These mistresses etched their names in the history books. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be discussing the most scandalous affairs throughout history and the mistresses at the center of them.
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00:00An affair between Lewinsky and then-president Bill Clinton was revealed
00:04following a betrayal of friendship.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be discussing the most scandalous affairs
00:10throughout history and the mistresses at the center of them.
00:13Lucia introduced her to Prince Charles in the early 70s
00:16and thus began a tantalizing saga of love and betrayal.
00:22Eliza Rosanna Gilbert aka Lola Montez
00:25Though born in Ireland, Eliza Rosanna Gilbert eventually gained fame,
00:29or rather infamy, while posing as a Spanish dancer named Lola Montez.
00:33A teenage marriage to an English lieutenant named Thomas James didn't stop Gilbert,
00:37who began going by Lola Montez in her everyday life,
00:40from carrying on affairs for both personal and financial gain.
00:43The career of a high-class courtesan was eventually in the cards for her,
00:46that is until 1846 when she caught the eye of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and became his mistress.
00:53For her services, she earned the title of Countess of Lansfeld and Baroness of Rosenthal
00:58and soon wielded a powerful sway over Ludwig's duties as ruler.
01:01Dame Elizabeth Taylor
01:03The nature of celebrity is complicated, with many tabloid and news outlets documenting
01:08every personal decision, scandal, or controversy in black and white.
01:11But what would you have done?
01:13I don't know.
01:14Elizabeth Taylor will forever be remembered as one of Hollywood's most well-known performers.
01:19However, her personal life also came under constant public scrutiny,
01:23including her many marriages.
01:24Taylor's engagements and nuptials were always front-page news,
01:28but one particularly memorable scandal occurred when she
01:30stole singer Eddie Fisher from her friend Debbie Reynolds.
01:34I really owe Elizabeth a favor for breaking that whole situation.
01:38I don't blame her for the break, I blame Eddie for the break.
01:41As if that wasn't enough, Taylor later cheated on Fisher with another married man,
01:45Sir Richard Burton.
01:46This liaison would result in the couple's 1964 marriage,
01:50followed by a divorce, a reconciliation, and a second divorce in 1976.
01:55In the mid-70s, the Burtons divorced, then remarried, and divorced again.
02:01It was the end of a 14-year passionate romance, the longest of her life.
02:06Madame de Pompadour
02:07The title maîtresse en titre, which loosely translates to chief mistress,
02:11brought with it a substantial amount of influence over the regent she served.
02:15The case of Madame de Pompadour was one connected to King Louis XV of France,
02:19a six-year tenure of royal mistress, during which the madame advised the king on a daily basis.
02:25Born Jeanne Antoinette Poisson in Paris, Madame de Pompadour wasn't of noble birth,
02:29but her position as mistress enabled her to achieve noble titles not just for herself,
02:34but for others in her inner circle.
02:36Today, she's seen as a consort with a legacy of supporting aesthetic
02:39beauty and the arts in French society.
02:41Barbara Palmer, the first Duchess of Cleveland
02:44King Charles II of England was somewhat infamous for keeping a number of mistresses,
02:49one of which was Barbara Palmer, first Duchess of Cleveland.
02:52Her five children with the king were notable for not being referred to as bastards,
02:56but instead rising to places of legitimate ennoblement.
02:59This was due to Palmer's existing marriage to a man named Robert,
03:02whom the king conveniently made the Earl of Castlemaine,
03:05ensuring his titles could be passed down to their children.
03:08Palmer's beauty was reportedly so captivating
03:10that it kept both her husband and the king under her spell.
03:13Her reputation vacillated between stories of kindness,
03:16reckless spending, and open promiscuity,
03:19and she was eventually ousted from King Charles' court around 1673.
03:23Amy Fisher
03:24The tabloids and late-night talk show hosts were all over this infamous slice of
03:28you-had-to-have-been-there scandal from the early 90s.
03:30She is accused of an affair with a married man more than twice her age.
03:34She is in jail on charges of trying to kill his wife.
03:37But who is Amy Fisher?
03:39Joey Barfuco engaged in an illicit affair with the underage Amy Fisher
03:43while still married to his wife Mary Jo.
03:45Wanting to please Barfuco,
03:47Fisher took a gun to his house and inadvertently shot Mary Jo in the face.
03:50Police say Fisher walked up to the Barfuco home and shot Mary Jo.
03:54The incident quickly turned into a media frenzy,
03:57with Fisher earning the tabloid nickname the Long Island Lolita.
04:01She also served seven years in prison for first-degree aggravated assault.
04:05Barfuco, on the other hand, got off relatively easier,
04:08serving just four months in jail for his illegal relationship with Fisher.
04:11It's not about me anymore.
04:13It's not about the person who got shot and assassinated on the front of her own home.
04:18It becomes about Joey and Amy.
04:20And it did.
04:21It took on a life of its own,
04:22because that's what the public was seeing.
04:24That's what they wanted.
04:25Mariah Reynolds.
04:27What is the birth of a nation without a proper sex scandal?
04:30Mariah Reynolds was at the center of one such situation,
04:33which occurred during the first American presidency of George Washington.
