The National Enquirer has some excerpts from a new book about the marriage of Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner. The authors of the book claim the marriage was a sham. I disagree. They say that Gene only stayed with Gilda because she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and that if not for that he would have left. To me that is not a sham. To me that is a guy who knew that he owed it to the woman he once loved that he should stay with her by her side while she fought for her life. A sham would be something like they were married in name only and that there was something else hidden. I think what Gene did for Gilda during her life and after is pretty amazing and the fact he did not give up says a lot about marriage and the man he was during their marriage. People give up too easily. He did not.
He stayed by her side until the very end. That's all that matters. I hate when people try and spin a negative after so many years. Makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteI am disgusted. It doesn't matter rather their marriage was a sham or not. I loved her so much. My heart aches when I see her face. She's been my idol since I was a kid.
ReplyDeletethat's kind of $h--y for NE to promote this BS...
ReplyDeleteI don't believe any of this story.
ReplyDeleteBilly Moses did the same thing for Tracy Nelson. They grew apart and their marriage was basically over, then she got cancer and he stayed with her to support her both emotionally and financially. It's a hell of a lot better reason for being married than a lot of people have. Just
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt reads: "The book says that Gilda thrived on being "Mrs. Gene Wilder" and her greatest dream was to have a baby with him. But she miscarried, and doctors blamed it on damage from an illegal abortion she had at age 19."
ReplyDeleteExactly. If you take away the ability to terminate a pregnancy legally, thousands of desperate women are going to get abortions illegally, and very probably a lot of them are going to die or be permanently damaged from infection or hemorrhage. Rusty coathangers, incompetent doctors, filthy clinics -- it will all come back.
Is there nothing else to write about?
ReplyDeleteGee, just when the Enquirer was developing some credibility.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Enty. I love Gene Wilder and this article just confirms what a good man he is.
ReplyDeleteIf sticking by someone when they're sick and in need isn't love, then what is? There's more to love than just sexual attraction. That's why marriage vows state "for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health."
ReplyDeleteEven if they lost the same feeling that led them to the altar, it doesn't mean they didn't love each other. If anything, it shows what sort of devotion and loyalty Gene had for Gilda. That's a rare quality to come by, these days.
Yeah, I guess his starting Gilda's Club was a sham ... as were the ovarian cancer information spots he did after Gilda died ... and all the other work he's done since then.
ReplyDeleteThis is utterly obnoxious ... I guess that "legit journalism" thing just wasn't selling the papers.
Since when is a "sham marriage" news worthy?
ReplyDeleteI know someone who knew both of them and they said at the time of her death, he was devastated. That doesn't sound like a sham to me!!!!!
ReplyDeleteyet another reason not to buy thier publication. I can't stand these people!
ReplyDeleteI ❤ Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner and I ❤ Enty Lawyer.
ReplyDeleteAll good decent people.
:o)
This doesn't surprised me. I remember reading Gilda's autobiography years ago. There was a tone of desperation when she wrote about their relationship. She pursued him and she got him, but it seemed to me that she lived in fear of losing him ever after. Regardless, however, he stayed with her until the end and honored her memory through Gilda's Clubs and that, IMHO, speaks volumes about his character. Were they a great love story? No. Were they a great human story? Absolutely.
ReplyDeleteEven if true, it's really sad to dig up old trash about someone who died years ago and a man who isn't known as a famewhore. I love gossip but leave them alone.
ReplyDeletewell said @osherrie!
ReplyDeleteit's called till death do us part for a reason.
ReplyDeleteOsherrie that makes sense. Sometimes it's more loyalty than love. Regardless, it's nice to know that she was not abandoned when she needed someone the most.
ReplyDeleteGee, it sounds like love & loyalty to me ... as opposed to Newt Gingrich, who ditched his first wife when she had cancer and ditched his second wife when she was diagnosed with MS. He's currently married to #3, apparently until she has a serious disease.
ReplyDeleteGene Wilder is no John Edwards.
ReplyDeleteI read this article and thought it was bulls@@@. Love is love. Regardless what Gene may or may not have felt, it is wrong to imply that this marriage was a sham. In my humble opinion, Gene loved Gilda in a special way like he loves Karen in a unique and special way. He never abandoned Gilda and that is a testimonial to his loving, caring, and supportive soul.
ReplyDelete(Gene Wilder is one of my two ultimate favorite actors; I actually own his shirt that he wore in the last scene from Another You; all my women friends always want to wear it : ))
You know, even if someone's unhappy in a marriage- it says something about sticking by someone through cancer and even starting charities. To me, that sounds like a man who realized that while the marriage might not be working, he still cared deeply for her as a person. Which is a lot more than most people these days.
ReplyDeleteUgh to the end of the article- they threw in that he and his new wife live in the same house, as though we're supposed to judge him on that. It was his house, too. How many people just up and move out of their house simply because their spouse died?
Michael C Hall and Jennifer Carpenter must have ended up the same way, but Michael is doing ok, so they divorced. It did not work out at all for Gilda.
ReplyDeleteHe did the right thing, the human thing...
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how a person could live with themselves if they left a person they had loved when that person needed them most...
You can love someone without being happy with them, without the relationship working. You just decide to continue loving them and you stay with them when they need you. That's what love is. That's not a sham. That's real.
ReplyDeleteOh PLEASE! I'm calling BS on this.
ReplyDeleteWhat is love more then having the common decency to stick by that person when times are hard. He could have run (looking at you Newt) or been a slimy scum and portrayed a sham while sleeping with a so called friend in the next room (Ryan Oneill). Gene seemed to genuinely care for Gilda and cared enough AFTER she passed to help others in her name. This disgusts and saddens me.
On an related topic, I lost my mother to OC. PLEASE ladies when you get your yearly tests have them do CA-125 blood test. If your health care covers it, it is the best gift you can give yourself.
I never knew they were married & he did that for her. Makes me love him even more!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I think it was a love story for the ages.
ReplyDeleteThey stayed together as a couple until her death, and he's gone on to honor her memory with his activism against cervical cancer.
There are a number of gay and straight men who should learn from him.
As someone once put it, "Marriage isn't about love, marriage is about work, and lots of it." It may be possible to maintain the frothy giddiness of the honeymoon phase, but when situations like this one arise, it's the acid test for love which, more often that not, isn't a lot of fun, but, as Fawn Neun said,is real.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound like a sham to me. To stay with someone and care for them when they need you the most sounds like love to me. This makes me like Gene Wilder even more Too bad there aren't more men like him in the world and less men like John Edwards. And why drag something like this up after almost 22 years anyway, Having a slow newsday NE?
ReplyDeleteand i usually defend the enquirer. It sounds like a man loved and cared for his wife when she needed him most. Maybe not a passionate romance but an actual marriage.
ReplyDelete