When I began researching this article, the thrust was going to be on those women who were either married and cheating, or the “other woman” in a marriage, thus the title of “Scarlet Women.”
What I found was that throughout time, many of the most highly publicized marriages of our time have either survived infidelity or fallen victim to it, depending upon the players involved. I further found that multiple partners would appear to be the norm if we are to take a look at our celebrities and other high profile personalities.
We hold our celebrities as role models and, as such, their romantic liaisons come under more scrutiny and are of more general interest than those of the average person. So, let’s take a look at some high profile women and their romantic liaisons. The information comes from information I found through Web searches.
Let me clarify that not all liaisons and romantic links occurred while all persons involved were married. In some cases, only one party was married, in some cases, both, and in some cases, neither. Some of these women, by their high public profile, have been the femme fatale or the “other woman.” In other cases, their fame has made them the victim.
Grace Kelly, before her marriage to Prince Rainier, was romantically linked to a number of men, married and single, including Jean-Pierre Aumant, Oleg Cassini, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Robert Evans, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, William Holden, Aly Khan, Ray Milland, David Niven, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy and Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman was married to Randolph Churchill, Leland Hayward, and W. Averell Harriman. Linked romantically to such men as Joseph Kennedy, Aly Khan, Edward R. Murrow, Aristotle Onassis, William S. Paley, Frank Sinatra, and Gianni Agnelli.
Marlene Dietrich, married to chicken farmer Rudolph Sieber, left him and their daughter in Germany to become a Hollywood legend. She later kept her husband in style in Paris and encouraged his affairs with other women, while she was romantically linked with both men and women, including Burt Bacharach, George Bernard Shaw, Yul Brynner, Colette, Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper, Lili Damita, Mercedes De Acosta, Kirk Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Eddie Fisher, John Gilbert, Ernest Hemingway, Howard Hughes, Joseph P. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Burt Lancaster, Fritz Lang, Burgess Meredith, Edward R. Murrow, George S. Patton, Jr., Edith Piaf, George Raft, William Saroyan, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Stanwyck, Adlai Stevenson, James Stewart, Mike Todd, John Wayne, Orson Welles, and Michael Wilding.
Actress Tallulah Bankhead, married once to John Emery, was romantically linked to men and women including Edward R. Murrow, Burgess Meredith, Johnny Weissmuller, John Hay Whitney, Beatrice Lillie, Hattie McDonald, Patsy Kelly, Greta Garbo, Billie Holliday, Libby Holman, Gary Cooper, Katharine Cornell, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., John Barrymore, Sr., Robert Benchley, Leonard Bernstein, Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, and Winston Churchill.
Actress Ingrid Bergman, married three times, was romantically linked to Omar Sharif, Spencer Tracy, Robert Rossellini (she had his child out of wedlock but he was also her second husband), Anthony Quinn, Gregory Peck, Burgess Meredith, Leslie Howard, Victor Fleming, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper, Yul Brynner, and Joseph Cotton.
Actress Nancy Davis, romantically linked in her early years to Yul Brynner, Clark Gable, Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Spencer Tracy and Robert Walker, once married to Ronald Reagan turned her full attention to being a wife and mother.
Actress Kim Novak, married twice to Richard Johnson and Dr. Robert Malloy, was linked romantically to Sammy Davis, Jr., Cary Grant, John Ireland, Aly Khan, Peter Lawford, Porfirio Rubirosa, Frank Sinatra, Louis Servin, and Al Shackman.
Actress Mamie Van Doren was married five times. Her spouses were Jack Newman, Ray Anthony, Lee Meyers, Ross McClintock and Thomas Dixon. She was romantically linked to Burt Reynolds, Elvis Presley, Joe Namath, Johnny Rivers, Nicky Hilton, Jr., Rock Hudson, Steve McQueen, Jack Dempsey, Robert Evans, Eddie Fisher, Tony Curtis, Steve Cochran, Johnny Carson, Bo Belinsky, Warren Beatty, and Prince Axel of Denmark.
Actress Elizabeth Taylor, married eight times (twice to actor Richard Burton), has been romantically linked to Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Joseph Mankiewicz, Victor Mature, Michael Jackson, Rock Hudson, George Hamilton, Malcolm Forbes, Vic Damone, Carl Bernstein, and Montgomery Clift.
Singer and actress Madonna, married briefly to actor Sean Penn, has been romantically linked to men and women including Warren Beatty, John Benitez, Sara Bernhard, Jose Canseco, Ingrid Casares, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Mick Jagger, Carlos Leon (the father of her daughter), Esai Morales, Jack Nicholson, Prince, Dennis Rodman, Henry Rollins, and Tony Ward.
Actress Kim Basinger, married now to actor Alec Baldwin, was previously married to makeup artist Ron Britton. she has been romantically linked to Jeff Bridges, Ron Britton, Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Michael Keaton, Jon Peters, Prince, Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, and Mickey Rourke.
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor has been married to eight men: Turkish diplomat Burhan Belge, hotel-chain magnate Conrad Hilton, actor George Sanders, businessman Herbert Hutner, businessman Joshua Cosden, Jr., inventor (Barbie and Chatty Cathy dolls) Jack Ryan, attorney Michael O’Hara, and German nobleman Frederick von Anhalt. She has been romantically linked to Frank Sinatra, Rafael Trujillo, Jr., Porfirio Rubirosa, William S. Paley, Mario Lanza, John F. Kennedy, Aly Kahn, Henry Kissinger, Nicky Hilton, Jr., Richard Burton, and Sean Connery.
