As beautiful as Elizabeth Taylor was, as successful as she was on screen, her off-screen life wasn’t so secure. She may have tried to marry for love, but love either eluded her completely or was devastatingly short-lived.
Elizabeth Taylor and Nicky Hilton: The first of Taylor’s many marriages, this one to the heir to the Hilton Hotel fortune, ended after seven months.
Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding: Taylor and Wilding married in 1952, had two children, and divorced in 1956. In 1957 Taylor married producer Mike Todd; they had a daughter. In 1958 Todd died when his plane, The Lucky Liz, crashed.
Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher: Fisher left his wife, Debbie Reynolds, to console Taylor after husband number three, Mike Todd, died in an airplane crash. Taylor converted to Judaism to marry Fisher in 1959. In 1964, Taylor divorced Fisher to marry English actor Richard Burton who was her co-star in the move Cleopatra.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (times two): There was a lot of passion between these two; one divorce just wasn’t enough. They were married from 1964 to 1974 and then they tried again to make it work in a short marriage that lasted from 1975 to 1976.
Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner: Virginia politician Warner fell under the spell of Taylor’s violet eyes and they married in 1976. Taylor aided in his successful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1978. The marriage ended in 1982.
Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky: Fortensky was twenty years younger than Taylor and definitely not part of the “A” list when they married in 1991. Divorce in 1996 provided this former construction worker, who met Taylor at the Betty Ford Clinic, with a hefty bank balance.