It’s coming up on the year anniversary of Liz Taylor’s death, and there’s a new book out by M.G. Lord called The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice. The book itself is getting a lot of criticism from readers, most of who are saying that Lord was just trying to capitalize on Taylor’s passing and his book is flimsy and not well-thought out. But this article isn’t really going to be about the book, it’s going to be about Elizabeth Taylor and how yes, she actually was a feminist.
There is no doubt in my mind that Liz was a feminist. I’ve watched countless documentaries and read biographies and her strength was always so astounding to me. She endured so much illness, heartbreak, and the death of close friends. She was at the forefront of so much tragedy. One story that always stuck with me was when Liz threw a party at her house, her good friend, Monty Clift, drove away later that night and got into an accident on her property. Liz heard the crash and ran to his car. Clift was inside and paparazzi were already taking photos of him. Liz ran to the car, grabbed Clift, looked at the photographers and said, “If one single picture is published I’ll make sure you never work in this industry again.” Not one picture was published. Liz was that powerful and that protective of those she loved.
There are endless accounts of Rock Hudson, James Dean, and Montgomery Clift always hanging around Liz, and every one said it’s because she was so loving and motherly to them. They all had a secret, they all …
