Elizabeth Taylor & Michael Jackson at Her Final Wedding: Never-Before-Seen Photos
It was the eighth – and final – trip she would ever make down the aisle.
And now, for the first time, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation has
released photos of Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky's lavish 1991
wedding at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch exclusively to PEOPLE.
This inside look commemorates PEOPLE's Oct. 21, 1991, cover story on the
biggest and most media-saturated wedding in Hollywood history.
(Remember, this was in the days before weddings like George and Amal
Clooney's and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's.)
In the photos, the blushing, bronzed bride is dressed in a pale yellow
$25,000 wilson gown (a gift from the designer). She is seen with her
groom – her seventh (she married Richard Burton twice) – and with her
close friend, Jackson, who hosted the wedding for 160 high profile
guests on his 2,700-acre Santa Ynez Valley, California, estate.
As about a dozen helicopters hovered overhead, a brazen paparazzo even
parachuted into the ceremony, landing 20 feet from the shocked bride and
groom. (Despite the fact that the wedding was guarded by a former
Israeli army officer and a 100-man security force.)
Taylor, then 59, is seen in the photographs sharing a laugh with an
upbeat Jackson, and standing with her new hubby, then 39, under the
gardenia-draped gazebo where they became husband and wife.
While Taylor's ex-husband Eddie Fisher predicted that her marriage to
Fortensky "should last [because it's] the first time Liz has married a
regular guy," it wasn't to be. The couple divorced five years later.
Taylor died on March 23, 2011, of congestive heart failure at 79.
Jackson died on June 25, 2009. Forensky, now 62, still lives in
California and says he remained close friends with his ex-wife after
they split, reportedly speaking for hours by phone a few times a month.
"I have wonderful memories of my time with Elizabeth and I will treasure
her memory forever," he said in a rare 2011 interview after her death.
Taylor met Fortensky, a twice-divorced construction worker with rugged
looks, in 1988 when they were both battling drug and alcohol
dependencies at the famed Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage,
California.
Inside the Big Day
At their much-anticipated wedding, the two couldn't have been happier.
As famous faces including Liza Minnelli, Eddie Murphy, Nancy Reagan
(Taylor moved the wedding date to accommodate President Ronald Reagan,
but he was still unable to attend), then-Twentieth Century Fox head
Barry Diller and his date, designer Diane Von Furstenberg, Arsenio Hall,
George Hamilton, Merv Griffin, Quincy Jones and Macaulay Culkin looked
on, Taylor walked down the aisle, escorted by Jackson and her eldest
son, Michael Wilding Jr., then 38.
Fortensky's best man was Taylor's hairdresser, José Eber (shown in the
picture). Taylor's longtime friend Norma Heyman was matron of honor.
Hollywood self-help guru Marianne Williamson presided over the
nondenominational ceremony (Taylor was Jewish; Fortensky is Protestant),
with the couple exchanging vows and rings. Wearing her pavé
diamond-encrusted wedding ring for the first time, Taylor placed a
loving hand on her new husband's cheek after their first kiss as man and
wife.
"You could just look in their eyes and tell Liz was very happy," Von Furstenberg said at the time.
Under the massive tent where the glamorous reception was held, the bride
and groom toasted each other and their host – who reportedly paid for
much of the estimated $1.5 million wedding – with mineral water.
"You've been so generous, it makes me want to cry," Taylor told Jackson. "I'll never forget it as long as I live."
Jackson and his date, Brooke Shields, cut into the couple's first dance
as guests sipped Dom Perignon and chardonnay from a nearby winery and
dined on platters of rolled salmon and five tiers of chocolate mousse
cake.
At about 10:30 p.m., the newlyweds said their goodnights and retired to
Jackson's ranch house, where they spent several nights before a two-day
tour to promote Taylor's White Diamonds perfume, opting to honeymoon
later. Syndicated newspaper columnist Liz Smith predicted that Taylor's
marriage to Fortensky "will be fun for her. Under the high gloss of her
facade, she is really an ordinary woman who has led an extraordinary
life."
That life became even more extraordinary when Taylor began working
tirelessly to battle HIV/AIDS, which became her legacy. Taylor used
proceeds from her exclusive wedding pictures to start the ETAF in 1991,
raising funds and awareness to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS and
providing assistance for those living with the virus.
"My grandmother's deep love and concern for people led her to create The
Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which focuses on the immediate needs
of HIV+ people, by supporting access to medicine and health care,
healthy food, needle exchanges, and safe places to live and be cared
for," Taylor's granddaughter, Laela Wilding, tells PEOPLE. "She is a
champion for us all, and her determination and love is a shining
inspiration that we should all support those in need, support each
other, despite any differences we have in gender, race, class, or HIV
status."
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