Elizabeth Taylor had only been dead for little more than a day when suddenly, out of somebody’s woodwork, came 66 love letters she wrote more than 60 years ago. The letters, written when she was 17-years-old to her then-fiance William Pawley Jr, the son of a wealthy American businessman, “reveal a blossoming woman who — even though called the most beautiful woman in the world—had insecurities just like everybody else,” according to RRĀ auction house which is putting the letters up for sale in Hollywood in May.
The letters also “provide a window into the young starletās personal life,ā according to Bobby Livingston, VP of Sales and Marketing for RR Auction.Ā He adds, āThe letters begin in March 1949, a few days after Taylor and her parents left their vacation home in Florida, where Pawley was located, for California so Taylor could work on a movie.Ā The letters dry up around the middle of November of that year as their relationship ended.ā
Ā It is impossible to know what Elizabeth Taylor would think of private letters she wrote so long ago going up for auction as soon as she is dead, but it seems probable that, even if she remembered their existence, she certainly would not want them made public now.
Ā And the fact that the Pawley family—if that’s where the letters came from–waited until she died before auctioning them off, indicates they think so, too.