Trashy Divorces

This week we continue our Onassis saga by exploring some of the fallout within our main players after the wedding of Aristotle and Jackie. Two lovely ladies really get the shaft in this rocky time period, Lee Radziwill and Christina Onassis. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at patreon.com/trashydivorces ! Want a...

Holy cats! In Part Eight of the series, we arrive at Aristotle's second marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. It is not exactly a blessed occasion, and no one is happy about it, except Ari's sister Artemis, who makes a big comeback in this episode. Everyone else in Ari's life, including his mistress Maria Callas, and his children all have a whole lot of feelings about grand affair. Jackie’s sist...

In Part Seven of the Aristotle Onassis and His Lovely Ladies series, we open with the Bouvier Sisters, Jacqueline Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, taking a little R&R on Onassis’s yacht, the Christina. What was a quiet trip turns into mayhem, scandal and controversy for the sisters, their husbands, their lovers and their family too.  How do we get from this getaway girls’ trip to the engagement of J...

This week, in the sixth in our series of Aristotle Onassis and His Lovely Ladies, the ladies are plentiful. Maria Callas is full in love with her Aristo, but she is not the only lady in Aristotle’s life. He does frequent brothels and will begin an affair with Princess Lee Radziwill – both enrage Maria. Also included, so many spiderwebs – Prince Rainer, Richard Burton, JFK, Marilyn Monroe, and Elsa...

In this installment of the Trashy Onassis series, we meet Maria Callas. The opera diva had a childhood filled with awful, and then a husband who wasn't much better. By the time Maria and Aristotle begin their affair in 1959, she was a global opera superstar, and he was, as ever, a man in the business of collecting famous women. We'll see whether it was a match made in heaven (spoilers: it wasn't)...

While Tina's marriage to Ari wasn't built to last - for so many reasons - their divorce was hardly the end of the world for her. In less than two years, the British-born Tina was walking down the aisle with a future Duke, John Spencer-Churchill, then the Marquess of Blandford. With Ari, she had craved a quieter life, and once she got it, she realized she didn't actually care for a quieter life. St...

When Ari finally bestirred himself to walk down the aisle, he was 40 years old and his blushing bride, Tina Livanos, daughter of yet another shipping magnate, was just 17. And he and his lifelong nemesis Stavros Niarchos had both been pursuing her for years. Luckily for both men, and unluckily for both women, Tina had a sister, Eugenia, who would become Eugenia Niarchos to her Tina Onassis. And bo...

After having his heart broken by an opera singer (no foreshadowing here!), Aristotle Onassis bounced back in the most Aristotle Onassis way possible: by wooing the daughter of a Scandinavian shipping magnate. Ingeborg Dedichen would play a starring role in Ari's life for several turbulent years, and later reveal the depths of physical and emotional abuse that were Ari's trademark. And of course, t...

Greek shipping magnate and globe trotting rich guy Aristotle Onassis might have been a minor figure in the minds of most Americans if he hadn't inserted himself into the American psychodrama that is the Kennedy family. But obviously, his life and riches did not begin with his courtship of the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy. His story began decades before, with a hot opera singing girlfriend and a drea...

Actress Jaclyn Smith is best known for being the only one of Charlie's Angels to complete the entire series run back in the late 70s and early 80s, but she's also managed to maintain a busy professional schedule across many decades, both in television and film and by pioneering her own line of women's apparel with Kmart. And with all that, she's also managed three divorces and four marriages. Want...

The Duncan Hines brand is probably as close to a universally beloved product as we get here in the States, but for most of the real life Duncan Hines's seven decades prior to the baked goods thing, no one could have anticipated that outcome. Born in 1880, he came of age in the new era of automobiles, and as a traveling salesman, he developed a habit that would make him an icon of the era: he took...

Widely regarded as America's first supermodel, Cheryl Tiegs has always been so much more than a pretty face. An entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist, she's also had four divorces across a lengthy graph of declining marital happiness. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at patreon.com/trashydivorces ! Want a pe...

Screen legend Bette Davis made her mark in Hollywood by being willing to take on - and forcefully, perfectly inhabit - any interesting role that came her way. Her persona is iconic: a sharp-tongued wit, cigarette dangling, willing to shape-shift into fascinating portrayals of pathos. She was even the participant in one of Hollywood's greatest feuds, with fellow diva Joan Crawford. Her personal lif...

