Good lord! Wasn’t that Elizabeth Taylor herself sitting over there with her new husband, the British matinee idol Michael Wilding?

Few of the diners in the smart Hollywood restaurant could resist watching the starry couple from the corners of their eyes.

Moments later, however, they must have been rubbing them in disbelief.

After Elizabeth Taylor’s husband, Michael Wilding, said something that clearly displeased her, she swung her arm in a wide arc, landing a punch squarely on his jaw. Wilding, twenty years her senior and a beloved figure in British cinema, fell heavily to the floor.

To outsiders, it resembled a scene from one of Elizabeth’s movies — and they weren’t far off. In her early twenties, she approached intimate relationships with the same dramatic intensity as her on-screen roles.

Raised by her mother, Sara, to be a child star, Elizabeth first gained fame at nine in “Lassie Come Home”. Her striking appearance, including a natural double set of eyelashes and violet eyes, marked her as destined for the big screen from birth, despite a doctor’s initial description of her eyelashes as a “mutation.”

The Taylor family’s early years in London, where her father ran an art gallery, exposed Elizabeth to high society and early artistic training. Her upbringing included singing and dancing lessons from the age of two, setting the stage for her illustrious career.

In 1939, the Taylor family moved to Beverly Hills to evade the looming war, shifting Sara Taylor’s focus entirely to Elizabeth’s future. Francis Taylor, a gentle man who later battled alcoholism, seldom challenged Sara in their marriage.

Sara coached Elizabeth relentlessly, pushing her to cry on cue, a skill that aided her early movie career. Sara demanded perfection on set, signaling Elizabeth’s performance cues with gestures—hand on heart for more emotion, tapping her head for forgotten lines, and showing visible displeasure for mistakes. Elizabeth felt suffocated by her mother’s control during these crucial years.

At 16, Elizabeth expressed her desire to quit acting and live a normal life. Sara dismissed this as ingratitude, emphasizing Elizabeth’s responsibility to their family and beyond. Despite Francis’s silent disapproval, Sara remained steadfast in prioritizing Elizabeth’s career over her happiness.

Growing up on movie sets isolated Elizabeth from peers and left her with a subpar education; at 17, she could only add on her fingers. Despite this, her beauty and figure drew attention, though studio boss Louis B. Mayer suggested cosmetic adjustments. Elizabeth underwent procedures to refine her hairline and eyebrows, and it’s believed she had rhinoplasty in her twenties, though unnecessary, to meet Hollywood standards.

Some of her friends believe the constant nagging to appear and act in a certain way caused a kind of psychological tear in her personality.

Certainly, she began to feel that her life was all an act: she had learned to play at being Elizabeth Taylor, and it was now her full-time job.

Perhaps the worst legacy of all from this time was her belief that romance should be just as it was portrayed in her early films — a concoction of passion, melodrama and conflict that would magically work itself out in the end.

Sara, however, was leaving nothing to chance when it came to her daughter’s love life.

Unwilling to lose her to a lover, yet aware that it was good for Elizabeth’s image to be seen as popular and desirable, she encouraged MGM to set up ‘dates’ with Glenn Davis, an all-American football player.

At just 16, Elizabeth was forced to act the part of adoring girlfriend with the quickly besotted young man. Until she casually gave him the push, he had no idea it had all been a game.

Then, inevitably, she began to rebel.

The first sign that she had a mind of her own came in 1949 when the eccentric aviation billionaire Howard Hughes approached her father as a would-be suitor.

In his mid-40s at the time, Hughes was a Lothario who’d already had a number of older, famous women in his bed, including Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn.

Having seen Elizabeth walking into her father’s Californian art gallery, he invited the Taylors to Reno, Nevada, for a weekend at one of his hotels. Elizabeth declined — and her mother was furious.

Sara and Francis went alone, and were made an astonishing offer. If they could persuade Elizabeth to marry him, Hughes said he would finance a movie studio just for her.

Sara was excited by the prospect. But Elizabeth’s reaction was to say: ‘Absolutely not. I don’t want anything to do with him; I don’t care how much money he has.’

Her next rebellion was to get married at 18 — against the wishes of her parents, who considered her too young.

On the face of it, Nicky Hilton seemed the perfect groom: as the 23-year-old son of  millionaire hotels owner Conrad Hilton, he was one of the most eligible bachelors in Los Angeles.

The main reason Elizabeth wanted to marry him, of course, was that she was frantic for some distance from her mother. She also believed she was in love — but even Sara feared that her daughter had been influenced by the romantic illusions in the 12 movies she’d made so far.

As if to blur the distinction between reality and fiction still further, MGM staff created Elizabeth’s bridal gown, and designed her trousseau and honeymoon outfits. It was little wonder that she had such trouble distinguishing between her film career and her real life.

The honeymoon in May 1950 — a trip to the South of France on the Queen Mary — was a disaster. It was more than a week before Elizabeth lost her virginity.

‘Then came disillusionment,’ she recalled, ‘rude and brutal. I fell off my pink cloud with a thud.’

In Monte Carlo, Nicky gambled and drank, leaving his bride alone, weeping, until the small hours of the morning. He was also jealous of the attention she attracted wherever they went, and started beating her, leaving bruises all over her body.

During her tumultuous marriage to Nicky Hilton, witnesses saw him shove Elizabeth forcefully, causing her to fall and sob as he walked away callously. Elizabeth initially blamed herself for their marital troubles, hiding the abuse from her parents until a dramatic confrontation at dinner exposed Nicky’s drunken behavior.

One of Nicky’s beatings led Elizabeth to miscarry, a traumatic event that ended their marriage after just seven months. Refusing alimony, Elizabeth saw the divorce as a personal failure, marking a profound setback in her life and leading to physical and emotional distress.

By age 19, Elizabeth faced severe health issues, including weight loss, smoking addiction, high blood pressure, colitis, and an ulcer, forcing her onto a baby-food diet during filming. Her health crises often coincided with personal upheavals, establishing a recurring pattern in her life.

Before turning 30, Elizabeth endured a staggering list of medical procedures and illnesses, which she later attributed to the turmoil in her personal life. Following her divorce, she struggled with anger and a sense of loss, exacerbated by her controlled upbringing. Despite Howard Hughes’ persistent advances, Elizabeth dismissed him, citing his unkempt appearance as a reason.

Elizabeth Taylor found solace in Michael Wilding, a 40-year-old actor she met while filming “Ivanhoe” in London at age 20. He represented stability and maturity, qualities she felt she needed after her turbulent first marriage.

Their relationship, however, mirrored her mother’s controlling nature. Elizabeth asserted dominance, recalling moments like tearing up Wilding’s crossword and challenging him to hit her during a disagreement. Their marriage ended in 1956 after four years, with Elizabeth admitting she wasn’t mature enough for him.

Her third husband, Mike Todd, a much older producer known for his humor and vitality, brought joy and levity into Elizabeth’s life. He treated her playfully, once jokingly introducing her as ‘Tondelayo Schwartzkopf’ at a party, teasing her about her weight gain in a lighthearted manner that she found refreshing. Todd’s ability to create a carefree atmosphere helped Elizabeth escape her complex past and embrace a simpler, happier life with him.