Trashy Divorces

On the occasion of what would have been her 111th birthday, today we revisit Alicia's 2020 story of the incredible life of Hollywood icon Hedy Lamarr. Yes, she was an outstanding and hugely popular actress, but the lesser known part of the story is that Hedy Lamarr was a passionate and gifted inventor. She and composer and pianist George Antheil developed and patented a way to encrypt messages during WWII using different f...

Chris Hansen became a household name by confronting child predators who'd been lured out of hiding by undercover officers posing as children online on Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator. But it was his choices in his personal life that sent him careening off into other directions - dumped by NBC, marriage on the rocks, and even sporting a mugshot or two to his name.

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America's business culture in the mid-century was decidedly drab: men in dark suits with close-cropped hair ruled the day, and in many ways were perfectly primed for disruption. So it was that the youngest division head ever to grace the C-suite at General Motors built a maverick reputation and, upon leaving (or being pushed! Accounts differ) set about to start a car company from scratch. John DeLorean's dream sports car d...

We don't often go to breaking news, but over the last few days, English singer and actress Lily Allen opted to nuke her ex, Stranger Things actor David Harbour, from orbit by dropping a new album all about their very messy split. To hear Lily tell it, David is a sex addict who crossed all the boundaries they ever collectively drew, and it's pretty clear that Lily is processing a lot of betrayal out loud, in public, and in ...

In this part two of our 2019 Elizabeth Taylor story, we pick up with her tumultuous two marriages to Richard Burton, her attempt to find something like a normal life with Virginia Senator John Warner, and her last marriage and divorce from Larry Fortensky, whom she remained close to for the rest of her life. It's hard to imagine a more iconic figure, or a more perfect subject for this podcast.  

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As we proceed with this week's Elizabeth Taylor takeover, we're revisiting one of our favorite episodes ever: 2019's story of the screen legend's life and many, many loves, joined by Erica Kelley from Southern Fried True Crime. This edition takes us through her first marriage - arranged by her studio, naturally - through the tragic loss of Mike Todd, and onto the married Eddie Fisher, husband of her friend Debbie Reynolds....

Alicia's taking over *all* the podcasts this week, with the stories and spiderwebs of screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor. In this week's musically-themed episode, Alicia breaks down some of the lyrics in Taylor Swift's new track, Elizabeth Taylor, from her album The Life of a Showgirl. From Portofino to the very best table at Musso & Frank's, certain themes resonate across these two titanic figures in American pop culture...

In an exciting crossover episode today, Alicia was delighted to speak with author and biographer Andrew Morton about his new release Winston and the Windsors: How Churchill Shaped a Royal Dynasty. Our conversation explores the influence of Winston’s mother Jennie Jerome on his early days, as well as Winston’s relationship with each of the Windsor monarchs including Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth...

It's been a wild few weeks for a number of TD alums. In the Dumpster this week: 

• Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, following the shock divorce filing in Nashville on September 30. Is Keith stepping out with a member of his touring band, and should we be concerned that he's currently on a tour he titled HIGH AND ALIVE after his well-documented troubles with substance misuse?
• Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater are once aga...

With the shocking news of the passing of Diane Keaton today in California at the age of 79, we wanted to share our 2022 story about her relationship and breakup with fellow actor Al Pacino: This week, Alicia catches us up on the long, but ultimately not permanent, romance between actors Diane Keaton and Al Pacino. While their love made them one of Hollywood’s 1970s and 1980s power couples, in the end, differing views on ma...

By the time Charlotte Rae earned her (second) Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Mrs. Garrett on The Facts of Life in 1982, she was already decades into a career that had yielded two Tony nominations and a 1970s-era Emmy nomination as well. But a lot of things had happened on the way to Edna Garrett, including a long marriage - and a quick divorce. 

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Lest you think that America’s culture of celebrity for no reason is new, Stacie is here to assure you that isn’t remotely the case. Way, way back, asbestos heir and Manhattan bon vivant Tommy Manville made himself the talk of the times by heading down the aisle over, and over, and over again. With 13 weddings and 11 divorces under his belt, “The Marrying Manville” isn’t just a Trashy Divorces All-Star – he’s basically a le...

With news breaking just this week that country crooner Keith Urban has filed for divorce from his wife of 19 years, Nicole Kidman, we wanted to resurface this 2019 episode covering the travails of the women who've tried to love one Tom Cruise. On the plus side of the equation, it's unlikely that Nicole will face anything as bizarre or painful with Keith as she went through with Tom back in the day. 

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They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and that's certainly one way to look at the story of Mary Kay, the cosmetics company founded by a woman who'd been divorced and then widowed (and then widowed again) in an era where women weren't exactly welcome in C-suites. But Mary Kay Ash seems to have had some secrets - secret husbands, to be clear - as does the company she founded. 

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Today, Alicia has the sad tale of the King and Queen of the Jazz Age, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. Though they never divorced, the story is a great illustration of the reality that some marriages don’t work, and a lot of people would be better off ending a marriage rather than staying in it. That's what Alicia wishes that Zelda had decided, dancing away from their doomed marriage a centur...

The promise of ABC's The Bachelor is the dream of happily ever after, but as we all know, well-lit reality TV filmed in romantic locations doesn't reflect the reality most of us live in. And so it was for Rachel Lindsay, lawyer and the season 13 lead of The Bachelorette, who chose chiropractor Bryan Abasolo for her final rose, and married him a couple of years later. Unsurprisingly, it didn't last long. 

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This week, Alicia is celebrating the 135th birthday of the mother of the modern mystery genre: Agatha Christie. And while Agatha Christie's novels held the public's attention, her disappearance in December 1926 galvanized the public and brought various personal scandals - namely, her husband Archie's infidelity - to light, in a way that nothing else could have. But to this day, we have no idea what exactly that 11-day peri...

It's always exciting when celebrity worlds collide. In this case, it's reality TV star Kristin Cavallari and NFL pro Jay Cutler, and when they settled into matrimonial bliss early in the last decade, it sure seemed like things were great. In no time, the couple had three kids and were living it up in a Nashville mansion with camera crews documenting it all. But there was plenty left on the cutting room floor, and wouldn't ...

In the 18th century, modern Germany continued to be a patchwork of various duchies, which kept German nobles in the marriage rotation throughout Europe. So it was that two brothers - Ernst and Leopold - came into the world in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1784 and 1790. One would become the King of Belgium, and one would be the legal father of Prince Albert, later the husband of Queen Victoria.

We say "legal father"...