The BBC has been accused of ‘cheapening legendary starlets’ by enraged fans of the late actress Elizabeth Taylor after it was announced that media personality and socialite Kim Kardashian will produce and present a documentary on her life.
Billionaire-businesswoman Kim, 43, was the last person to interview the late movie star before her death in March 2011, aged 79, and has publicly professed Taylor is her idol.
The documentary titled Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar will dive into her early fame, acting career, many marriages and how she went on to be a billionaire-businesswoman, activist and advocate.
Discussing the project, Kim reaffirmed her adoration for the star, saying she was ‘unapologetically herself’.
She said: ‘Elizabeth Taylor was unapologetically herself, a fighter.
The BBC has been accused of ‘cheapening legendary starlets’ with its planned Elizabeth Taylor documentary fronted by Kim Kardashian (pictured)
The documentary titled Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar will dive into Elizabeth’s (pictured) early fame, acting career, many marriages and how she went on to be a billionaire-businesswoman, activist and advocate
Billionaire-businesswoman Kim, 43, has publicly professed Taylor is her idol
Reaction to the news of Kim’s documentary has been mixed on social media
‘She is proof that you can keep evolving and changing and have different chapters in your life – and she paved the way for all of us who came after her with that blueprint.’
Despite Kim’s enthusiasm however, the decision to hire her as the executive producer on the actress’ biopic has been savaged by some online who have said they believe it will be a vehicle for the Kardashian’s as opposed to Taylor.
Taking to X, one person wrote: ‘Can this family please leave classic movie stars alone.’
Another pondered: ‘I hope that “appearance” is in the form of a voice over narration or anecdotal interview and not any attempt to portray Elizabeth Taylor.’
‘She deserves better’, agreed another.
Other users accused the BBC of ‘cheapening legendary starlets’ whilst one person just screamed ‘Make it stop!’.
The BBC has defended the series, with Commissioning Editor Alistair Pegg promising to deliver ‘a new understanding of Elizabeth Taylor – both her technique and power as an actor, and her capacity for reinventing herself.’
Elizabeth’s close friend Dame Joan Collins, school friend Margaret O’Brien and close friend Carole Bayer Sager will also appear on the documentary.
Despite Kim’s outspoken adoration for the star, the two women lived lives markedly different from one another.
Taylor, one of the great Hollywood beauties, led an infamously scandalous life with many men and a mindboggling eight marriages.
But as the wife of a US senator living in the stodgy nation’s capital, the glitzy star became a ‘drunk and a junkie,’ according to Kate Andersen Brower’s Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit and Glamour of an Icon biography.
When Elizabeth was married to her seventh husband, Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia in the late 70s, she once summoned one of her adult sons from a previous marriage to her bedroom where she was clad only in revealing underwear.
‘She was pretty f***ed up on something. She was seated on the edge of the bed in her underwear and had a syringe of Demerol, [an addictive opioid] in her right hand,’ recalled Christopher Wilding, son of Elizabeth’s second husband, the British actor Michael Wilding.
‘She pointed to a spot on her thigh,’ and asked him to inject the needle. When he couldn’t, the Oscar-winning star ‘steadied her hand and plunged the needle into her flesh.’
And now over a decade later, Kim, who has long idolised Elizabeth, will delve deep into her life for the new docuseries
In March 2011, Elizabeth suffered congestive heart failure, and died six weeks later (pictured in 2009)
The documentary Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar is executive produced by Kim, Kari Lia and Hamish Fergusson
It will dive into her early fame, acting career, many marriages and how she went on to be a billionaire-businesswoman, activist and advocate (pictured in 1955)
Elizabeth’s close friend Dame Joan Collins (pictured), school friend Margaret O’Brien and close friend Carole Bayer Sager will also appear on the documentary
During the Warner marriage, the gorgeous Elizabeth known for her seductive violet eyes and once spectacular figure – unhappy with her life as a senator’s wife in the ritzy and conservative Georgetown enclave – ate and drank so much that she ballooned 40 pounds to more than 170 pounds, igniting Warner to call her his ‘little heifer,’ writes Brower.
The marriage lasted six years – a relatively long time for eight-times married Elizabeth, who was in and out of marriages like a revolving door.
Her other turbulent marriages included a brief union with Paris Hilton’s great uncle, Conrad Nicky Hilton, film producer Mike Todd, crooner Eddie Fisher, and Richard Burton.
At 18-years-old, Elizabeth married her first husband Conrad Hilton and got her first four-carat diamond ring.
They honeymooned in Europe but the thrill was gone within just two weeks, when Hilton virtually abandoned her and went on a drink and gambling binge.
He soon became abusive and kicked her in the stomach causing a miscarriage.
In 1952, Taylor married the British actor Michael Wilding, who was 20 years her senior.
Because of the age difference the couple had little in common, so little that, according to the author, Taylor had an affair with Frank Sinatra, and got pregnant.
Elizabeth married her seventh husband Republican Senator John Warner (pictured) in 1976
The marriage lasted six years – a relatively long time for eight-times married Taylor
At just the tender age of 18, Elizabeth married her first husband, Conrad Nicholas Hilton, Jr., the great-uncle of Paris Hilton, at the Bel Air country club in 1950
Elizabeth went on to marry second husband, British actor Michael Wilding in 1952, who was 20 years her senior
Hollywood beauty and icon Elizabeth was known for her seductive violet eyes and once spectacular figure during the age of classical Hollywood cinema
In 1957, the same year her marriage with Wilding ended, Elizabeth moved on quickly, marrying film producer Mike Todd and honeymooning in Acapulco, Mexico (pictured)
Todd (far left) was killed in a plane crash 13 months later and she began a relationship with popular young crooner Eddie Fisher (right) who infamously ended his marriage with Debbie Reynolds and married Elizabeth
In 1957, the same year her marriage with Wilding ended, Elizabeth moved on quickly, marrying film producer Mike Todd and honeymooning in Acapulco, Mexico.
But 13 months after their March 1958 marriage, Todd was killed in a plane crash.
In 1959, the popular young crooner Eddie Fisher infamously ended his marriage with Debbie Reynolds and married Elizabeth.
Elizabeth had become famous at age 12 after playing the lead in the film, National Velvet in 1944, but she felt abused with the MGM studio system that addicted their young stars to pills – amphetamines and sedatives.
In all, Elizabeth made over 60 films, most for the silver screen and some for television.
Several times she came back from the dead from illnesses and suicide attempts and overdoses, heart attacks, three hip replacements, and more.
‘I’ve been through it all, baby. I’m Mother Courage. I’ll be dragging a sable coat behind me into old age,’ she said, according to the author.
In March 2011, Elizabeth Taylor suffered congestive heart failure, and died six weeks later.