Rare Photos of Elizabeth Taylor’s Famous Friendships, From Debbie Reynolds to Michael Jackson
Learn about the close bonds between Taylor and her co-stars, as well as friends she made along the way
In addition to being a legend in Hollywood’s golden age, Elizabeth Taylor was also an incredibly talented actress, a stunning, raven-haired and violet-eyed woman and a devoted friend to many. Throughout her storied life, the icon maintained meaningful friendships with actors and musicians alike, from Rock Hudson to Michael Jackson. Get a glimpse into the life and connections Taylor made during her life.
Rock Hudson
The beloved friendship between Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson was one to admire. The duo first met while filming Giant (1956), the only movie they ever made together, and they had an immediate connection.
“Rock made me laugh,” Taylor recalled for his biography, All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson. “We spent most of the time laughing, chatting and being silly. One night the hail was like golf balls, and we were running out, getting bonked on the head, making chocolate martinis.”
The two became close confidants, with Hudson opening up about his sexuality and Taylor sharing about her issues with postpartum depression, among other things. Taylor and Hudson stuck through the tough times together, including Hudson’s AIDS diagnosis in 1984.
Unfortunately, the actor died in 1985, leaving a hole in Taylor’s life. She went on to honor the life of her dear friend by continuing and strengthening her dedication to HIV/AIDS activism. In 1991, she founded The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
James Dean
Like Rock Hudson, Taylor met actor James Dean while filming Giant. They formed a fast connection and quickly came to rely on each other for support, with Dean confiding in Taylor about the sexual abuse he endured as a child.
“I think that haunted him the rest of his life,” Taylor said, according to Kevin Sessums for a 1997 interview. “In fact, I know it did. We talked about it a lot. During Giant we’d stay up nights and talk and talk, and that was one of the things he confessed to me.”
Early on in their relationship, Dean would share personal details of his life with Taylor and then ignore her while on set. But when she proved how much she cared by asking his reasoning for ignoring her, the two grew closer.
Their friendship was short-lived, unfortunately, as Dean tragically died in 1955 in a car crash at age 24. The loss of Dean was hard on Taylor, and she remembered him fondly for the rest of her life.
“Jimmy wasn’t a parable or a myth: He was my friend and I loved him,” she said in a 1991 interview. “His death was tragic, but he was not.”
Debbie Reynolds
Taylor and Debbie Reynolds had a complicated, if not shaky, friendship over the years. What started out as a bond from their teen years turned into a highly publicized feud and then gradually into a civil relationship.
Taylor and Reynolds first met as teenagers while filming on the MGM Studios lot, as they both attended on-set classes at the Little Red Schoolhouse. They were friendly, but their bond deepened when Taylor married Mike Todd and the couple befriended Reynolds and her husband, Eddie Fisher.
The foursome shared an exceptionally close bond, often seen together at public events, even to the point where Reynolds and Fisher stood as witnesses at Taylor and Todd’s wedding. And when Todd tragically died in a plane crash just a year later, Fisher and Reynolds were at Taylor’s side, offering their support.
The grieving of Todd’s wife and his best friend led to an affair between Taylor and Fisher, which damaged the friendship between the actress and Reynolds. They didn’t speak for years and the chasm between them grew even wider after Taylor and Fisher tied the knot, forcing Reynolds to get a divorce she didn’t want.
But when Taylor left Fisher for Richard Burton in 1964 after five years of marriage, there was suddenly room for the two actresses to mend their friendship. It’s not clear exactly how long their feud endured, but they did eventually become friends again. They even appeared in the 2001 film, These Old Broads.
Michael Jackson
Despite their age difference of about 26 years, Taylor and Michael Jackson maintained a beloved friendship. It all began in a rather unconventional way, when Taylor left one of Jackson’s concerts because she couldn’t clearly see the stage. When Jackson called to check on her, they ended up chatting for three hours.
Some found their friendship odd, wondering what an actress from the golden age of Hollywood and the “King of Pop” had in common. As it turned out, the duo truly did have a few things to bond over.
“One of the reasons I think Michael Jackson and I are so close [is] because neither one of us had a childhood, and we can relate to that and wonder at how we got by,” Taylor shared in a 1997 interview.
Taylor and Jackson often appeared on red carpets together, whether at awards shows or benefits. Although people wondered about their friendship, they knew their bond was real.
“When we first started talking on the phone, she told me she felt as if she had known me for years,” Jackson shared. “I felt the same way.”
In 1998, when Jackson’s daughter, Paris, was born, the singer made his close friend her Godmother. As with most things, the world questioned his decision, but Paris shared why she believes her late father chose the actress for the job.
“I think because I was growing up in the spotlight,” Paris Jackson explained. “There’s definitely a part of him that knew that we would have a very similar experience.”
When Jackson passed away in 2009, Taylor was present at his memorial service and continued to share her love for him. She tweeted after his passing, “My heart . . . my mind . . . are broken. I loved Michael with all my soul, and I can’t imagine life without him. We had so much in common, and we had such loving fun together.”
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