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Elizabeth Taylor’s Ex-husbands Still Remember Her Fondly

Elizabeth Taylor was one of the preeminent actresses of Hollywood’s late Golden Age. In addition, her great performances on screen and the stage, the star is famous for her plethora of romances! Elizabeth was married to seven different men throughout her lifetime, though she died unmarried. One of those men was actor Richard Burton, whom she married on two separate occasions! Elizabeth’s marriages are rocky, they end relatively amicably and she stays friends with most of her ex-husbands after the fact. Join Facts Verse as we explore how Elizabeth Taylor’s ex-husbands still remember her fondly.

Elizabeth Taylor’s Marriages


Movie star Elizabeth Taylor was married to seven different men throughout her lifetime. After achieving Hollywood stardom, most of Elizabeth’s marriages were to men of her stature. She stays at the Betty Ford Clinic during the 1980s. And it gives the star an opportunity to strike up a late-in-life romance with an unlikely character. That character is Larry Fortensky, who discovers himself at the clinic for alcohol addiction. It is after making a career for himself as a construction worker. Elizabeth is at the clinic for her addiction to prescription pills, they instantly found themselves physically attracted to one another.

Elizabeth married Larry in 1991, and they would remain married until 1996. She died in 2011, and her and Larry remained good friends in the period between their divorce and her death. At the time of her death, Elizabeth was 79 years old. She was 20 years older than her final husband, who was 59 at the time. According to Larry, he was shocked upon receiving the news that Elizabeth had passed. He knew she wasn’t feeling well, but had expected her to make a full recovery. He had spoken to her just before she went to the hospital, believing she would outlive him.

Elizabeth Taylor’s Final Husband, Larry Fortensky

Elizabeth Taylor and her final husband Larry Fortensky met while they were both attending the Betty Ford Clinic in 1988. Larry claims that he knows who the movie star is. He can’t remember if he actually saw one of the many films that she plays in. Still, Larry was stricken by her good looks, and Elizabeth found him similarly attractive.

Elizabeth and Larry’s 1991 marriage ceremony was held at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. They subsequently spent time vacationing in Switzerland and had plenty of good times before their 1996 divorce. According to Larry, he retained wonderful memories of Elizabeth up until his own death in 2016.

John Warner

Before Larry Fortensky, Elizabeth’s previous husband had been a senator by the name of John Warner. As she did later with Larry, Elizabeth remained friends with John Warner after their separation. Elizabeth meets John in 1976, when escorting the actress to a party. It is being put on in honor of the Queen of England, also named Elizabeth.

The couple hit it off, and ended up getting married later that year. It wasn’t until after the two wed that Larry became a senator. According to Elizabeth, she couldn’t handle the fact that John’s new job kept him from spending time with her. As soon as John became a senator, he had essentially no time to spend with his wife. Because of this, their marriage eventually fell apart. However, Elizabeth had no hard feelings.

According to Elizabeth, she understood why it was so important for her husband to spend time performing his duties as a senator. John went on to serve as a senator for three decades before his own death at the age of 94, and he had worked incredibly hard to get to the political position. Similarly, John understood that Elizabeth needed a spouse that was available to spend more time with her. Elizabeth became increasingly dependent on prescription pills during the marriage, and also took to eating excessively. At one point during her marriage to John, Elizabeth weighed 180 pounds!

Elizabeth Taylor With John Warner

Elizabeth would often travel with John during his campaign, and it was said that the politician saw increased crowds at his rallies when his wife was in attendance. For her part, Elizabeth was politely asked to dress more modestly than she typically would have otherwise, something she reluctantly agreed to. John became a senator in 1979, marking the halfway point of his and Elizabeth’s six-year marriage. They would divorce in 1982, and Elizabeth would make her way to the Betty Ford Clinic not long after. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! Also, subscribe to the channel if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!

After Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner divorced, they remained great friends up until the former’s death in 2004. Prior to John Warner, Elizabeth Taylor had been married to actor Richard Burton… twice. The two had started off their romance as an extramarital affair on the set of the film Cleopatra, which premiered in 1962. According to Elizabeth, she had met Richard years previously and vowed to herself that she was never going to succumb to his charms.

