Lucy & Desi: Secrets Of Their Hellish Marriage

#1 A Dramatic Actress

Because of her comedic genius, people often forget that Lucille Ball was once a dramatic actress known for her beauty. She was born in Jamestown, NY in 1911 and moved to New York City to take acting classes when she was a teenager. Always passed over by classmate Bette Davis, she settled for small roles and continued to perfect her art.

#2 She Met Desi On Set

She made her first film in 1933 and later got cast in several films like 'Top Hat', 'Stage Door', and another, 'Too Many Girls' in 1940, where she played against a Cuban bongo player named Desi Arnaz. Despite different personalities, lifestyles, religions and ages (he was six years younger), the two fell madly in love and eloped just a few months later.

#3 CBS Offered Her A TV Series

From the very beginning, their relationship was tumultuous, and they were arguing more than they were not. Lucy was doing a few films for MGM but in 1948 she decided to go to radio and star in a show called My Favorite Husband. When CBS-TV came to the cast asking to make the show into a television series, Lucy persuaded them to let Desi play the husband and change the story slightly.

#4 They Formed A Union In Business

CBS turned over production rights to Desi and Lucy, who formed their own studio, Desilu Productions, but they were not happy with the series at first and called the pair to take it on the road to perfect it. Lucy admits that Desi was the man behind the business and she was the talent. But the couple could not seem to get over their constant off camera problems. Lucy became the first female to head up a major Hollywood studio.

#5 I Love Lucy Aired For Nearly 10 Years

The series was a gigantic hit and millions of viewers tuned in weekly to watch I Love Lucy. The show aired from 1950 to 1957 officially, but a one-hour version was telecast until 1960 as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show. That show was in color and featured the pair moving to the country. The last day of filming the hour show in 1960, Lucy filed for divorce.

#6 Lucy Put On A Face For Her Fans

"Desi was always adorable, handsome, romantic but he cheated, he drank and he gambled," said a longtime Hollywood insider. "Lucy had to lie, pretend and put on a good face because they were working together and had commitments." Lucy told Barbara Walters in a 1977 special that she stayed with Desi because of their ties to the business and their children.

#7 They Had Two Children In A Short Timespan

The I Love Lucy show was not only a star vehicle for Lucille Ball but also a way for her to try to salvage her marriage to Desi Arnaz, which had become badly strained, in part because both had hectic performing schedules which often kept them apart. In the ensuing time, the couple had two children, Luci in 1951 and Desi Jr. in 1952. Lucy said that without the children she would have left Desi before 1953 when she had already had enough of his cheating and drinking and was ready to give the series up for good.

#8 Lucy Filed For Their First Divorce

Though America's favorite couple on TV, behind closed doors, Desi's compulsive womanizing and boozing led to explosive fights and violent outbursts that ripped their tempestuous marriage apart. Lucy filed for divorce four days before her fourth wedding anniversary. Her official complaint charged "extreme mental cruelty." But a day after the divorce was granted, they reconciled. That would be the first of many times that the zany redhead forgave her wayward husband and took him back.

#9 They Split Up Once Again

After they children were born Lucy believed things were going extremely well, according to her interview with Barbara Walters. However, Desi was soon back to his philandering ways. His cheating made humiliating headline news in 1954, as published reports caught him out with "cuddle-for-cash babes." Lucy filed for divorce again, and the couple separated for several months before getting back together.

#10 Desi Was Caught In A Prostitution Scandal

Reports came out in gossip magazines stating that Desi would take five or six girls back to his hotel suite and make them nice and cozy in the parlor before calling them into the bedroom one by one," Lucy said, while another source added, "Lucy was deeply hurt by Desi's constant betrayals with other women, often prostitutes! Desi couldn't understand why Lucy was so hurt. He'd ask, ‘What is she so excited about? They're only hookers.'"

#11 Their Arguments Turned Physical

"During one argument," recalled a longtime pal, "Lucy picked up a hammer and knocked Desi cold with a blow to the head. She was convinced she'd killed him and started to concoct a story about how he'd fallen, but Desi came to. In another fight, as they entertained dinner guests, Desi hit Lucy in the face and split her lip. A friend of hers then smacked Desi over the head with a bottle." Lucy confirmed this in her Walters interview.

#12 She Knew It Was Over For Good

"Those last five years were sheer, unadulterated hell," Lucy confessed. "We both knew it was over, but we had commitments to fill so we stayed together. I was hoping in my heart a miracle might happen, but people don't really change." She told Walters that Desi was a loser, "Everything he touched failed. He was a loser." She said she didn't want to disappoint her fans who believed they were the sweetest and most loving couple.

#13 Lucy Felt Betrayed And Depressed

The TV legend admitted that she didn't cope well. "I stored up all the hurts and humiliations, not the hurts of a day or a week, but the hurts of years," she said. "Then some little thing opens up the dam and all the resentment rushes out!" She went into a depression and he kept drinking.

#14 They Got Into A Heated Fight At A Hollywood Gala

The final breaking point came in November 1959, just days before their 19th wedding anniversary. Lucy and Desi were discussing production matters at the studio. Desi, as usual, drank too many daiquiris which she ignored until he belched loudly, not once but twice, recalled a source close to the actress and her family. Lucy remembered that she picked up an empty cocktail glass and hurled it against the wall and stormed out. Desi chased after her and told her he wanted a divorce. "I can't keep living this way," he said. Lucy flew into a tantrum. "Then why don't you die then?" she yelled. "You cheat! You drunken bum! By the time I get through with you, you'll be as broke as when you left Cuba!"

#15 They Remained Close Through The Years

But Lucy did not tear Desi to shreds in the divorce. After the final divorce in 1959, TV's favorite couple remained soul mates to the very end. (They're seen together here in 1974.) Desi, in a note for the book "Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz," even wrote: "Lucy was the show. Viv, Fred, and I were just props. Damn good props, but props nevertheless. P.S. ‘I Love Lucy' was never just the title."

#16 Lucy Remarried And Shocked America

Lucy married nightclub comic Gary Morton in 1961, who was the complete opposite of Desi. America was shocked that she had not taken Desi back again. She told Barbara Walters that somehow she and Gary just completed each other, and Gary took on many responsibilities. Morton was not jealous of Desi and insisted that Lucy keep him in her life. Luci Arnaz said, "Mom loved Desi till the day she died. He was the father of her kids. Even after she married Gary, she'd still run these lovely home movies of her and Desi and us kids when we were little."

#17 Desi Really Did Love Lucy

In 1986, when Lucy was preparing to do a new CBS sitcom called Life With Lucy, she learned that Desi was dying and got him on the phone immediately. Lucy said that they had a serious, long talk and it ended when Desi said, "I love you too, honey," after she told him she still loved him. "Good luck with your show."

The show flopped and was canceled, making it Lucy's only flopped series. She passed away in 1989 after complications from receiving a transplanted aorta in her heart. She died being loved by the world and loving the world back, including her soul-mate, Desi Arnaz.