Grace Kelly - Personal Life

Personal Life

Kelly was the object of the tabloids and gossip throughout her life. Her love life was a particular focus of speculation. Stories of affairs circulated from her first major role in motion pictures and eventually included the names of almost every major actor at the time. It is likely that many of the stories are exaggerated.

During the making of Dial M for Murder, it is rumored that her co-star, Ray Milland, probably seduced her. Milland was 22 years older than she. Milland assured Kelly that he had left his wife, which she would later find out to have been a lie. Muriel Milland was one of the most popular wives in Hollywood and had the support of many friends, including gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. After Muriel Milland found out about the alleged affair, Kelly was branded a homewrecker. After Kelly gave a press interview explaining her side of the story the town seemed to lose interest in the scandal. It was never proven that Kelly actually succumbed to Milland's advances; in fact, her friends at the time, such as Rita Gam, believed she had little interest in him.

French-born American fashion designer, Oleg Cassini, having just seen Mogambo earlier that evening, encountered Grace Kelly having dinner at Le Veau d'Or. Formerly married to actress Gene Tierney, the original choice to play Mogambo's Linda Nordley, Cassini was raised in Florence and had a cultured air with an abundance of charm and courtliness. He became just as captivated by Kelly in person as he had been while watching her in the film and soon piqued her curiosity by sending her a daily bouquet of red roses. His persistence paid off when she accepted his invitation to lunch, with the provision that her eldest sister, Peggy, join them. Although Kelly and Cassini almost married, their relationship ended with her parents' refusal to accept a divorced non-Catholic as a future son-in-law.

Prince Rainier laid down a list of strict rules when it came to the encounters with the Princess at the palace, which included no autographs, no photographs, no audio recording devices. And no one was allowed to leave the room for anything, unless, and until, the Princess left the room first, so that she would avoid being trapped by a mob of fans. This observation was reported in 1963. Whether either the Prince or Princess had extramarital affairs is unclear, but the couple had become closer just before Kelly's death.

In a 1960s interview Kelly explained how she had grown to accept the scrutiny as a part of being in the public eye, but expressed concern for her children’s exposure to such relentless "scandal-mongering". After her death celebrity biographers chronicled the rumors with renewed enthusiasm.