Infertility, infidelity, alcoholism, divorce.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on-screen marriage was possibly the most iconic in TV history,
but off-camera, was a different story.
Keep watching to get a look inside the real-life marriage.
After Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz met, the pair embarked on a whirlwind romance, despite
their jobs keeping them on different sides of the country.
Ball didn't entirely trust her new flame, who was touring as a musical act in 1940.
According to the Herald Sun, one particularly nasty fight was sparked by Arnaz meeting up
with his ex-girlfriend, Betty Grable.
"Where were you last night?"
As soon as Ball found out, she reportedly called him a "Cuban sonofab—-" in front
of his mother, who was living in Arnaz's apartment at the time.
As he wrote in his autobiography, Arnaz proposed immediately after they reunited.
Despite his nightly show at the Roxy in New York, he told Ball:
"I have everything arranged to marry you tomorrow morning, if you would like to marry me."
The next morning, they drove over to Connecticut, where Arnaz had a judge and a permit waiting
for them, before racing back to the Roxy in time for his next evening show.
The couple went through a rocky few years at the start of their marriage, as Country
Living observed, and Lucille Ball even filed for divorce in 1944.
She disliked her husband's drinking and was suspicious of his relationships with other
women, so the pair separated for months.
They eventually reconciled over dinner, however, and immediately fell back into bed together.
The actor still insisted on going to court, since the press was already there, and she
had bought a new suit and hat.
But the divorce was never legally complete.
When Lucille Ball was first asked to star in her own TV show, she had to fight for her
Cuban husband to be cast opposite her.
It was difficult to break the tradition of exclusively white American couples being cast
in sitcoms, but the actor had her heart set on a television gig for both of them.
Bob Weiskopf explained to Closer Weekly,
"She knew that if he went on the road with the band, he'd be chatting around all the
time.
She wanted him at home, where she felt the marriage would have a better chance of lasting,
which of course it did."
According to her biographer, Kathleen Brady, executives at CBS told her that the average
viewer wouldn't accept a Cuban husband for a, quote, "red-blooded American girl."
They were particularly concerned about losing their sponsor, Philip Morris cigarettes.
Ball stood her ground, however, and told the network they would have to put up with Arnaz
and his Cuban accent if they wanted to cast her.
"What?
What's the matter with the way I talk."
She won that battle, and CBS soon had one of the biggest hits on TV, thanks to the comedic
chemistry between Ball and Arnaz.
Although Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz wanted a child, they struggled to have a baby during
the difficult early years of their marriage.
As Arnaz recalled in his book, Ball was emotionally wrecked by their first miscarriage.
He wrote,
"Lucy was completely shattered.
She felt unfit, unable.
It was heartbreaking."
Their doctor had encouraging, if slightly disrespectful, words for them, however, telling
Arnaz,
"This is what nature does to straighten things out.
I'll bet you a dinner at Chasen's she will soon be pregnant again and won't have one
bit of trouble."
In 1951, their prayers were answered, and Ball gave birth to a healthy girl, whom they
named Lucie.
And her next pregnancy would result in one of the most memorable episodes of "I Love
Lucy.
One of the most iconic moments in television came in "Lucy Is Enceinte", the "I Love Lucy"
episode where Lucy tells Ricky she's pregnant.
But the sweet announcement, which came at the same time as Lucille Ball's actual second
child, almost never reached the screen.
Jess Oppenheimer, the show's head writer and producer, suggested they deal with her real-life
pregnancy by writing her baby into "I Love Lucy," according to HuffPost.
At the time, it was scandalous to suggest that Ball and Arnaz's characters, who slept
in twin beds as part of their chaste image, had made a baby.
CBS executives were scared to introduce the storyline, according to their biography "Desilu,"
and consulted their sponsor, Philip Morris Cigarettes, and Biow Advertising Agency.
Ball recalled,
"We decided at once to give every script concerning pregnancy to a three-man committee consisting
of a priest, a minister, and a rabbi.
If they found anything objectionable in the script, we would abide by their decision."
The storyline was a record-breaking hit: During the episode where Lucy gives birth to Little
Ricky, more than 44 million viewers were glued to their screen.
As "Desilu" noted, more people watched "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" than Dwight Eisenhower's
presidential inauguration.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's personal struggles were exposed by the most notorious tabloid
in '50s Hollywood.
Confidential magazine was known for revealing secrets of celebrities, and, in 1955, it ran
the headline "Does Desi Really Love Lucy?"
The story accused him of being a "Latin lothario" reporting that Arnaz had hired multiple sex
workers while married to Ball.
Ball put a brave face on, as her publicist Charles Pomerantz later told People.
