In her 3-decade career, British actress Vivien Leigh (1913-1967) won 2 Oscars for Best Actress with roles in the films “Gone with the Wind” (1939) and “A Train Named Desire” (1951).
She is mentioned as a legend in cinema history, one of the most important examples The most beautiful face ever to appear on the silver screen. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Vivien Leigh 16th out of the 100 best movie stars of all time.
A brilliantly successful career. So brilliant, but few people know that behind the screen, Vivien Leigh’s life hides many tragedies and scandals.
Tragedy of illness
Throughout her life Vivien suffered from bipolar disorder in which she could quickly move from extreme depression to extreme joy. It was Vivien’s rapid psychological change that made her notorious in the acting world as a stubborn person who was difficult to please and difficult to cooperate with. At that time, people did not know about bipolar disorder and blamed Vivien for all kinds of bad personality habits.
Because of this mental illness, Vivien’s career had times of decline. Her fate was so miserable that no one paid any attention to her or invited her to act. In addition, Vivien also suffered from chronic tuberculosis since the mid-1940s when she was in her 30s, the same disease that took her life at the age of 53 due to a pleural effusion.
< b>Marital tragedy
The tragedies in Vivien Leigh’s life mainly come from love and marriage. There are many men who have passed through Vivien’s life, but she was most attached to 3 men, of whom she officially married twice.
Vivien Leigh became a bride at the age of 19
Vivien’s first husband – lawyer Herbert Leigh Holman, a man 13 years older than her, took her into the world. family life at the age of 19. Her husband did not like people in the art world, so he did not support or understand Vivien’s desire to pursue art.
During her marriage with Holman Vivien was always in a state of shackles. She knew that she was not born to be a woman who only knew how to have a family. Becoming a mother too early at the age of 20, Vivien became even more disgusted with family life and longed to assert herself on stage and screen.
The marriage ended after 8 years with What a girl, this is also Vivien Leigh’s only child.
Vivien Leigh and her second husband – Laurence Olivier
In fact, while still with her first husband, Vivien Leigh met her second husband – British actor and director – Laurence Olivier . They have feelings for each other even though they are both married. In 1940, the two decided to divorce to be together.
Although Vivien Leigh always affirmed that Laurence Olivier was the man she loved most throughout her life, during the process of living together, Vivien was always tormented. Laurence is partly due to bipolar disorder. Vivien always talked about her quick extramarital affairs to satisfy her anger towards Laurence.
There were times when Vivien fought with Laurence and colleagues in front of her friends and colleagues. slapped her husband very rudely. Everyone who had the opportunity to cooperate with the couple Vivien – Laurence noticed an unusual madness in the beauty’s love. Realizing that his wife had psychological problems, Laurence tried to endure it for 20 years until the marriage ended in 1960.
After the marriage with Laurence Olivier ended Vivien was now 47 years old and she entered into an affair with an actor 4 years younger than her – Jack Merivale. They lived together for the last 7 years of Vivien’s life but did not marry. Even though he knew Vivien’s illness, Jack was determined to come to her and promised to take care of her for the rest of his life.
However, even though she was with her new lover, Vivien still shared: “It is better to live short years with Laurence than to live a long life without him.” Indeed, Vivien only accepted a divorce from her second husband – Laurence Olivier because he ran after new love, not because her love had ended.
Strange relationship between the three men in Vivien Leigh’s life
In Although Vivien’s tragic life was never completely happy in marriage, she always received rare attention from three men. There was a time when the first husband moved to live with Vivien and Laurence to help Laurence take care of her during Vivien’s most depressed days. Sometimes he even went on tour with Vivien to take care of her.
As soon as he found out that Vivien had passed away, Jack – the man who was close to Vivien in the last years of her life – immediately called. Call Laurence so he can come see Vivien one last time. When he arrived, Laurence stood and prayed next to Vivien for forgiveness for the sad things that had happened between them. After that, Jack and Laurence stood up to organize Vivien’s funeral.
It seems that there is a great sympathy between these three men and they always share the difficulties in their relationship together. with Vivien Leigh.
Heavy secrets about Vivien Leigh
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In the biography “Damn You Scarlett O’Hara” (2011) by two authors Darwin Porter (a friend of Vivien) and Roy Moseley (former assistant of Laurence Olivier) Secret stories about Vivien that few people have ever known have been revealed. Accordingly, Vivien Leigh is actually a bisexual as she has sexual relationships with both men and women.
In addition, the book also describes Vivien as having hypersexuality. . She often goes to prostitutes in Hollywood to satisfy her desires. The biography recounts that Vivien often drove to Scotty’s gas station, a disguised brothel with only one gas pump but dozens of guys regularly present at the station. She and her friends often come here and “pick up” a few “workers” of the station.
Once Vivien Leigh was even kicked out of a hotel in Italy for taking her back to her room. many men at the same time. Throughout her life, Vivien often had to face insecurity and loneliness. She could not stand the feeling of emptiness even for a moment, so Vivien was ready to “run right into the street to find a man to take her to him.” I come home to seduce.”
British postage stamps depicting Vivien Leigh in 1985 and 2013< /span>
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