Liz Taylor’s shocking claim from beyond the grave...
On secret tapes, star says fourth husband Eddie Fisher abused her
ELIZABetH tAYLOr — the quintessential movie star — was the Queen of Cannes for decades, thanks to her work as the patron of the amfAr Aids charity gala, held every year at the legendary Hôtel du Cap-eden-roc.
And although she died in 2011, in a way she is back this year thanks to a spellbinding new HBO documentary, elizabeth taylor: the Lost tapes, which premiered last night in competition.
It was made with access to the late actress’s personal archives of pictures and cine film — and with 70 hours of newly unearthed audio recordings of taylor in conversation with her friend, the late journalist richard Meryman.
Starting in 1964, and often recorded into the small hours (with the star asking for a ‘scotchy soda’ or a vodka tonic), it finds taylor in unsparing mood about former friends and lovers — and herself.
She is most revealing about her short marriage to crooner eddie fisher, which she describes as a hell of domestic abuse — something which has not been reported before.
fisher and his wife Debbie reynolds, the Singin’ In the rain actress, had been great friends with Liz and her third husband Mike todd. But after todd was killed in a plane crash in 1958, Liz turned to fisher for comfort — and the resulting romance caused a scandal which ended his marriage.
She says candidly that she never loved fisher, and wound up trapped in a marriage which became abusive. ‘eddie was a great friend of Mike’s. that was the only thing we had in common. I never loved eddie. I felt
sorry for him. And I liked talking to him about Mike.
‘I don’t remember much about the marriage apart from that it was one big awful frigging mistake — and I knew that before I got married. But I didn’t know how to get out of it.’
After falling for richard Burton on the set of Cleopatra, she went back to fisher and told him she would try to save the marriage, but he took the news badly.
‘eddie at night time would sit up — and he had a gun. every time I nearly nodded off he would stroke my arm and say: “I’m not going to kill you, I wouldn’t shoot you. You are much too pretty.” All night long.
‘eventually, I ran from the house — I was so scared.’
Director Nanette Burstein said: ‘What happened to her with the paparazzi was horrible — she was the first modern celebrity and she was humiliated ... but later she realised she could use that fame to do good.’