04:37While he's a treasury secretary,
04:39he carries on this affair with a woman named Mariah Reynolds.
04:42Mariah Lewis was married to a man named James Reynolds
04:45when she became involved with the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury,
04:48Alexander Hamilton.
04:49The latter's desire to stop this affair was not reciprocated by his mistress,
04:53who collaborated with her husband in a blackmail scheme.
04:56I received a letter from a Mr. James Reynolds.
04:59Even better.
04:59It said,
05:00Dear sir, I hope this letter finds you in good health
05:03and in a prosperous enough position to put wealth in the pockets of people like me.
05:08The Reynolds successfully extorted money from Hamilton on a number of occasions,
05:12and Mariah continued to see him,
05:14allegedly at her husband's request.
05:16Hamilton would eventually come clean about the affair in 1792,
05:20triggering America's first of many political sex scandals.
05:23I don't think this is a good idea to publish this.
05:26Like, maybe your wife and your seven children
05:28would not love it if you publish this.
05:31And Hamilton's like,
05:31Well, like, I got accused of embezzling.
05:34Like, I can't let that stand.
05:36Maybe the, like, marital infidelity trumps that.
05:39I know it doesn't in your head, but to everyone else in the world it does.
05:44Marilyn Monroe.
05:45She's one of the most famous actresses in the world,
05:48a true Hollywood icon whose star will likely never fade.
05:52Oh, do you feel the breeze from the subway?
05:55Isn't it delicious?
05:57Marilyn Monroe was an object of desire for just about everyone,
06:00including a number of very powerful men.
06:03The silver screen legend reportedly had an affair
06:05with the U.S. President John F. Kennedy,
06:07as well as his brother, Senator Robert Kennedy.
06:10The famed playwright Arthur Miller also cheated on his wife with Monroe,
06:13while she was still with her ex, baseball icon Joe DiMaggio.
06:17Miller and Monroe would eventually marry,
06:19although another affair, this time with co-star Yves Montand,
06:23occurred on the set of one of her final films,
06:251960's Let's Make Love.
06:26Please, darling, darling, darling, there was no other way.
06:31Mary Boleyn.
06:32The Boleyn sisters were notable figures
06:34within the court of England's King Henry VIII.
06:36In the 1520s, the lives of the Boleyn sisters
06:39revolved around Henry VIII.
06:42Although Anne Boleyn formally married the king in 1533,
06:45after years of refusing to become his mistress,
06:48her older sister Mary had already served in that role.
06:51Mary reportedly gave birth to at least two of Henry's children,
06:54but he denied any parental responsibility over them.
06:58He usually waited until a woman was married to seduce her,
07:02and any children that she had would have been claimed as the husband's.
07:07That was just the way things were done then.
07:08She was not Henry's only mistress,
07:10and she was also rumored to have engaged in an affair with his rival,
07:14King Francis I of France.
07:15Ultimately, Mary's escapades led her back to Henry's court
07:18after she served as a maid of honor to Catherine of Aragon,
07:21the king's first wife, in 1519.
07:24It is not known when Henry ended his affair with Mary.
07:28By 1526, however, it was certainly over.
07:32Queen Camilla.
07:33Today, she is the queen consort of the United Kingdom,
07:36but there once was a time when Camilla Parker Bowles
07:38was a mistress who brought significant controversy to the royal family.
07:42Following publication, Camilla was invited into the royal fold at a polo match,
07:47but Camilla became the most reviled woman in Britain.
07:51She and King Charles were romantically involved
07:53long before his high-profile marriage to Diana.
07:56However, even after his wedding,
07:58Charles kept the flame alive with Parker Bowles,
08:00which only deepened the cracks in his marriage.
08:02She knew her husband could not give her the love she craved
08:05and that he would always hunger for the woman he could not have.
08:10Their affair became a public scandal in the early 90s
08:13following Diana's tell-all biography
08:15and the leaking of their intimate phone conversations.
08:17By all accounts, the pair seemed to truly care for one another,
08:21and after Charles eventually divorced Diana,
08:23he went public with Parker Bowles and they tied the knot in 2005.
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08:59It's interesting to note how the Monica Lewinsky scandal
09:01is commonly viewed today
09:03as opposed to when it first occurred back in the 1990s.
09:21This was another tabloid affair
09:22where comedians and talk show hosts largely lampooned Lewinsky.
09:26Subjects of her appearance and weight seemed to always come up,
09:29yet rarely was her age and comparative naivete discussed
09:32with regards to her affair with former American President Bill Clinton.
09:41Today, Lewinsky is largely seen as a victim,
09:44an idealistic intern who was impressed with a powerful man
09:47and became intimate with him.
09:48Monica Lewinsky may have been vilified at the time,
09:51but today, she works as an advocate to combat societal ills
09:54like online harassment.
09:56The takeaway if anybody who's watching this is struggling
09:59or feels they've been shamed is that you can get through it.
10:03Do you feel there's a double standard when it comes to affairs?
10:06Let us know in the comments.
10:07Did you enjoy this video?
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