The Marriage Imploded
According to Suzanne Finstad, who wrote Natalie Wood: The Complete Biography, “the secret that was buried deepest in Natalie’s closet of skeletons was the shocking end of her fairy tale first marriage to bobby socks idol Robert Wagner…To protect Wagner’s image, Natalie publicly took the fall for their sudden divorce in 1961. She never refuted fan-magazine gossip that her marriage to Wagner imploded over an alleged affair she had with her co-star Warren Beatty while filming Splendor in the Grass. In time, the gossip, patently false, was reported as fact. Only a trusted few knew Natalie’s account. I was told by three of Natalie’s close friends, by her mother’s best friend, and her sister, Lana, that Natalie came upon Wagner in their Beverly Hills mansion in flagrante with a man.”
The Marriage Imploded
All The Others
Of course, at the time, a secret like Wagner’s could end careers. However, Cavendish was not the only one that Wagner was linked with outside of his marriage. His other alleged paramours included the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Yvonne De Carlo, Joan Collins, Jill St. John, Claudette Colbert Anita Ekberg, and Shirley Anne Field.
All The Others