Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Lived Like ‘Members of the Royal Family,’ Author Says (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.Photo:Bob Penn/Sygma/Sygma via Getty

Bob Penn/Sygma/Sygma via Getty

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on the set of 1966’s ‘The Sandpiper’.API/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

API/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

“They’d take over whole floors of grand hotels so all these people had accommodation,” Lewis says. “But what all this meant was that they never met ordinary people after that. They never mixed with anyone else. It was this very insulated life, rather like, I imagine, members of the royal family.”

Taylor and Burton, who met at a party in the 1950s, were first married from 1964 to 1974, and later married again, from 1975 to 1976. The couple appeared in numerous films together, including 1963’sThe V.I.PsandCleopatraand 1966’sWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

Though both Taylor and Burton were already successful actors before they met — Taylor as a child actress and Burton on the stage — the two took things to another level once the money started rolling in, Lewis says.They indulged Taylor’s love for her many animals, for example — including dogs, cats and monkeys — which often had free reign during the couple’s outings.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.Bob Penn/Sygma/Sygma via Getty

“It didn’t really matter to her that there would be someone having to clear up all this mess, because she had the wherewithal to do that,” Lewis says. “On this yacht of theirs that had very expensive carpets, they just used to be replaced every month or so because all the pets were not housebroken. And she never worried about all of that.”

Lewis also says that the Hollywood lifestyle itself may have put pressure on the couple.“[Their lifestyle was] very, very expensive to keep going, so they kept having to churn out these crazy films to pay the bills," he explains. “You get trapped in that world of money and you have to earn more money. You can’t let that go.”

Mobius

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Far from condemning the couple’s occasional bad behavior,Erotic Vagrancyremains an ode to the two Hollywood legends — something that Lewis never lost sight of while writing.

source: people.com