Celebrity
The Girl Who Became A Hollywood Icon Married Her 8th Husband 34 Years Ago Today
An international actress and a construction worker exchanged vows in a star-studded wedding that astonished the entertainment industry exactly thirty-four years ago.
This iconic actress tied the knot for the eighth and final time on October 6, 1991, at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch with blue-collar husband Larry Fortensky. Although their marriage didn’t endure, it ended in lasting affection rather than scandal. Their unexpected romance became the subject of tabloid curiosity.
Sparks Fly Behind Clinic Walls
In 1988, destiny stepped in behind the locked doors of the Betty Ford Clinic. The 56-year-old global legend was making her second appearance.
A sun-drenched construction worker with a rough history, he was 36 years old. He had crashed a truck before arriving to the facility and had been arrested multiple times for driving under the influence. The cost of his stay was covered by the Teamsters Union Insurance.
She would later call him “Larry the Lion.” In a 2011 interview with Daily Mail, Larry said, “I knew who she was, of course, but I can’t tell you that I remember watching any of her films.”
Over the next few weeks, their bond became clear. When the clinic’s strict rehabilitation techniques drove her to the limit, he became extremely protective and irate. Nevertheless, throughout the six weeks they were enrolled, their emotional connection developed into something neither of them had anticipated.
He confessed that she was beautiful and admitted he wasn’t “bad-looking” either. Additionally, he commented that the person he met “was the real woman with none of that stuff that normally goes on around a movie star. We bonded fast.”
She was attracted to his simplicity and completely enthralled with a man who was unencumbered by the glitz and glamour of celebrity. At the time, he was a Stanton, California, high school dropout who had been divorced twice, was from a working-class family, and led such a routine existence that he had never taken a flight.
A Hidden Love and a Limo in the Mud
Larry claims that it wasn’t until they parted ways with Betty Ford that they started dating. However, not even his own sister, Donna, believed that claim.
Regardless, the spark had ignited, and it exploded while Larry was still recuperating from the collision that had sent him to treatment and left him without a vehicle.
In order to pick him up from his house, the Hollywood actress would dispatch a limo driver. However, the limo would frequently get stuck in the mud because Larry’s property was so far away. Additionally, his own family was unaware that he was even seeing her during the course of their covert romance.
During one visit, Donna remembered hearing Larry refer to someone as “honey.” She asked him directly if he was seeing the superstar after sensing something, but Larry, who is always cautious, urged her to keep her mouth shut.
Larry had only ever seen the actress’s home from the outside, usually when working on construction projects, until Christmas 1988, when she invited him inside. “I went for a few days and never left,” he said himself.
Every area was guarded by expert security, a full housekeeping staff, and an actual Van Gogh hanging on the wall. Larry had been invited to enter this other universe.
Helicopters, Paparazzi, and a Parachute Intruder
Today marks the exact 34th anniversary of the decade’s most extravagant wedding in Hollywood history. It was exactly what the people had anticipated from a world-renowned figure.
The couple’s “I do” ceremony was witnessed by around 200 celebrities under a white gazebo located on the King of Pop’s Neverland Ranch in the gorgeous Santa Ynez Valley of California.
Celebrity hairstylist Jose Eber was Larry’s best man, and the bride’s close friend Carole Bayer Sager stood next to her as maid of honor. However, anarchy ruled from above even amid the pomp.
Larry claimed that the helicopter paparazzi hovering over the estate made it difficult for him to recall their vows. Security was busy. Before taking a single picture, one photographer was apprehended after parachuting onto the site.
Inside the reception, things were no less surreal. “Michael Jackson spent the night on the dance floor with a small black kid under his arm,” Larry recalled. “She loved Michael. She never believed any of the child-abuse rumours [sic]. I wasn’t so sure.”
The list of guests included Liza Minnelli, Nancy Reagan, Gregory Peck, Eddie Murphy, and other members of Hollywood’s elite.
As Elizabeth Taylor, the actress, surrounded herself with celebrities, Larry remained modest and only his siblings were invited to see the event that would become a tabloid classic.
Snow Angels, Secret Burgers, and A Cheeky Bird
Larry revealed a personal cache of recollections in his chat with the Daily Mail. One of the mementos was a 1992 photo of Elizabeth resting in the snow taken in Switzerland.
He had a clear memory of the incident. She abruptly decided she wanted to play outside while they were still in bed. She threw on a coat without thinking, stepped out into the cold, fell into the snow, and then laughed as she made a snow angel with her arms.
