“Lust of my life,” Rita Moreno described
Marlon Brando , even though their on-and-off relationship nearly cost the legendary
actress her life. Did you know Moreno almost died because of him? Today, we’ll dive deeper
into the scandalous and incredibly dangerous romance that roared in Hollywood in the 50s.
Rita Moreno is a living legend. The Puerto Rican actor acted in major blockbusters and on-stage
productions throughout her more than 60-year career. Her romantic affairs with Hollywood actors
made for a very storied past. But it was Moreno’s turbulent, on-and-off relationship with Marlon
Brando that marked the glory of her career. That story was all about passion and tragedy.
During the Golden Age of Hollywood, both Moreno and Brando were two of the
biggest movie stars in the industry. They crossed paths and started working together
on the film set, where Brando played Napoleon. Moreno, who was only 22-years-old at the time,
was immediately taken with the icon-to-be. Soon afterwards, the pair became involved in a
romantic relationship that lasted eight years. “Just meeting him that first day sent my body
temperature skyrocketing as though I had been dropped into a very hot bath, and I went into a
full-body blush,” Moreno wrote in her 2013 memoir. She believed it was a raw, pure feeling.
She couldn’t believe that love came into her life so unexpectedly.
After they madly fell in love, Moreno couldn’t imagine herself with anyone
except for Brando. She thought he was the best man she had ever met. “To say that he was
a great lover — sensual, generous, delightfully inventive — would be gravely understating what
he did not only to my body, but for my soul.” Moreno’s obsession with Brando lasted
for years - until their romance got extremely dangerous. It turned out that
Moreno played with fire all these years. She was obsessed with Brando from the moment
they met, but he cheated on her repeatedly, even marrying twice and fathering children with
his wives during their love affair. Years after their relationship ended, Moreno admitted she
couldn’t stay away from the charismatic actor, despite Brando breaking her heart all
the time. “I was becoming addicted to the challenge of winning him over and over
again,” the legendary actress revealed. Moreno later reflected on
their tumultuous relationship, “He broke my heart and came close to crushing my
very spirit with his physical infidelities and, worse, with his emotional betrayals.” Though
Brando was a great lover and made her feel things she hadn’t with anyone else, she saw that the
actor would become a different person at times. His actions hurt her over and over again.
What's more, in her attempt to make the actor jealous after his infidelities, Moreno
started dating Elvis Presley. So how did it happen that the veteran actress pursued a vendetta
against Brando with the King of Rock and Roll? After finding lingerie in Brando’s house,
the agonized actress received a phone call from Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager.
He said the legendary performer would be extremely pleased to meet her. So, She
agreed to go out on a date with Elvis. Moreno later shared the details of that moment,
“And I thought of those panties, and I said, ‘Yes, I would!” She also wrote in her book that no one
could possibly make Marlon Brando more jealous. And the glorious revenge plan worked out. Rita and
Elvis got caught in the spotlight. It made Brando furious about his girlfriend's infidelity. She
shared the details, "He started to throw chairs. He was so angry. It was wonderful. And I just
sat there as he threw chairs and carried on." Wait, but what about the relationship with Elvis?
The passion wasn’t even remotely on the same level as with Brando. Although they went out several
times, Moreno got quickly bored with Elvis, “He was sweet but boring. He was
sweet, but he was a country boy.” When Brando found out about her affair,
she was pleased with his intense reaction. That plan was all about getting
him back. Guess what happened next? Yes, Moreno found herself back in Brando’s
arms shortly after her romance with Elvis. Sadly, the pain of the relationship
began to catch up with the actress. Brando, the notorious womanizer, returned
to her life and brought her lots of misery. A tipping point came when Moreno learned she
was pregnant with his child. Her dreams that Brando would suggest getting married didn't
turn out to be true. Instead, he got furious. To Moreno’s shock and horror, Marlon
immediately arranged for an abortion. He knew that it was an illegal procedure, but
still risked her life. He wasn’t there for her after the surgery and arranged for somebody
else to pick her up after the abortion. But things didn’t go as smoothly
as the couple had thought. Moreno soon started bleeding and had to be rushed
to the hospital to have another surgery. It turned out that the fetus wasn’t properly removed from
her body. Luckily, she survived the tragedy. Shortly after her abortion, Brando filmed
Mutiny on the Bounty fell in love with his co-star Tarita Teriipia. They later married,
leaving Moreno absolutely devastated from another display of Brando's infidelity.
It felt like an unbreakable betrayal. Brando's constant infidelity took its toll on
Moreno's mental health. No wonder she was so anxious. Her suffering reached its peak when she
thought suicide was the only way to cope with all the pain. Moreno had recently wrapped what
would become her star-making role in West Side Story, but behind closed doors, seeing him
with yet another woman was all too much. She recalled in her book, "I was alone
in his house, waiting for him to arrive, when my pain became intolerable. 'How can
you keep taking him back?' I asked myself. 'He hasn't just had one woman. He's
had legions! It will never stop!'" She attempted to overdose on pills after Brando
returned from filming. "I went to bed to die. This wasn't a revenge suicide, but a consolation,
an escape-from-pain death," the actress recalled. She swallowed a bunch of his sleeping pills
in one gulp, trying to escape the pain. If it weren't for Brando's assistant, the
actress might have never opened her eyes again. Moreno was at the point of no
return. So what did she do? The EGOT winner learned how to distance herself
from Brando, rigidly setting her boundaries. As he jeopardized her life with neglect,
Moreno could no longer stand that man. Much to Moreno's dismay, seven years later,
she was cast alongside Brando in The Night of the Following Day. "We do this scene, and
we do the dialogue, and I haul off and smack him in the face, and he hauls off and smacks
me back," she remembered. That moment opened an old wound. It reminded Moreno of the
time when Brando took advantage of her. "Pond scum came to the surface and I started
screaming at him, and they never stopped filming." That situation also gave the actress much-needed
closure, relieving the pain from the past. Although she admits it was childish to
deal with trauma in the way like this, Moreno was satisfied she got even with Brando.
How did she manage to come out of that dark and hopeless obsession with him? The answer is
simple - she owes it to therapy. She struggled a lot before she started liking herself. Maybe, her
low self-esteem was the reason why the actress's relationship with Brando lasted so long? She
opened up about personal vulnerabilities, saying "I went into therapy wanting to get better,
knowing that in some way I had a sickness. And the sickness was Rita hates Rita."
Moreno went on to have a great love with her husband of 45 years, Leonard Gordon. But her
fascination with forming a serious relationship faded away after her husband's death. She has
not remarried. The iconic actress considers herself too independent and self-reliant
to tie the knot again. "I didn't realize how desperately I needed to be on my own. I was
punishing myself by not being on my own. It was brutal," she said later in the interview.
Today, she can accept how special she is and how much she has meant to so many people.
Unexpectedly, the bond between her and Brando grew stronger as they matured, up until Brando died.
Every now and then, he'd call Moreno and would say to her, "'You were the only woman in my life
who was able to make that right turn." What did he mean by that? That she wasn't addicted to him
anymore, that she finally got rid of his control. The actress simply didn't need him anymore.
She learned how to find dignity within herself. The New York Post reported that the only piece
of movie memorabilia found in Brando's home after his death was a picture of him in the
1969 film The Night of the Following Day, where he's locked in a passionate
embrace with a naked Moreno. It's been a decade since Moreno started
living as a widow. It amazes her how many people assume she is lonely. "I love being
by myself," the 90-year-old actress shared. "It's not hard to be alone. In fact, it's
great, if you like the person you live with."
