Debbie Reynolds became as famous for her role in a love triangle that rocked Hollywood as she was for her biggest movies.
She and husband Eddie Fisher were one of Tinseltown’s most glamorous couples in the 1950s and were close friends with Elizabeth Taylor and producer Mike Todd.
When Elizabeth and Mike married in 1957, Eddie was Mike’s best man and Debbie was Elizabeth’s matron of honour.
But after Mike died in a plane crash the following year, Eddie began an affair with his wife’s childhood friend, who was her classmate at the MGM Studios school.
He divorced Debbie and married Liz, leaving his ex-wife to raise their young children Carrie and Todd alone.
Debbie told The Oprah Winfrey Show: “He went to New York for some business, I didn’t know it was monkey business.
“I called his room and he wasn’t there, so I called Elizabeth’s room and Eddie took the call.
“Then I heard Elizabeth saying; ‘Who is it darling?’ and I said ‘Would you just roll over and put Elizabeth on the phone?’.
“The whole thing was so sad because Elizabeth was in deep mourning and turned to Eddie out of this deep need.”
While Elizabeth eventually left Eddie for Richard Burton, the former best friends did not speak for years.
However, Debbie later told People magazine she blamed her husband far more than Elizabeth.
She said: “I felt you can’t make a man leave, you can’t make him do something he doesn’t want to do. He obviously chose to leave, didn’t he? She didn’t lasso him.
“She was just beautiful Elizabeth Taylor. He wanted her, and he wanted to be her lover, so he left and he was. He was the selfish one. She just gave him what he wanted.”
The duo even reconciled before Elizabeth died in 2011 after they both joined the same cruise without knowing the other was on the same ship.
Once aboard, the two sent each other notes and Elizabeth visited Debbie in her stateroom.
She told the magazine: “At that time, in my cabin, before we went to dinner, we both made our little (amends). I said, ‘Why in the world would you want him anyway?’.
“She said, ‘Well, I don’t know why I did it, and I certainly was wrong. But look what I have now!’. I said, ‘Well, lucky you!’ And that’s how that got over.”
Debbie and Liz even went on to co-star in TV movie These Old Broads, written by Carrie Fisher.
