NINA VAN PALLANDT : THE TWIST AND TURNS OF A MARRIAGE IN FREE FALL

Notes and Excerpts by Missy:

By January 1967, when Nina was thinking that the separations had been good and was having renewed hope about her marriage with Frederik, the children announced that they had spent time with Dorothy, who was Frederik's new woman... It became clear that both husband and wife were having their own lives.

Excerpt Page 181 :

After a dinner party.... "He suddenly sat on the bed and said, "Dorothy and I are expecting a baby.  Our marriage is finished.  It was only an extension of our childhood anyway, and only our work has held us together.  We'll fulfill the contracts we have, and that's the end."

What could I say?  I, too, had contemplated leaving but had come to a different conclusion. I had long known of his girl friends, but had come to terms with that.  I knew what we had together was unique and giving life together was very much a part of it.  Now, with this, part of that uniqueness had been sullied and it all seemed meaningless.  I was numb.

I cried and raged...

Note: The Nina and Frederik singing duo continued to entertain.

 Excerpt page 183 :

At home the children never saw any strife or disharmony, but I know they sensed the tension....  Frederik didn't want a divorce.  I was his wife and would be the only one he'd have in this life. The soul relationship be had with Dorothy, he said, needed no marriage certificate.

He was torn between two worlds. When he was here he wanted to be elsewhere; when elsewhere he wanted to be here.  Deep down I don't think he wanted to be anywhere. Then the phone rang. Dorothy had had a daughter.  We both cried for each other, for ourselves, and for her, too...

Notes : Back on the tour, it became clear that for all this, Frederik planed to spent his time with Dorothy and his friends, sailing.  Nina wrote that the only thing that kept her going was her love for children.  But they discussed having his new family move in.  If that had happened Nina and Dorothy would have more openly been sharing a man. Finally Nina accepted that the relationship she had with her husband was that of siblings.  What came next was negotiating a friendship with Clifford's new wife.

Excerpt page 196:

Clifford and Edith came to one of the few parties I had that summer. (Edith had become writer Clifford Irving's his fourth wife in 1967.) I'd gone to see her the year before at their home because I wanted to tell her I felt the island was too small for old grudges.  Could we not make peace between us?  I didn't stay long, but it was a friendly meeting, and when she took me downstairs to the door, she asked me to dinner a few days later. I went, and it was a pleasant evening which was repeated not too long afterwards.  A couple weeks later, Edith and Clifford came to my annual Full Moon party, it looked as though we'd managed to resolve our problems.

But now, a year later at my house, Clifford had too much to drink and, with pointed remarks and hints, undid all Edith and I had managed to establish. The evening came to an end without incident, but a day or so later, Edith appeared and asked if we could talk.

She told me she was sick of his running around, and I oud have him if I wanted him.  I assured her we were not seeing each other and that, furthermore, I had no intention of seeing him, adding that I was rather enjoying my newfound freedom.  I was not divorced, only separated, had children and a career, I told her, and had no intention of breaking up her marriage, or for the present, my own. She seemed so upset that I finally asked her why she didn't just leave him She answered that she could not walk out on him and the children unless she knew he would be happy with me.  

Notes: It was 1969 and Nina did not see Clifford or the Irvings for the rest of the year.  Having fulfilled the contracts, Nina launched a solo career by September 1970 beginning in London.

Excerpt page 196:

January 1971, Clifford called from Ibiza and said he'd be coming to London en route to New York and would like to say hello. He arrive in early February and spent the afternoon chatting in my kitchen. It was good to see him again. At dinner that evening, we brought each other up to date on our doings. I told him with excitement how well things were going for me. He told me about his marriage, which was still limping along, about his suspicion of Edith having found a German boyfriend and their having discussed divorce.  He still wanted to marry me, but I looked him straight in the eye and laughingly asked if we hadn't both had enough of that.

The next day at lunch Clifford asked me if had a few days free to go to the Bahamas with him.  I rarely did things in the spur of the moment, but I suddenly head myself say "Yes."  .....

I joined Clifford in New York a few days later, and he asked me if I'd like to go to Mexico instead. He knew a small town south of Mexico city where he'd spent some time and wanted to show it to me, and I'd never been to Mexico, anyway, so ---- why not?

Notes:  What's especially important about this passage is that Clifford Irving was busy fooling his publisher that he had the cooperation of the secretive recluse, millionaire Howard Hughes, of aircraft pioneer fame, to write his autobiography.  This ruse, that involved Clifford's wife Edith cashing checks made out to Hughes in Switzerland. ended badly, when the publishing house finally was contacted by Hughes himself. It turned into a major legal problem for Clifford Irving. But he did write a book about the whole adventure.

Excerpt Continued:

We took off for Mexico the next day, changed lanes in New Orleans and arrived late Thursday afternoon in Mexico City... It was during the drive from the airport to our hotel that Clifford suddenly turned to me and said in a low voice that he was going to write the autobiography of Howard Hughes, that it was a great secret and he couldn't reveal more.  He added that he might possibly have to meet Hughes while we were there but I was not to talk about this project.  Nothing more was mentioned and we chatted happily about the sights gliding by outside..... 

Notes: The couple took a small plane to Oaxaca at dawn, a small town and stayed in a bungalow...

Excerpt page 201:

Clifford said "I'm not really meeting Hughes, you know... but I am writing his autobiography....  he could have said biography "Oh I'm writing it as if he were telling the story."

Notes: That is the role of a co-author or ghost writer and is a tradition, though sometimes a person with a story manages to get the work published without a mention that another person was writing an "as told to." This in itself was not wrong or illegal, it was the fact that Irving had never met Hughes, never had his cooperation, and had been conducting an elaborate ruse.

Eventually Nina was called to testify in court. 

***

Notes: Nina wrote that Clifford had told her on the island that he was writing the book and it was an open secret, he also showed her the completed manuscript. She began to get the feeling that he was up to something....   She said she did not want him to give her the details.

Nina thus claimed that she was not told outright that the book on Hughes was a hoax.  Despite all the changes, her relationship with Clifford fizzed out, though they had friendly occasional friendly interactions over the years. Nina claimed that she began to learn that she was sought in connection with the legal case. It was their trip to Mexico that she was questioned about and so, she came to public notice in the United States as a result.

Some people speculated that her denials had everything to do with her career.

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