Hollywood legend Lena Horne changed what was possible for African-Americans performers in America. After a difficult childhood, she found a key ally in her father, who made clear to studio head Louis B. Mayer that he could hire a maid for his daughter - she would not need to play one on screen. Alternating between Hollywood, which was depressing because of its limitations on Black actors, and a th...

Every so often, we like to take a beat to catch up with some of our exes in a show format we call Dumpster Dive! We do these weekly on Patreon, but in this super expanded mama-jama main feed edition, we bring you the latest in celebrity scandals from TD alums and beyond. This week, we take a look at Dave Grohl's disappointing baby drama (and some internet hoaxery), Tori Spelling's latest career mo...

We've noticed a lack of royal divorce stories since we kicked off our sibling podcast Trashy Royals more than a year ago now (!). Today, Alicia is bridging that gap by bringing together - and busting apart - two of Queen Victoria's grandchildren. Yes, the long tradition of royal cousins getting hitched. These are Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse and by Rhine (nickname: Ernie) and Princess Victoria...

Melissa Gilbert grew up in front of all of our eyes playing Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie, and she managed to avoid some of the pitfalls that beset other child stars. Then she met Rob Lowe, and America's Sweetheart started a whole new chapter. It's included two divorces - one trashy, one very much not trashy - and a whole lot of spiderwebs. Want early, ad-free episodes, regul...

We are excited to share a show we're loving with you! American Prankster: Wavy Gravy's Life Story pairs the legendary entertainer and activist with our friend, podcaster Rainbow Valentine, following the incredible ride of a life that Wavy Gravy has been on through decades of American counterculture. Enjoy this sample, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices....

Dancer and actress Joan McCracken became one of America's biggest stars in the 1940s after her scene-stealing role in Oklahoma! as Sylvie, "The Girl Who Fell Down." In her real life, she was challenged by a secret diagnosis of diabetes in an era where management of the disease was complicated at best, and her marriage to fellow dancer Jack Dunphy - who would go on to be Truman Capote's partner for...

Diana Ross is rightly one of the biggest stars in the world, but her fortuitous proximity to Motown Records and its founder, Berry Gordy, and his obsession with her, supercharged the musical career of a girl who dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. Their romance may not have been long lasting, but it left carnage in its wake even as Diana's star rose higher and higher. Want early, ad-free episo...

All the televised sights from Paris lately put Alicia in a mood, so today she's got the incredible story of Natalie Clifford Barney, a leading light in the Parisian art world in the 19th century, and also a fearless out lesbian in a time when such a thing was inconceivable to most. American born, Natalie's story is fascinating on many levels, not least because of her constant intersections with an...

Once again, your requests are the best stories. Friends, we don't know where to begin with the trashiness that is Clint Eastwood, so we opted to focus mostly on his tumultuous relationship with fellow actor Sondra Locke. This one has everything - an almost pathological level of infidelity, indiscriminate fatherhood, unconventional marriages, and profound betrayals. Want early, ad-free episodes, re...

You asked for this one, and now we know why! Kelsey Grammer, best known for playing the cerebral and neurotic Dr. Frasier Crane for two decades on NBC, is quite the contrast to his lovable character. A childhood and young adulthood marked by unimaginable tragedies may be the key to why this uber-successful actor's personal life has veered from crisis to crisis. Want early, ad-free episodes, regula...

Black- ish star Anthony Anderson has been enjoying the pinnacle of his career for a decade now, having helmed the hugely successful sitcom for all eight of its seasons. But the spotlight can be a tough place for someone who has repeatedly faced allegations - even criminal charges - of sexual assault. Were those allegations part of the reason for the end of Anderson's long marriage? Want early, ad-...

Screen legend Michael Landon holds a unique spot even among other wildly successful actors. Landon starred in not one, not two, but three long-running hit television series, starting with Bonanza in 1959, then the iconic Little House on the Prairie in the 70s and early 80s, and finally Highway to Heaven. He was also the consummate family man - sort of. He clearly cherished the role of 'dad' to his...