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis suffered through the many indiscretions of her first husband John F. Kennedy, married Aristotle Onassis after Kennedy’s death, and became involved with a married man, Maurice Tempelsman, after the death of Onassis. She was also romantically linked to Warren Beatty, Pete Hamill, William Holden and David Ormsby-Gore.
Argentina’s Eva Peron died of cancer at the age of 33. She was married to Juan Peron, Argentina’s president-dictator. She has been romantically linked to Errol Flynn, Aristotle Onassis, Tyrone Power and Porfirio Rubirosa.
Actress Jayne Mansfield was married three times in her short life. Her husbands were student Paul Mansfield, bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, and director Matt Cimber. She was romantically linked to Oleg Cassini, Steve Cochran, John F. Kennedy, Henry Miller and Porfirio Rubirosa.
Actress Joan Crawford was married five times: sax player James Welton, actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., actor Franchot Tone, actor Phillip Terry, and Pepsi-Cola head Alfred Steele. Bisexual, she was romantically linked to Johnny Weissmuller, John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Barbara Stanwyck, Martha Raye, Robert Preston, Joseph Mankiewicz, Tony Martin, Tyrone Power, Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, John F. Kennedy, Dorothy Arzner, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Yul Brynner, Steve Cochran, Jackie Cooper, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, Clark Gable, John Garfield, and Jackie Gleason.
Actress-comedienne Lucille Ball was married twice, to actor Desi Arnaz III and to actor Gary Morton. she was romantically linked to Milton Berle, Henry Fonda, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, George Raft, George Sanders, Franchot Tone and Orson Welles.
Dancer Ginger Rogers was married five times: singer Jack Culpepper, actor Lew Ayres, Marine Jack Briggs, actor Jacques Bergerac, and actor William Marshall. She has been linked romantically to Desi Arnaz, Fred Astair, Lew Ayres, Jean Gabin, George Gershwin, Cary Grant, Howard Hughes, Burgess Meredith, George Montgomery, Rudy Vallee, Robert Riskin, Dick Powell, James Stewart, and David Niven.
Performer Judy Garland was married five times: musician David Rose, director Vincente Minnelli, producer Sid Luft, actor Mark Herron, and nightclub manager Mickey Deans. She was linked romantically to Orson Welles, Kay Thompson, Robert Stack, Frank Sinatra, Artie Shaw, Tyrone Power, Ethel Merman, Joseph Mankiewicz, Oscar Levant, Dirk Bogarde, Yul Brynner, Eddie Fisher, Glenn Ford, Aly Khan, and Peter Lawford.
Actress Mia Farrow has been married twice, to Frank Sinatra and then to Andre Previn who was married when they became involved. She divorced Previn and became involved with Woody Allen only to have that relationship fail when Allen became sexually involved with one of her adopted daughters. She has been romantically linked to Peter Sellers, Tom Stoppard, Roman Polanski, Ryan O’Neal, Sven Sykvist, and Eddie Fisher.
Actress Shelley Winters was married three times, to salesman Mack Paul Mayer, actor Vittorio Gassman, and actor Anthony Franciosa. She has been linked romantically to Lawrence Tierney, Anthony Quinn, Burt Lancaster, Alex Cord, Robert De Niro, Albert Finney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, John Garfield, Farley Granger, Sterling Hayden, William Holden, Howard Hughes, and John Ireland.
Heiress Barbara Hutton was married seven times: Prince Alexis Mdivani, Count Kurt Haugwitz-Reventlow, actor Cary grant, Prince Igor Troubetzkoy, Profirio Rubirosa, and Baron Gottfried von Cramm. She was romantically linked with Gilbert Roland, Michael Wilding, Michael Rennie, David Niven, Prince Muassam Jah, Howard Hughes, Count Manolo Borromeo-d’Atta, Phil Morgan Plant, Raymond Guest, Prince Henri de la Tour d’Auvergre, Errol Flynn, James Dean and Count Alain d’Eudenville.
Heiress Doris Duke was married twice to socialite James H. R. Cromwell and playboy-diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa. She was romantically linked to Brian Aherne, Joey Castro, Errol Flynn, Cary Grant, David Niven, Aristotle Onassis, George S. Patton, Jr., Elvis Presley, and George Sanders.
Actress Tuesday Weld has been married three times, to writer Claude Harz, actor Dudley Moore, and violinist Pinchas Zukerman. She has been romantically linked with Raymond Burr, Richard Gere, Dennis Hopper, John Ireland, Gary Lockwood, Sal Mineo, Ryan O’Neal, Al Pacino, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
Actress Natalie Wood married Robert Wagner, Richard Gregson and remarried Robert Wagner (they were married when she drowned in a mysterious yaching accident). She has been romantically linked to Christopher Walken, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Tab Hunger, John Ireland, Steve McQueen, Robert Evans, Nicky Hilton, Jr., Dennis Hopper, James Dean, Tom Courtenay, Raymond Burr, Nick Adams, Warren Beatty, and Jerry Brown.
The list goes on and on but this is where I’ll end it for now. The point is that with so many divorces, so much infidelity, and so many romantic involvements of our public figures — with or without infidelity involved — what message does this give to someone who might be considering an affair? When it’s not unusual, when it’s the norm or “business as usual” or even a measure of virility or desirability to have multiple partners, the decision to cheat becomes easier. The decision to divorce becomes easier when divorce is “the norm.”