Trashy Divorces

Alicia's taking over *all* the podcasts this week, with the stories and spiderwebs of screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor. In this week's musically-themed episode, Alicia breaks down some of the lyrics in Taylor Swift's new track, Elizabeth Taylor, from her album The Life of a Showgirl. From Portofino to the very best table at Musso & Frank's, certain themes resonate across these two titanic figur...

In an exciting crossover episode today, Alicia was delighted to speak with author and biographer Andrew Morton about his new release Winston and the Windsors: How Churchill Shaped a Royal Dynasty . Our conversation explores the influence of Winston’s mother Jennie Jerome on his early days, as well as Winston’s relationship with each of the Windsor monarchs including Edward VII, George V, Edward VI...

It's been a wild few weeks for a number of TD alums. In the Dumpster this week:  Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, following the shock divorce filing in Nashville on September 30. Is Keith stepping out with a member of his touring band, and should we be concerned that he's currently on a tour he titled HIGH AND ALIVE after his well-documented troubles with substance misuse? Ariana Grande and Ethan Sl...

With the shocking news of the passing of Diane Keaton today in California at the age of 79, we wanted to share our 2022 story about her relationship and breakup with fellow actor Al Pacino: This week, Alicia catches us up on the long, but ultimately not permanent, romance between actors Diane Keaton and Al Pacino. While their love made them one of Hollywood’s 1970s and 1980s power couples, in the...

By the time Charlotte Rae earned her (second) Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Mrs. Garrett on The Facts of Life in 1982, she was already decades into a career that had yielded two Tony nominations and a 1970s-era Emmy nomination as well. But a lot of things had happened on the way to Edna Garrett, including a long marriage - and a quick divorce.  Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster...

Lest you think that America’s culture of celebrity for no reason is new, Stacie is here to assure you that isn’t remotely the case. Way, way back, asbestos heir and Manhattan bon vivant Tommy Manville made himself the talk of the times by heading down the aisle over, and over, and over again. With 13 weddings and 11 divorces under his belt, “The Marrying Manville” isn’t just a Trashy Divorces All-...

With news breaking just this week that country crooner Keith Urban has filed for divorce from his wife of 19 years, Nicole Kidman, we wanted to resurface this 2019 episode covering the travails of the women who've tried to love one Tom Cruise. On the plus side of the equation, it's unlikely that Nicole will face anything as bizarre or painful with Keith as she went through with Tom back in the day...

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and that's certainly one way to look at the story of Mary Kay, the cosmetics company founded by a woman who'd been divorced and then widowed (and then widowed again) in an era where women weren't exactly welcome in C-suites. But Mary Kay Ash seems to have had some secrets - secret husbands, to be clear - as does the company she founded.  Want ear...

Today, Alicia has the sad tale of the King and Queen of the Jazz Age, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. Though they never divorced, the story is a great illustration of the reality that some marriages don’t work, and a lot of people would be better off ending a marriage rather than staying in it. That's what Alicia wishes that Zelda had decided, dancing away from thei...

The promise of ABC's The Bachelor is the dream of happily ever after, but as we all know, well-lit reality TV filmed in romantic locations doesn't reflect the reality most of us live in. And so it was for Rachel Lindsay, lawyer and the season 13 lead of The Bachelorette, who chose chiropractor Bryan Abasolo for her final rose, and married him a couple of years later. Unsurprisingly, it didn't last...

This week, Alicia is celebrating the 135th birthday of the mother of the modern mystery genre: Agatha Christie. And while Agatha Christie's novels held the public's attention, her disappearance in December 1926 galvanized the public and brought various personal scandals - namely, her husband Archie's infidelity - to light, in a way that nothing else could have. But to this day, we have no idea wha...

It's always exciting when celebrity worlds collide. In this case, it's reality TV star Kristin Cavallari and NFL pro Jay Cutler, and when they settled into matrimonial bliss early in the last decade, it sure seemed like things were great. In no time, the couple had three kids and were living it up in a Nashville mansion with camera crews documenting it all. But there was plenty left on the cutting...

In the 18th century, modern Germany continued to be a patchwork of various duchies, which kept German nobles in the marriage rotation throughout Europe. So it was that two brothers - Ernst and Leopold - came into the world in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1784 and 1790. One would become the King of Belgium, and one would be the legal father of Prince Albert, later the husband of Queen Victo...

