Elizabeth Taylor felt helpless learning a close friend’s fate along with the world.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic touched many people throughout the 1980s, and the actress was no exception. In the final installment of the documentary Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar, there’s a look back at how the illness propelled the actress into activism.
In a recording, Taylor explained, “All my life, I had spent a lot of time with gay men. Jimmy Dean, Rock Hudson, who were my closest friends. They were just the people I loved and suddenly gay people stopped being human beings and they started becoming the enemy. I knew somebody had to do something.”
When it came to Hudson’s HIV-positive status, Taylor found out the news with the rest of the world, just months before he would die of AIDS-related complications in 1985.
“He didn’t tell anyone. I think my mom found out when everyone else did,” Taylor’s son, Christopher Wilding, shared.
Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor in 1980.
Tom Wargacki/WireImage
“Obviously that had a very big impact because they were very dear friends. I think just the fact that he had to keep it a secret upset her,” he added.
In a recording, Taylor recalled visiting Hudson in the hospital. “I went over and saw him and we laughed about our chocolate martinis. You know, he’d have moments of being this carefree young man, but lying in this hospital was a skeleton,” she said.
The last time she saw him was particularly heartbreaking. “I knew that Rock had no chances. I saw Rock the day before he died,” she said, noting he didn’t remember who she was at that time. The next day, she got the upsetting news that the actor had died at 59 years old.
“People were so shocked. It was like the town, Hollywood, became aware that one of its own had been hit,” Taylor said.
Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor on the set of “Giant” in 1956.
API/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty
Taylor became dedicated to raising money toward AIDS research, eventually starting the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation with the money she raised from selling the photos from her wedding to Larry Fortensky.
“At that point, no one did anything like that. No one risked anything,” noted Sharon Stone, who also appears in the documentary.
Taylor’s granddaughter Naomi Wilding said the megastar had no idea she was made for the mission until she stepped into it.
Elizabeth Taylor testifying to Congress.
Jeffrey Markowitz/Sygma via Getty
“She came to a moment in her life where all these other experiences of being a child star, of being a packaged actor in the studio system, of being a wife and mother, of being loved, of dealing with tragedy — all of those things made her perfectly equipped to be the activist she was,” she said.
“She was just outspoken, no f—s given,” added goddaughter Paris Jackson. “Like, ‘I don’t care, this is important.’ It’s that simple.”
“I think Elizabeth kind of paved the way for other people with that kind of integrity and power to come forth. And you also can’t put a price on finding life purpose,” Jackson concluded.
Elizabeth Taylor; Rebel Superstar is streaming on BBC.
