20

calling. Elizabeth Taylor's

29:22

greatest passion has yet

29:24

to come.

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