5. Lucy and Desi Both Got Remarried
Lucy and Desi’s divorce was acrimonious, not just because they had been America’s golden couple, but because of the pain that it caused their children. Little Lucie, who was nine years old at the time, later said, “Part of me probably totally understood why, because we had heard the arguments and that wasn’t fun either. But it was hard. It was very hard. And I didn’t want my dad out of the house. He was out of the house enough. I didn’t want him to go any further away.” The two continued to cooperate professionally and retained dual ownership of Desilu Productions for another two years.
Less than a year after the divorce, Lucy married comedian Gary Morton. Their marriage was more contented and less passionate than her previous one; Gary never embarrassed her or drank too much. Desi also remarried, to a red-headed neighbor named Edith Hirsch, in 1963. Many referred to Edith as “Lucy 2” and felt that he only married her because of how much she reminded him of Lucy. Both Lucy’s and Desi’s second marriages lasted until their partners died in old age, Gary in 1985 and Edith in 1986. They were both capable of long-term, steady relationships, just not with each other.