An elegant, witty, frank, touching, and deeply personal account of the
loves both great and fleeting in the life of one of America's most
celebrated and fabled women.
Born to great wealth yet kept a virtual prisoner by the custody battle
that raged between her proper aunt and her self-absorbed, beautiful
mother, Gloria Vanderbilt grew up in a special world. Stunningly
beautiful herself, yet insecure and with a touch of wildness, she set
out at a very early age to find romance. And find it she did. There were
love affairs with Howard Hughes, Bill Paley, and Frank Sinatra, to name
a few, and one-night stands, which she writes about with delicacy and
humor, including one with the young Marlon Brando. There were marriages
to men as diverse as Pat De Cicco, who abused her; the legendary
conductor Leopold Stokowski, who kept his innermost secrets from her;
film director Sidney Lumet; and finally writer Wyatt Cooper, the love of
her life.
Now, in an irresistible memoir that is at once ruthlessly forthright,
supremely stylish, full of fascinating details, and deeply touching,
Gloria Vanderbilt writes at last about the subject on which she has
hitherto been silent: the men in her life, why she loved them, and what
each affair or marriage meant to her. This is the candid and captivating
account of a life that has kept gossip writers speculating for years, as
well as Gloria's own intimate description of growing up, living,
marrying, and loving in the glare of the limelight and becoming, despite
a family as famous and wealthy as America has ever produced, not only
her own person but an artist, a designer, a businesswoman, and a writer
of rare distinction.