Once upon a time, pop megastar Taylor Swift was an assuming teenager transitioning from a country music past into an unknowable future. Along the way, she met a Jonas brother, Joe, and for a few gossipy months in 2008, the pair were an item. And then... well, then a decade and a half of history and diss tracks would begin to slowly unspool. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bon...

Back in the early 80s, divorce lawyer to the stars (and Trashy Divorces alum) Marvin Mitchelson took on the biggest case of his career - and one that seems to have gotten away from him a bit. Sheika Dena al Fassi, the wife of Saudi businessman (and Saudi royal family member) Mohammed al Fassi, was filing for divorce, and estimates of Mohammed's fortune ran as high as $3 billion. On the one hand, D...

For the more casual observers of popular culture, Halle Bailey may only register as Ariel in the 2023 The Little Mermaid remake, but the more discerning know that this young artist has been doing the hard work, alongside her sister Chloe, since she was barely out of diapers. She excels in music - she and her sister have garnered five Grammy nominations and count Beyonce as their mentor - as well a...

America swooned for Sex and the City, HBO's glamorous dive into the lives of four women in New York City at the bleeding edge of the 21st century. But early in the series run, there were already rumors of cast disputes, factions, and trouble on set. Had the show been less singular, and less beloved, the actresses likely would have emerged unscathed by the stories, but instead, Kim Cattrall and Sar...

In the Dumpster this week: We note the passing of Kelly Clarson's ex Brandon Blackstock at just 48. Please keep his four children in your thoughts. Actress, singer, Prince confidant, and other multi-hyphenate Apollonia (Patricia Apollonia Kotero), at the young age of 66, finds herself embroiled in a legal battle with Prince's estate over her name. Though Apollonia has been going by the moniker pro...

Today's Dumpster Dive is sponsored by Incogni! Today in the Dumpster, we're diving right into: The midcentury fabulous Highlands, North Carolina, home that Burt Reynolds owned for a decade or so back in the 80s and 90s. It's on the market, so if you need a two-story monolith, a fire-warmed groove pit, or a stone shower, it can be yours for the low, low price of just $3.699M! If you're looking for...

The character of Alice Hyatt - a widowed mother who takes a job at a roadside diner on her way to a singing career - made a lot of sense to actress Linda Lavin. After all, her mother had been an opera singer whose aspirations were derailed by marriage and children, and by the time Alice premiered in 1976, Linda was living and thriving in a very different world than her mother had been able to enjo...

Child actor Gary Coleman made a big cultural mark on the 1980s in his role as Arnold Jackson on Diff'rent Strokes - "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" was his notable catchphrase on the show. But the young man who emerged from the series in 1986 had a hard road ahead of him. Because of health issues stemming from his earliest days, he retained his childlike stature and appearance, and the $18 milli...

With the passing of Loni Anderson this week, we pulled one of the trashiest divorces out of the vault for an encore this week. Oh, the 1980s were a weird time, and Loni Anderson and Burt Reynolds might have seemed like they could have gone the distance. However, it was not to be. It is a much bleaker portrait of a six-year long marriage, and a divorce without an end. It is also a story of survivin...

When longtime tennis partners - kidding, they were married - Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen announced that they were putting their racquets down back in April 2024, they noted that they had jointly filed for divorce in 2023. Which raises a question about why they chose to announce their split at that particular moment. Turns out, it might have to do with the release of a memoir from a former co...

In this Trashy Royals crossover, Alicia reveals all the dirt about the OG of dictators, Julius Ceasar and his four-ish wives. Each of his wives served a needed purpose for Ceasar in their own time, and these stories get trashy! From young love to power alliances, this is a whole Roman Times soap opera featuring our wives, Cossutia, Cornelia, Pompeia, and Calpurnia. But that is not all – thrown in...

Before he was conquering the music world with Guns N' Roses back in the late '80s and early '90s, guitarist Slash was Saul Hudson. London born and Los Angeles raised, his entertainment-industry parents did not provide the stability that a teen in the '70s and '80s would have benefited from. Consequently, young Slash found himself misusing a number of things, including an early marriage or two, and...