“That is my favourite [sic] picture. I keep it by my bed,” he continued. “That’s how I remember Elizabeth. She had a childishness about her. She was 20 years older than me but I never felt she was old.”
More recollections poured out. She had given him a Harley for their second Christmas together, and he loved riding it along the Pacific Coast Highway.
Elizabeth would wear a helmet to keep herself hidden, and they would fit in with the crowd when they stopped for burgers at biker bars.
“People would pretend not to know who she was. Elizabeth loved that. She loved a burger and a beer. She was down-to-earth, or at least as much as she could be for someone who’d been a star since she was a kid,” Larry recalled.
She also had a pet parrot named Alvin. She trained the bird to call out, “Larry, Larry.” Larry wasn’t amused. “That [expletive] bird had the same voice as her. I’d be running all over the house,” he admitted.
When it came to gift-giving, Larry never tried to outdo her. He knew better. She once gave him a BMW for his birthday. He, in turn, gave her chocolate-covered roses one Christmas and even gifted her a dog. “When we went to England for her birthday I bought her a Shih-tzu called Sugar. She loved that dog,” Larry shared.
It might have appeared to be a fantasy from the outside. Larry, however, maintained that he had no desire to be a kept man. He refused to rely on her fortune and kept working while being married to one of the most well-known women in the world.
He got up early like everyone else and headed to his job. But she got up with him to eat breakfast. “Don’t be crazy,” he scoffed when asked if the actress made their food. “Elizabeth never cooked. She’d go back to bed after I left.”
She nevertheless saw to it that he was cared for. His coworkers made fun of him for having a private chef prepare and have his lunch delivered to the workplace.
Larry came home to join her for dinner after his shift. Afterwards, they would sit down to watch movies together, but never one of hers.
Cracks Behind the Glamour
After a few golden years together, Larry and Elizabeth’s happiness gradually started to crumble under the strain of their disagreements.
Larry quit his construction job at her persuasion and started traveling with her. However, it left a man feeling disoriented and constrained who took pride in his identity and career.
Their connection diminished as Elizabeth’s health deteriorated. Larry left the bedroom they shared. Later, according to his sister Donna, that was “the beginning of the end.”
The shift in habit wasn’t the only thing. Larry, too, had become tired of the oppressive attention that followed them everywhere.
“Everywhere we went there were cameras. Elizabeth would put lipstick on constantly because she said she never knew when she was being photographed. I found it hard,” he confessed. “It wasn’t my cup of tea, those cameras everywhere. Elizabeth was used to it. I never got used to it.”
A Million Dollars and a Letter of Love
The end ultimately arrived in 1996. Since they were both unhappy and she didn’t want to watch the relationship turn ugly, Elizabeth filed for a divorce.
After being split up, Larry resumed his regular routine, but this time he had more than a million bucks in his possession. Peace, however, did not last long.
Larry had a terrible injury in 1999 that prevented him from working. He accumulated thousands of dollars in medical costs, and his remaining resources were eroded by a string of bad real estate ventures.
He and Elizabeth continued to communicate, speaking multiple times a month, in spite of everything. She was so worried about his health and financial situation that she wrote him a letter after hearing about his accident. Until she died or until her funds ran out, she vowed to send him money each month.
Larry grudgingly accepted the assistance. She sent more after Donna informed Elizabeth that he was in danger of losing his house. However, it was still insufficient. Eventually, the house was repossessed.
Unfortunately, in Larry’s relationships, money turned into poison. His own siblings got into arguments about money. He eventually cut off contact with his sister Linda for speaking to the National Enquirer. He also broke off contact with his daughter Julie, who attempted to obtain money following his injury.
The Final Goodbye
Even though their marriage was over, Elizabeth and Larry still had a strong bond, which added to the poignancy and eerieness of their final exchange.
The day before Elizabeth’s hospitalization, they made their last phone call. The congestion in her lungs from her protracted fight with heart disease made her voice sound strange. She assured him that everything would be OK despite her condition.
She would never hear from Larry again. On March 23, 2011, she passed away. Days later, while watching television rather of receiving a call, he found out about it. Her age was seventy-nine.
“I was so shocked. I was so sure she would get to go home and I would talk to her once again,” he said.
After a while, documents from her attorneys arrived. There was a last act of love inside. In her testament, Elizabeth Taylor had left him a substantial amount of money. Nevertheless, as was to be expected, her children inherited the most of her wealth.
“I love her, I always will. And I know she loved me, too,” he told the Daily Mail. Larry died in 2016 at the age of 64, closing the chapter on one of Hollywood’s most unlikely and heartwarming love stories.
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