Natalie Wood appeared to have the perfect marriage but its foundation was shaken when she reportedly caught her husband having an affair with their live-in butler.
The shocking revelation comes from a new biography of Wood written by Suzanne Finstad, who claims to have heard the news from three of Wood's close friends, according to the Daily Mail.
Wood allegedly learned that her husband, Robert Wagner, was being unfaithful one night in the early 60s when she came across him 'intertwined' with their butler. The "West Side Story" actress grew hysterical. She reportedly smashed a crystal glass in her hand then fled to her neighbor's house to call her mother to take her to their house.
After arriving at her parent's house, she locked herself in a bedroom, where she accidentally overdosed on sleeping pills and had to be rushed to the hospital.
For a week Wood remained shut away. Her weight plummeted as the stress took its toll and Finstad said the star never fully recovered from the incident which "came close to destroying her."
Wood and Wagner separated in June 1961 and a year later they were divorced. Rumors that Wagner was gay and bisexual began to surface but Wood fervently denied them and reportedly took the blame for their break up to protect his career.
Several years later Wood married film producer Richard Gregson but by 1972 they were divorced. It was not long after that she and Wagner got back together.
Then, in 1981, Wood died by drowning and rumors emerged that Wagner was somehow involved but Wood's daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner last week dismissed the speculation.
"It’s so preposterous I can’t even relate to it," she says in a tell-all documentary, according to Closer Weekly. "I know that she drowned and I know it was an accident.”
Natasha further recalls her mother and father "always laughing at each other's jokes" and says they were her "model for relationships, for love, intimacy and connection."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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