Oscar-winning screen legend Rita Moreno didn’t hold back when discussing her love affair with her longtime on-again, off-again boyfriend Marlon Brando in a new interview. The 89-year-old actress calls The Godfather star her best lover “ever.”
Moreno made the comments in a new interview with The Guardian promoting her documentary biopic Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It and the upcoming remake of West Side Story.
She began dating Brando in 1953, at the age of 21. Their steamy romance continued for years, even after he had numerous other affairs with other women (and possibly a few men.)
Still, Moreno couldn’t help but be taken in by Brando.
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Related: “He slayed me good”: Marlon Brando’s former flame spills all the tea on his mad lovemaking abilities
“He had a gorgeous intelligence,” she recalled. “He was the funniest person I’ve ever met in my life. He was not only famous, he was the king of sexy actors. [The sexual] part of it was incredible. That’s all I’ll say. No other details.”
Despite the great bedroom chemistry, Moreno calls the relationship highly dysfunctional. She characterizes Brando as a narcissist–one who made her have an abortion when she became pregnant.
Moreno also reveals that she tried to get over Brando by dating Elvis Presley to no avail: despite his cruelty, she couldn’t say no to Brando. Evidently, he was that good in bed.
The relationship drama culminated in Moreno eventually having a breakdown. She attempted suicide at his home, only to be saved by Brando’s assistant.
“It wasn’t done for drama, that’s for sure,” says of her suicide attempt. “What I really wanted to do was kill the bad Rita who was always getting me in trouble, but it turned out if you’re going to kill the bad Rita, you’re also going to kill the good one.”
The episode finally allowed Moreno to break away from Brando. She recovered, ended their relationship, and went on to a prolific career that would net her an Oscar, Tony Award, Emmy, and Grammy.
Related: Sundance 2021: Mariem Perez Riera & Brent Miller on the gay, Latina fury that is Rita Moreno
Years later, she would also star opposite Marlon Brando in The Night of the Following Day to great acclaim. In Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, Moreno says that the trauma of their relationship drove her to a raw, authentic performance.
This isn’t the first time she’s discussed Brando’s mad love-making abilities. In 2018, she told Wendy Williams, “He slayed me good. He was the king of everything. Eeeeeeverything.”
She continued, “He was the king of movies … he was really one of the most sexual men on Earth. It was one of those very tempestuous love affairs. It lasted eight years, on and off, on and off, on and off.”
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It streams in the US on Netflix. West Side Story opens December 10 in cinemas.
UncleFloppy
Rita has been saying that Brando was her greatest love for decades. I remember one time in the mid-80’s Joan Rivers was guest hosting the Tonight Show and Rita was her guest. Joan asked Rita who she thought of when she was filming love scenes and Rita answered that it was not her long-time husband Edgar Rosenberg but it was Brando who she thought of when she needed to remember feelings of love and passion.
Fahd
Not to step on your story, but wasn’t Edgar Rosenberg the name of Joan River’s husband?
Kangol2
Moreno married Dr. Leonard Gordon in 1965. Edgar Rosenberg married Joan Rivers in 1965.
UncleFloppy
Sorry, meant Leonard Gordon, not Edgar Rosenberg.
NateOcean
I like the original post better: That Rita Morena got her juice flowing by thinking of Joan Rivers husband.
inbama
@UncleFloppy
Are you sure you don’t mean Leslie Jordan?
winemaker
Hard to believe Rita Moreno will be 89 in December! That said, give the lady a break. At least Rita Moreno has class unlike so many of the hollyweird celebrities today who feel they need to spill all their personal dirty laundry in public. My late mother used to say ‘classy people don’t discuss their dirt or air their dirty laundry in public’
malerntogo
Absolutely Love me some Rita! That being said, I’m a RN and have had many elderly patients. One of the first signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s is revisiting times in your past, over and over again that had an impact on your life, good or bad.
I certainly hope Rita is just spicing things up in her life by mentioning Brando and getting responses from her fans and not what I mentioned!
Rita, I’m retired now and would care for you in a heartbeat for the rest of your life free of charge! You can tell me your stories over and over again and I’d love every one!
Ginger Tom
Whatever it is that Rita Moreno has if she could bottle it lots of people would want to buy it. She is a special lady. Can’t you feel happy for her that she had such great experiences with Brando even if he was a jerk at times? You don’t forget things like that.
JessPH
James Dean would probably agree with Rita
bachy
Guys like that are never “husband material,” and if you can make your peace with that, you’re in for one helluva ride you’ll never forget.