Richard Burton

Though Elizabeth and Richard were both married during the time that their romance started, they would soon leave their respective spouses and tie the knot with each other. Their marriage became great tabloid fodder, and helped boost Richard’s star status in Hollywood. Previously, the actor had been known more for his stage work. Both Elizabeth and Richard were heavy drinkers, and their romance proved volatile.

In addition to Richard and Elizabeth engaging in screaming matches so loud that they had to rent the hotel rooms above and below the ones that they were staying in, Richard claimed in the years leading up to his death that he would have violent outbursts with his wife at least two times a year. On one occasion, Elizabeth was supposedly left so battered by Richard’s abuse that she had to take three weeks off of filming a picture so that her face could recover. Elizabeth attributed the injuries to a car accident and went on with the tumultuous romance. Even though they could barely get along, Elizabeth and Richard were so attracted to each other that not even divorce could keep them apart. After divorcing once, Elizabeth and Richard infamously remarried each other, only for their second marriage to fall apart in just a year.

Elizabeth Taylor And Eddie Fisher

Prior to Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor had been married to Eddie Fisher. Just as with Richard, Eddie was involved with someone else when he first started his relationship with Elizabeth. That person was Debbie Reynolds. Although Elizabeth Taylor stole Debbie’s husband, the two ended up striking up an unlikely friendship. Elizabeth was married to Eddie when she struck up her romance with Richard Burton on the set of Cleopatra. Similarly, Richard Burton was married to a woman named Sybil Williams.

Throughout his and Sybil’s marriage, which lasted for more than a decade after it’s start in 1949, Richard Burton cheated on his spouse numerous times. Once Sybil learned about her husband’s affair with movie star Elizabeth Taylor on the set of the film Cleopatra, she had initially hoped that the whole thing was going to go down like all of Richard’s other affairs. However, it soon became apparent that Elizabeth and Richard’s romance was something more serious. Once Sybil realized that her husband’s affair with Elizabeth Taylor wasn’t going to end, she reluctantly agreed to a divorce. They divorced in 1964, and Elizabeth and Richard tied the knot themselves shortly after.

Her Children From Previous Marriage

Elizabeth had three children from her previous marriages, and Richard had two daughters from his marriage to Sybil. Elizabeth and Richard also adopted a daughter during their marriage. Still, their familial responsibilities didn’t stop Elizabeth and Richard from excessive drinking and rampant fighting. The more the two fought, the more the tabloids gave them attention. It got to the point where it was hard to tell if they were really fighting or just playing it up for the public.

Although Richard and Elizabeth could often be found screaming at each other, the two seemed to be madly in love, and remained friends after their multiple divorces. Richard ended up dying at 58 years old in 1984. Though Elizabeth was asked not to attend the actor’s funeral at the behest of his late wife, she was seen putting flowers onto the actor’s grave later that year. Richard’s death wasn’t the first time that Elizabeth had lost one of the loves of her life.

Elizabeth Taylor And Mike Todd

Before marrying Eddie Fisher, Elizabeth Taylor had already been married three times. Though Elizabeth’s first two marriages were short-lived and are nowhere near as notable as her later ones, her third marriage is the one that seems to have had the biggest impact on Elizabeth over the course of her lifetime. Elizabeth considered third husband Mike Todd to be the true love of her life up until her 2011 death. This stands to reason, as Mike was the only one of Elizabeth’s spouses that she didn’t get a divorce from. Instead, Mike was taken from Elizabeth in a fatal and tragic plane crash.

Mike Todd was a film producer, with one of his most notable credits being the 1956 film Around the World in 80 Days. Elizabeth and Mike married in 1957 after falling deeply in love early the same year. Sadly, their marriage ended just as fast as it begun, when Mike passed away in a tragic accident while traveling on his private plane, dubbed “Lucky Liz’s”.


Although Elizabeth Taylor was married to many different men and had some rocky marriages, she retained amicable relationships with her ex-husbands. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that all of Elizabeth Taylor’s ex-husbands still remember her fondly, or did you think that the star’s eight marriages had all ended bitterly? As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!

Written by Alex Carson

Alex Carson is a seasoned writer and cultural historian with a passion for the vibrant and transformative decades of the 1960s and 1970s. With a background in journalism and a deep love for music, film, and politics, Alex brings a unique perspective to the ever-evolving landscape of entertainment.

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