On a day like today in 1982, the Hollywood actress who left everything to become Princess of Monaco died after a tragic car accident
“It was hard for people to accept that she could do something as human as get into a car accident,” said Stephanie, daughter of Grace Kelly, in an interview with Paris Match in October 2002. It was the first time that anyone in the family of The great film actress, Hollywood diva, and Princess Consort of Monaco dared to speak about her death, and Estefanía, who was with her on the day of the tragic accident.
It all happened on September 13, when Kelly was driving a car with her daughter to say goodbye to the summer vacation. However, some curves, a zig-zag, and a loss of control caused the car to shoot off the road: although Estefanía suffered no harm, Grace Kelly was admitted to hospital, where she died the next day, aged 52, Today is the 39th anniversary of his death.
That was how Kelly established himself as a legend. Not only because of the various conspiracy theories that revolved around her tragic death: from blaming her daughter Estefanía, who always denied having driven that vehicle, to thinking that Kelly could have had an affair with a mobster and that he would have ordered the manipulation of his car and therefore his murder. But also because of her ability to dazzle during her life and professional career, even when encountering all kinds of obstacles.
She experienced what could be a perfect script for any Hollywood production: a movie star marries a European prince and leaves her talent to greet her from the Palace. She regretted abandoning her work, but neither could it be said that before she was the princess of Monaco she had a life with full recognition. At that time, inequalities between actor and actress were commonplace: even after winning an Oscar for Alfred Hitchcock's “To Catch a Thief”, his salary was still four times less than that of his co-star, Cary Grant. The same thing happened with another of her great films: in "Mogambo" she earned barely a sixth of what the star of John Ford's film, Clark Gable, also earned.
And, from there, already consecrated as a great actress and Hollywood diva, to give up her career to walk down the aisle, a decision she made at the request of her husband, Raniero III, and which she could never revoke due to a ban on both him and her. of the royal family itself. Decades later - she married in 1956 when she was 26 years old - she confessed that leaving the cinema was the worst decision she made in her life.
Dependency and curse
From then on, Grace Kelly lived with her family and her new country. They had three children -Carolina, Alberto, and Estefanía-, and they starred in one of the most luxurious times in Monaco. However, as a documentary recently revealed under the title "Grace Kelly: The Missing Millions" ("Grace Kelly: The Missing Millions"), although from the outside the actress seemed to have a dream life, this film shows the hidden face of life in the Palace. When she married Raniero III, Kelly lost her financial independence and, when she died, according to the documentary, she barely had 10,000 dollars (about 8,500 euros) to her name, taking into account that this figure, according to her social position, should have amounted to more than 50,000.
And, to all that impossibility of recovering her cinematographic dream and the only option to dedicate herself to her family and to a foreign country, she is joined by her infidelities. But not only by one of them, but they were mutual. It was her talent as an actress that allowed her to hide any kind of frustration or lie about her husband.
Already engaged, the actress, according to some biographies that have been written about them, had affairs with Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis, and David Niven, among others, taking it for granted until now that she saw herself with the latter even when she was already married. Likewise, the prince never stopped having lovers, a way of acting that has been repeated in other members of the Grimaldi family.
An unhappy love life, therefore, both before and inevitably after Kelly's sudden death. A situation that would well convince the most superstitious, as it responds to the legend of the "curse" of the Grimaldi: a gypsy lover of Raniero II sentenced her when she learned that he was going to marry a noblewoman, saying that "no Grimaldi will find the happiness in love”.
