Rita Moreno Reveals The Devastating Impact Of Her Relationship With Marlon Brando
The legendary Rita Moreno was really "Just a Girl Who Decided To Go For It." The Puerto Rican-born nonagenarian is one of only 16 people to have ever achieved EGOT status, and is revered for paving the way for other Latinx performers, per The Washington Post. However, it's her love story with Marlon Brando that proves that not everyone gets their happy ending, but even lust can be enduring.
The "West Side Story" actor was just 22 years old when she first laid eyes on Brando while working on "Désirée." In her memoir, "Rita Moreno," she wrote (via New York Post), "Just meeting him that first day sent my body temperature skyrocketing .. and I went into a full-body blush." It wasn't long before she gave in to Brando's "insatiable sexual needs," and they began their eight-year affair. Moreno described him as "a great lover — sensual, generous, delightfully inventive." But, she also recalled, "He broke my heart and came close to crushing my very spirit with his physical infidelities and ... emotional betrayals."
In the time that they were together, he married twice and had children with his wives. As payback, she started seeing Elvis Presley. "I knew no one could possibly make Marlon Brando more jealous," she said. However, she quickly returned to Brando because The King was "sweet but boring." But, it was the beginning of the end for Moreno and Brando. In fact, their last fling would impact her profoundly.
Rita Moreno struggled with her mental health
Rita Moreno's romance with Marlon Brando affected her mental health. Per Variety's "Actors on Actors" series, she shared, "He was a bad guy when it came to women." At the time, Moreno wasn't as confident as she is now. The "Rockford Files" star recalled, "I was such a different person then. I had all the makings of a doormat," claiming, "I could read him like a book and that's why he loved me, and that's why he mistreated me in so many ways."
In her 2011 autobiography, Moreno revealed things went downhill when she became pregnant with Brando's child. She wrote (via New York Post), "To my shock and horror, Marlon immediately arranged for an abortion." "The Godfather" actor didn't even pick her up after the then-illegal procedure, tasking a friend to do it instead. When Moreno was hospitalized after the botched abortion, Marlon was once again seemingly heartless. He apparently "wanted his money back" from the abortionist.
Shortly thereafter, Brando left to shoot "Mutiny on the Bounty" with his future wife Tarita Teriipaia and promptly fell in love with her. When Brando returned after filming, Moreno was done and tried to commit suicide. She penned, "I went to bed to die. This wasn't a revenge suicide, but a consolation, an escape-from-pain death." In her Variety interview, she acknowledged, "I didn't understand that if I was going to kill this pathetic, sad, trod-upon Rita, the rest of Rita was also going to go with me." Interestingly, in 2017, she referred to Brando as the "lust of my life" and called her husband "the love of my life." Despite everything, she's thankfully still standing.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).