A look back at the marriages and romances of the Hollywood icon

Ava Gardner was known for being glamorous and beautiful, and also for having a complicated love life at best.

She was married twice and divorced before the age of 25, first to film star Mickey Rooney and then to actor Artie Shaw. She was also married to Frank Sinatra and was later linked to Ernest Hemingway.

Although most of her relationships were tumultuous, she opened up about it all in her autobiography, Ava: My storywhich was published after her death in 1990. In it, she alleged abuse by former partners and other bold secrets.

From her first marriage to Mickey Rooney to her romance with Frank Sinatra, here's a look back at Ava Gardner's past husbands, boyfriends, and romances.

Mickey Rooney

Gardner and Rooney met in 1941, when he was one of Hollywood's most popular actors, and she was just getting started.

Over the objections of their shared studio, MGM, the two married in 1942, when Gardner was just 19 years old.

The couple divorced fairly quickly and their separation was finalized 9 months after their marriage.

Artie Shaw

Gardner married her second husband in 1945. Eventually, Shaw left Gardner after the two had been married for about a year.

She and ghostwriter Peter Evans discussed their relationship at length while writing her autobiography, according to Vanity Fair.

Garder told Evans: “We got married in '45, October 17. He dumped me a week after our first anniversary. That bastard broke my heart.”

Frank Sinatra

Sinatra and Gardner began their romance in 1951, amid a storm of controversy.

Sinatra was still married to his wife Nancy Sinatra when he first spotted Gardner on set at MGM in the late 1940s. They then began spending time together in 1948, despite warning that the studio director, Louis B. Mayer, had pitched Gardner against a relationship with the married man.

Sinatra took his time divorcing his wife, and he and Gardner continued a tumultuous relationship. They finally married 72 hours after Sinatra divorced in 1951, but their marriage ended in 1953.

Gardner later revealed that she had two abortions while married to Sinatra. She got pregnant for the first time while they were in Nigeria for his film Mogambo.

Despite their divorce in 1957, the two remained friends until his death in 1990.

Fred MacMurray

Gardner began a brief affair with co-star MacMurray while she was still married to Sinatra, but things quickly ended between the two after she discovered her boyfriend had a sick wife.

Her assistant and housekeeper, Mearene Jordan, said in Gardner's autobiography: “She was not opposed to secret adultery, but when a man cheated on his sick wife, she strongly objected.”

Luis Miguel Domingun

Gardner and Domingun met while the actress was still technically married to Sinatra, but before that separation was finalized.

The Spanish bullfighter had previously been engaged to the 18-year-old daughter of the Duke of Pinohermoso, but by 1954 he was in a relationship with Gardner, whom he described as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Their relationship was short-lived, however, and he married Italian actress Lucia Bose in 1955.

George C. Scott

Gardner and Scott met in 1964 on a film set.

In his autobiography, Gardner alleged that the relationship was abusive, although a spokesperson for Scott later commented: “Mr. Scott has not had the opportunity to read the book and therefore has no comment on its content. »

Ernest Hemingway

The relationship between Gardner and Hemingway has never been clearly defined. The two met in 1954, while Gardner was still in a relationship with Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Domingun.

Gardner, who was still married to Sinatra at the time, was the subject of intense public scrutiny, and Hemingway reportedly offered him a house to hide in.

Gardner and Hemingway spent a lot of time together at his home in Havana, Cuba.

Gardner's assistant, Mearene Jordan, later described the house in her autobiography: Living with Miss Gwriting: “There were fifteen acres of wilderness. Yet there was room for a swimming pool, a vegetable garden, grape vines, and more species of mango trees than anywhere else in Cuba. There were about five million cats , from what I could see, as well as dogs, chickens and cows which gave the place a friendly atmosphere.