Elizabeth Taylor measured 1.57 m, a modest height for an actress whose on-screen presence seemed to occupy every inch of film. Born on February 27, 1932, in Hampstead Garden Suburb, near London, she went through eight marriages, widely commented weight fluctuations, and a career under contract with MGM from childhood.
What age gaps separated the actress from her husbands? How long did her unions actually last? The available data allows us to map out a romantic life often reduced to headlines.
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Timeline of Elizabeth Taylor’s Eight Marriages
The table below gathers the documented unions of the actress, from her first marriage at eighteen to her last in the 1990s.
| Husband | Year of Marriage | Year of Separation |
|---|---|---|
| Conrad Hilton Jr. | 1950 | 1951 |
| Michael Wilding | 1952 | 1957 |
| Mike Todd | 1957 | 1958 (death) |
| Eddie Fisher | 1959 | 1964 |
| Richard Burton (1st marriage) | 1964 | 1974 |
| Richard Burton (2nd marriage) | 1975 | 1976 |
| John Warner | 1976 | 1982 |
| Larry Fortensky | 1991 | 1996 |
Several observations emerge. Only two unions exceeded five years: those with Richard Burton (first period) and John Warner. The first, with Conrad Hilton Jr., lasted less than a year. Five of her eight marriages lasted less than five years, which puts into perspective the image of a woman perpetually in a stable relationship.
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To delve deeper into Elizabeth Taylor’s height and weight, as well as the detailed profile of each of her husbands, biometric data corroborated by several biographers confirm her height of 1.57 m and documented weight variations throughout her adult life.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton: The Numbers Behind the Myth
The Taylor-Burton couple draws attention for a simple arithmetic reason: two marriages, two divorces, totaling four ceremonies between them. Their first union, in 1964, remains the longest of all the actress’s relationships (a decade). The second, in 1975, lasted only about a year.
Their meeting on the set of Cleopatra caused a media scandal of a magnitude that Hollywood had not seen in decades. Taylor was thirty-two at the time. Burton, a Welsh actor from a working-class background, brought a very different social profile compared to her previous husbands.
Income Gap and Couple Dynamics
This financial power altered the marital dynamic with Burton, who was also very well-paid. The jewelry given during this period (including the famous Taylor-Burton diamond) served both as tokens of love and as investments.
In contrast, their second attempt at marriage suggests that the 1974 separation did not resolve the tensions. The breakup-reconciliation-breakup pattern remained the same, compressed this time into a few months instead of ten years.
Elizabeth Taylor’s Weight Fluctuations and Media Pressure
The actress’s weight variations were commented on by the press as early as the 1970s, and more aggressively in the 1980s. Her longtime doctor documented these fluctuations, linked to several factors:
- Chronic back problems that reduced her mobility, contributing to weight gain during recovery periods
- Repeated hospitalizations, sometimes related to addictions, alternating phases of weight loss and gain
- An intense social lifestyle, visible even into the 1980s (a photo from 1989 shows her on a motorcycle outing with Malcolm Forbes in Far Hills, New Jersey)
Her height of 1.57 m made each variation of a few kilos visually more noticeable than it would have been on a taller figure. The tabloid press exploited this scale effect for decades.
Weight and Romantic Life: An Overestimated Correlation
Some biographical accounts link weight gain to periods of marital crisis. The data do not confirm such a mechanical link. Her hospitalizations correlate more with back problems and addiction than with romantic breakups. The marriage to John Warner (1976-1982), often cited as a period of notable weight gain, also corresponds to a partial withdrawal from Hollywood life, as Taylor accompanied her husband in his political career in the U.S. Senate.
Social Profile of Elizabeth Taylor’s Husbands: Diversity and Constants
The range of husbands is striking for its professional variety:
- Conrad Hilton Jr.: hotel empire heir
- Michael Wilding: British actor from an earlier generation
- Mike Todd: film producer, died in a plane crash
- Eddie Fisher: popular singer, close friend of Todd
- Richard Burton: Welsh Shakespearean actor, married twice
- John Warner: Republican politician, future senator from Virginia
- Larry Fortensky: construction worker met in rehab
From billionaire heir to laborer, through senator and classical theater actor, no social profile repeats from one marriage to another. The only recurring pattern is the speed: Taylor often remarried within a year following a divorce or widowhood.
Jewelry as Markers of Each Union
Each marriage left a material trace in the form of jewelry. The 69-carat Taylor-Burton diamond given by Burton remains the most famous. The diamond necklace and the ring bearing her name, visible in photos from the late 1980s, testify to a continuity: even after the end of her marriages, Taylor retained and wore the pieces received from her various husbands.
Elizabeth Taylor passed away on March 23, 2011, in Los Angeles, at the age of 79. Eight marriages, seven husbands, a height of 1.57 m, and weight variations that never altered what the camera captured first: eyes described as violet, which remained the only physical trait that the press never thought to criticize.