Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz marriage I Love Lucy sex life divorce
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Throughout the 1950s, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz made millions of people laugh with their iconic television sitcom “I Love Lucy.” Those same fans, however, might be surprised to learn that the comedy duo’s real-life marriage was reportedly incredibly sexual in nature.

Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz Meet

Author Darwin Porter told The New York Post that Arnaz first laid eyes on Ball in the commissary of RKO Pictures in Hollywood in early 1940. 

“He wasn’t impressed at all, calling her a ’10-cent whore,’ a ‘p–a’ — the Spanish word for prostitute,” Porter said, as at the time, Ball was dressed for a role as a cheap burlesque dancer in the film Dance, Girl, Dance. Hours later, Arnaz saw Ball again, but this time she had her hair perfect and was wearing an elegant yellow sweater, beige pants and heels.

“Their love affair began immediately,” added Porter, who is one of the authors of the book “The Sad & Tragic Ending of Lucille Ball: Volume 2.”

The two married later in 1940 on a whim of the “impulsive” Arnaz.

“One morning, after a night of heavy sex, apparently, he woke her up at 6:30 and said, ‘We’re getting married,'” Porter explained. 

Related: Lucille Ball’s Daughter Reveals Secrets About Her Mom’s Marriage to Desi Arnaz

‘I Love Lucy’ Star’s Tempestuous Marriage 

However, the marriage was tempestuous and rocky from the very beginning. Less than a week after they married, Arnaz visited Polly Adler, who was the most famous madam in New York at the time. 

 “He seemed to have a predilection to ‘p–as,’ whores,” said Porter. “When Desi entered the marriage, he said, ‘Your wife is one thing and you respect and love your wife, but these peccadillos a man has on the side are meaningless.’ Of course, Lucille did not agree.”

Yet Ball also was not faithful, as she engaged in affairs with others, including the Oscar-winning star Henry Fonda.

“She started out as ‘the Jamestown Hussy’ [a nickname] at 16,” said Porter, referring to Ball’s years going up in upstate New York. “Lucille really liked men. She’d say, ‘I’m always falling in love, I can’t help myself.’ ”

Ball is said to have had a voracious sexual appetite, and she enjoyed having affairs with others to get back at Arnaz for his dalliances.

Ultimately, affairs and distrust defined the marriage between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

“They were never Lucy and Ricky Ricardo,” Porter said, referring to their “I Love Lucy” characters. 

Thankfully, their fights never took a physical turn.

They weren’t Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor beating the hell out of each other, but they would go to the brink emotionally — calling each other names and throwing objects,” he said.

Related: Here’s Why Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz’s Legacy Is Still Going Strong 70 Years Later

Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz Had Active Sex Life 

Ball even filed for divorce from Arnaz in 1944, but he was able to get her to change her mind.

“He knew the way to prevent the divorce would be to go home and throw her into bed,” said Porter. “They had their mad love affair, and sex had a great deal to do with their relationship.

Ball would later bragged to their “I Love Lucy” co-stars Vivian Vance and William Frawley about their “great sex. She always bragged on her Cuban stud. And he thought she was a ‘hot little number.’”

More inside scoop on Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s whirlwind marriage is in the video below.

Ball and Arnaz eventually divorced in 1960 and each went on to marry other people.

Even so, the last phone call Arnaz took from his deathbed in 1986 was from Ball.

“Even when she got remarried,” said Strauss, “[Ball] said [Arnaz] was the love of her life — not the kind of thing your second husband wants to hear.”

Lucille Ball herself would pass away three years later in 1989. Though they have each been gone for over thirty years, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz continue to live on through the iconic moments they created on “I Love Lucy”! 

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