He found an advance copy, and Ball took the magazine into her dressing room while filming
"I Love Lucy."
Pomerantz recalled,
"She finally came out, tossed the magazine to Desi and said, 'Oh, hell, I could tell
them worse than that.'"
As the years went by, Desi Arnaz's drinking began to embarrass Lucille Ball.
Writer Bob Weiskopf recalled in an interview with People, saying,
"He was never drunk on the set.
But he did always think in terms of liquor.
We once worked very late, and I started to look at my watch.
Desi says, 'Jesus, I'm sorry, amigos.
Who'd like something to drink?'"
In their biography "Desilu," Arnaz defended his own fondness for alcohol, saying,
"I had always been a drinking man."
He went on to share that eventually his wife grew tired of the antics and felt that, as
a successful man in his position, he should be more dignified.
"I got a one track mind.
The biggest fault in my life is that I never learned moderation."
Their daughter, Lucie, told Closer Weekly that alcoholism was one of the factors that
broke up their marriage.
She revealed that the more stressed her father became, the more he would drink.
She explained to the magazine, adding,
“The worse their relationship was, the more he would drink, just to show her.
It was just awful."
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's marriage finally ended in 1960, as The New York Times reported,
after years of terrible arguments.
Their daughter, Lucie, explained to Closer Weekly,
"Their divorce was horrible [...] We didn't have any abuse, but we did go through some
pretty hard stuff and that's why my parents didn't stay together."
"Sometimes I wish I never left Cuba."
"That makes two of us."
According to Arnaz's autobiography, he was the one who finally asked for a divorce.
During a furious argument, Ball allegedly came at him with a dueling pistol, and he
accused her of seeing another man.
Arnaz apparently said,
"Look, I know you didn't mean everything you said, but for the sake of the children let's
try to make this as amicable as possible."
And he promised to hire a good lawyer for her and to tell the press she was the one
who sought the divorce.
Lucille Ball was a groundbreaking figure in television: Not only did she star in her own
sitcoms, she also became the first woman to run a production company when Desi Arnaz sold
her his shares of Desilu Studios.
Ball later recalled, per the Los Angeles Times,
"I never wanted to be an executive, but when my marriage to Desi broke up after 19 years,
I couldn't just walk away from my obligations and say 'forget it.
[…] If you don't take chances, you'll never bathe again because you might get dirty again."
During her time as head of the company, Desilu introduced the world to series like "The Untouchables,"
"Star Trek," and "Mission Impossible."
Eventually, Ball sold the production company to Western Industries for $17 million in 1967.
Although both Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz remarried after their divorce, they never
cut each other out of their lives.
Their daughter, Lucie, told Closer Weekly,
"It took a few years to calm down, but they stayed friends 'til the bitter end.
And that was good for the kids."
Lucie told the magazine that, despite her parents' divorce, not only did they love one
another until the very end, but that they also got along quite well with each other's
new partners.
As Arnaz recalled in his 1976 memoir, their final scene together wasn’t easy.
The last "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" meant they would appear as Lucy and Ricky for one more
time, before ending their marriage and their on-screen partnership.
The final scene consisted of "a kiss-and-make-up ending.”
He explained,
"It was a kiss that would wrap up twenty years of love and friendship, triumphs and failures,
ecstasy and sex, jealousy and regrets, heartbreaks and laughter ... and tears.
'I Love Lucy' was never just a title."
Sadly, Desi Arnaz's health declined during the '80s, when he was diagnosed with the cancer
that would eventually lead to his death in 1986.
As their daughter, Lucie, recalled in the biography "Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball
and Desi Arnaz," her mother came around to visit when it was clear that Arnaz was seriously
ill.
The pair watched tapes of their old shows together, reminiscing about the old days.
And, in his final days, 48 hours before Arnaz died, Ball had an emotional call with her
ex-husband.
Lucie said,
"He just listened and I heard what she said.
She just said the same thing over and over again ... It was 'I love you.
I love you.
Desi, I love you.'"
Later, their daughter realized that their last conversation had taken place on November
30, which had been the couple's wedding anniversary.
As the Los Angeles Times reported in 1986, Desi Arnaz was with family when he died at
his Del Mar home in California.
He was 69 years old.
A statement from Lucille Ball's office read,
"Our relationship had remained very close, very amiable, over the years, and now I'm
grateful to God that Desi's suffering is over."
Ball was one of 100 mourners in attendance at his funeral.
She sat with their daughter, Lucie, and their son, Desi Jr., and cried and shared her tribute
to Arnaz, the man she spent 20 years with.
She referred to him as, ″a great, great showman,” according to AP News, and said
he was a great part of their innovation in the business.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact
SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).