Let's hear no more about Liz, says Sally Burton: Richard's widow hits out at fascination with their relationship

By Andrew Levy for the Daily Mail
Updated: 05:27 EDT, 10 October 2011

 
It is still talked about as one of the world’s greatest romances 35 years after it came to an end.

But one woman has heard more than enough about the tempestuous love life of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton – his widow, Sally.

Mrs Burton, 61, opened her heart on the matter for the first time since Miss Taylor’s death in March to express her annoyance at the continuing interest in the actors’ on-off relationship.

Tempestuous: Richard Burton kisses Elizabeth Taylor on their first wedding day

‘I get p****d off with all the talk of the great love story,’ she said.

‘Yes, they were in love but they divorced twice. That means their marriage didn’t work.’

Mrs Burton, who moved to Perth in Western Australia several years ago to ‘establish a life of my own’, made the outburst during a visit to her former husband’s home town of Port Talbot in South Wales.

It came amid renewed interest over the Burton-Taylor story, with Martin Scorsese preparing to direct a film about the stormy relationship based on a 2009 biography, Furious Love, and Russell Crowe said to be interested in playing Burton.

Former make-up artist Sally Hay married Burton in 1983 and was with him when he died following a brain haemorrhage at their home in Celigny, Switzerland, in August the following year. He was 58.

Sally is pictured here with her late husband Richard Burton

Attending the annual Richard Burton Lecture at Port Talbot’s Princess Royal Theatre, she added that she found it increasingly difficult to talk about her ‘charming and brilliant’ husband.

‘You may think it might get easier over time but it doesn’t,’ she said.

‘When you marry someone older than you it’s almost taken for granted that one day you might lose them. But I did not expect to lose him when I was still in my 30s and he was only in his 50s.’

After meeting on the set of the movie Cleopatra in 1963, Burton and Taylor went on to wed twice in 13 years – with the second marriage lasting a mere  nine months.

Their first marriage was his second and her fifth. They gave a celebrated 1970 interview with the U.S. TV programme 60 Minutes during their first marriage, which lasted from 1964 to 1974, and discussed their fiery relationship and fights.

Last year Miss Taylor allowed some of the love letters Burton sent her to be published, including one which said: ‘If you leave me I shall have to kill myself. There is no life without you.’ In another, he admitted ‘how badly I treat you’ and that they operated on ‘alien wavelengths’. But he added: ‘I love you and I always will. Come back to me as soon as you can.’

Twice Oscar winner Miss Taylor, who shot to fame with National Velvet in 1944, died aged 79 on March 23.

Her estate included £30million worth of gems including many purchased for her by miner’s son Burton.

The first was the 33.1-carat emerald cut Krupp diamond, followed by the La Peregrina pearl and the 69.4-carat pear-shaped stone which became known as the Taylor-Burton diamond.

The collection is being put on display in galleries around the world before 80 pieces are auctioned by Christie’s New York in December.