Their steamy romance is now as legendary as that of Antony and Cleopatra – the couple they were
playing when they fell in love. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were one of the most famous pairings in Hollywood history, with every little detail of their turbulent relationship reported in the media.

But they managed to keep some things secret, including dozens of intimate love letters Richard sent to Elizabeth, in which he poured out his heart.

Now, 34 years after they were divorced for the second time and 26 years after Richard’s death, Elizabeth has released some of the letters to the authors of a book about her relationship with Richard. Giving the book’s co-authors, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, her permission to use Richard’s private words, Elizabeth told them, “I don’t care what you write about me – God knows, I’ve heard it all – as long as you honour Richard.”

Richard seemed compelled to write down his feelings for Elizabeth. He once wrote, “My blind eyes are desperately
waiting for the sight of you. You don’t realise of course, EB (Elizabeth Burton), how fascinatingly beautiful you have
always been, and how strangely you have acquired an added and special and dangerous loveliness.”

Richard also recorded his emotions in a diary. He described his first-ever meeting with a pregnant Elizabeth at a Hollywood party in 1953. She was “so extraordinarily beautiful that I nearly laughed out loud… she was lavish. She was too bloody much, and not only that, she was totally ignoring me.”

Their paths did not cross again until nine years later, when they were both cast in the epic movie Cleopatra. Elizabeth had heard Richard was known for bedding his leading ladies and was determined not to become another notch on his bedpost, especially as they were both married.

But the Welsh actor won her over with a combination of charisma and vulnerability, and the two become so attracted to each other they famously continued one kissing scene long after the director called cut.
“We had an incredible chemistry,” Liz told the authors of Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century. “We just couldn’t get enough of each other.”

After divorcing their respective spouses, Eddie Fisher and Sybil Burton, the couple were married for the first time in March 1964. Liz and Richard spent the following decade criss-crossing the world, wining, dining, partying and making films together.

At the time, Richard wrote in his diary, “She is a wildly exciting love-mistress, she is shy and witty, she is nobody’s fool, she is a brilliant actress, she is beautiful beyond the dreams of pornography… she is an ache in the stomach when she is away from me… and I’ll love her till I die.”

But the incredible highs of their passion were matched by terrible lows. They had bitter fights, often fuelled by his alcoholism and infidelity.

One of Richard’s written apologies includes the heartfelt words, “I know I’m a terrible liar sometimes but please
believe that I have never betrayed either in word or deed the physical you or the mental you. I simply love you too much. I flatter and am flattered and both too easily. It’s only a question of booze.
I behaved like an idiot… I deserve all the injury that you can inflict and I will take it as long as you stay with me – Husbs (I hope).”

The couple divorced in 1974 and remarried a year later, but were divorced again in 1976. Richard was with his fifth wife, makeup artist Sally Hay, when he died of a brain hemorrhage in 1984. Elizabeth has since revealed she still had hopes of one day rekindling her love with a man she described as “magnificent”.

“He was the kindest, funniest and most gentle father. All my kids worshipped him. Attentive and loving – that was Richard.

“The bond with all of us continued until he drew his last breath. In my heart, I will always believe that we would have been married a third and fi nal time.”