Reynolds Debbie - Unsinkable: A Memoir

I T WAS GOING TO BE a perfect day.

In May 1984, I got married for the third time. Like my first two husbands, Richard asked me to marry him soon after we met. I held back.

When I was a young contract player at MGM, I met a handsome man who was the biggest recording star of the 1950s, Eddie Fisher. He was a success in records and also in the new medium of television with his program Coke Time with Eddie Fisher . When we got married, the press called us Americas Sweethearts. Eddie was my first loveand my first divorce. Eddies best friend, movie producer Mike Todd, spent a lot of time with us while we were dating. Mike fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor. Eddie and I stood up for Mike and Elizabeth when they were married. When Mike was killed in a horrible plane crash, I took care of their children while Eddie comforted Elizabeth. Then Eddie left our two small children and me for Elizabeth. (You knew youd be hearing about them in this story, didnt you? The scandal made headlines around the world. People still talk about it to this day.)

My second husband was a very wealthy businessman, Harry Karl. His family owned a chain of shoe stores worth many millions of dollars. Harry was older than me, but he courted me until I said yes to his proposal. He gave my children and me stability and a family life that lasted for many years. I let him take care of all our business while I took care of our home and his wardrobe. The trouble with Harry was that he loved gambling more than he loved me and our family. He squandered all of his money and then went through everything I had earned. When I found outthirteen years into our marriageeverything fell apart.

When Richard proposed to me, it had been twenty-six years since Eddie Fisher left me for Elizabeth Taylor, in 1958. That seemed like a lifetime ago. The nightmare of my second marriage had ended ten years before, and after being a rich mans trophy wife Id vowed never to marry again. Id worked to pay off millions of dollars of Harrys gambling debts, and Id rebuilt my life. At fifty-two, I didnt want to spend the rest of it alone, afraid of loving again. Id known Richard less than a year, but marrying him felt right. We seemed to be kindred spirits. I was comfortable with him. We talked for hours and hours, yet it seemed like minutes. I was happy to be in love again.

So a few months after Richard proposed, I decided to take a chance and marry him.

That being said, I was glad when Ruta Lee gave me a copy of her prenuptial agreement, to protect myself just in case. Ive known Ruta since my early days at MGM. Shed played one of the seven brides for seven brothers in the musical of the same name. Leave it to my famous bride girlfriend to have a prenup handy, but then, we do live in Hollywood. After all Id been through, Ruta thought it would be wise for me to ensure that I wouldnt get hurt again. Richard read it for a few hours, then signed it, to prove that he loved me for myself, not for my money.

I was booked to perform on a cruise leaving from Miami for a week that May, so we decided to get married in Florida and spend our honeymoon at sea. This arrangement was good for me because I thrive on working. It was good for Richard because he enjoyed watching me work. I planned a small wedding, with only my closest friends and family. My mother, Maxene, and my brother, Bill, along with my son, Todd, my daughter, Carrie, and a few friends, were flying in. Several days before the wedding, Richard and I checked into a large suite at the Ambassador Hotel. My good friends Nancy and Joe Kanter agreed to let us have the ceremony at their beautiful bay-front home on a nearby secluded Miami street. Nancy and I made all the arrangements quickly and quietly, without informing the press.