The S- abuse to which her father subjected her for years caused her an enormous feeling of guilt that dragged her throughout her life.
Orson Welles, her second husband, used to remember that Rita Hayworth had once confessed to him: "You know, the only happiness I've had in life has been with you." And that revelation of what had been one of the greatest divas of golden Hollywood, and who had had it all: beauty, success, fame, and money, made him reflect on the true nature of that magnetic woman whom he had so badly she had tried throughout their marriage: "If that was happiness, what would the rest of her life be like?"
Raped by her father, from a very young age to adolescence, used, harassed, and mistreated, psychologically or physically (or both at the same time), by her husbands (she had up to five) and lovers, and enslaved by the merciless gear of film studios and their sharks, Rita Hayworth ended up drunk and died of a degenerative mental illness. Next Wednesday marks a century since the birth of the actress, who died in 1987, 31 years before the Weinstein case broke out in the Mecca of cinema and millions of women around the world launched the #MeToo cry. In her time, she "also" was a victim.
An alcoholic Mother of Rita Hayworth
Eduardo Cansino was a medium-sized Spanish dancer who began his career in the United States as a couple with his sister Elisa, calling himself Los Dancing Cansinos. While they were acting in the musical comedy Follow Me, he met a striking 19-year-old showgirl, Volga Hayworth, whom he married secretly from her family, traditional people who ran a printing press in Washington. When the newlywed embarked on her new husband and sister-in-law's tour of a variety of theaters in the country, she realized an uncomfortable situation for her: that the audience believed that Eduardo and Elisa were husband and wife, something that they encouraged, and that, years later, would be repeated with the new couple formed by Rita and her father.
On October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, Volga gave birth to a girl, whom she wanted to call Maggie, after her mother, although Eduardo preferred Carmen, after his. In the end, she was baptized as Margarita (Maggie in Spanish) Carmen, although her father always stubbornly called her by the latter name. The following year, the couple had Sonny, and three years later Vernon. Of the three, the only one who inherited a talent for dancing was the girl. Fascinated by the world of cinema, Eduardo dragged his family to Los Angeles, but the crash of 1929 broke his plans and so he decided to make his daughter his new dance partner. In 1931, he took her out of school and took her to tour casinos and clubs. The girl was only 12 years old, and that's when her misfortune began. Eduardo began to S- abuse her by threatening to beat her if she did not submit to him. By that time, Volga was already drinking. Alcoholic, frustrated, and financially dependent on her husband, she did not lift a finger to protect her daughter. Throughout her life, Rita felt "bad and unworthy" when she, in reality, had been the victim of a predator.
An unscrupulous husband of Rita Hayworth
In early 1934, she had the opportunity to enter the world of cinema, and she did so with an "erotic" dance number in a Fox film starring Spencer Tracy, The Ship of Satan. The producer shortened her name to Rita and offered her a short contract.
It was around this time that she began to court a fake oil businessman named Eddie Judson, a dark man in his forties who dressed like a dandy and who had already had three marriages on his back. Rita, then 17 years old, saw in him her savior, the man who could free her from her father. She became her manager - the one who negotiated for her a leonine contract with Columbia, which demanded that the actress change her last name to her mother's maiden name - and, later, her husband. But, things did not go as she expected. "I married for love, but for him, it was an investment," the actress said sometime later.
Judson lived off her, molded her to her liking, subjecting her to painful electrolysis sessions to kill the root of the hair on her forehead and clear it, and to severe slimming cures. And, even worse, he was pressuring her to sleep with the men who could help her climb. In particular, with one, Harry Cohn, the Weinstein of the moment. Meanwhile, he was unfaithful. "He was a real badass," Orson Welles would describe him years later. Despite living in fear of him, she ended up asking him for a divorce from her. And after a couple of years of grueling tensions and conflicts, they parted ways in 1943.
The genius whom he loved more than any other man
After an affair with Victor Mature, the star fell madly in love with a talented young man named Orson Welles, who had already directed Citizen Kane and The Fourth Commandment and had broadcast the mythical War of the Worlds on the radio. Welles, who was dragging two famous sentimental failures - a marriage and a serious affair with Dolores del Río - organized a party just to meet her. She, who had dropped out of school at the age of 12, was initially daunted by Welles's genius, education, and culture, but he became obsessed with her and won her over. They got married as soon as Rita got the divorce, and a year later they were the parents of Rebecca. And yet, life in Rose was short-lived.
The birth of the girl did not keep Welles (who already had two children whom he hardly saw) at Rita's side. The filmmaker was increasingly involved in more projects and more extramarital adventures. The main one in those years was the one he had with Judy Garland. Rita felt so miserable that she began to drink and she decided to accept the leading role of Gilda, a character that S- her and from which she believed she had escaped by marrying Welles. Four years after the wedding, the same one which she filmed under the orders of her lady from Shanghai, she divorced him.
