40. She Sacrificed Comfort For The Part
Playing Morticia Addams, as glamorous as it seems, does not sound fun. The corsets were so tight that Anjelica couldn’t even sit down in the car to get to set. Her makeup artist glued fabric tabs to her face that she’d then tape to the back of her skull, constricting her whole head and resulting in intense headaches and rashes.
Luckily, her hard work pulled off, and not only was The Addams Family a huge success, it also became a beloved family classic, defined at least in part by her iconic performance.
The Addams Family (1991), Paramount Pictures
41. She Finally Tied The Knot
When Anjelica brought Robert Graham to Ireland to visit her childhood home, he surprised her on one of their last days there by proposing. In 1992, they had a star-studded wedding where Anjelica wore a smart white suit to walk down the aisle. Her close friend Jerry Hall, whom Anjelica also cited as an inspiration for her Morticia performance, was a bridesmaid.
As she was wearing a cream lace gown, Anjelica claimed that Jerry looked more like the bride than she did. Still, she was ecstatic to have finally found lasting love. But there was one piece of the puzzle missing.
42. She Got A Sad Diagnosis
Anjelica Huston hadn’t put that much thought into having children—after all, her relationships had frequently been tumultuous. She’d considered it with Jack Nicholson, but after they broke up, she finally tried to address why she’d never gotten pregnant, and made a devastating discovery. Doctors diagnosed her with endometriosis and told her that it was unlikely she’d ever have kids.
She felt inadequate and angry, especially in the wake of her break-up with Jack. After her marriage to Robert Graham, they made attempts at fertility treatments, but sadly, nothing worked.
43. She Made A Name For Herself
Without the looming legacy of her father or Jack holding her back, Anjelica found untold professional success in the 90s. She appeared in more films, a TV miniseries, and even began directing herself. She became the kind of natural A-lister she’d been surrounded by her whole life. Robert Graham built them a home in Venice, California—but the decade was not without its setbacks.
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44. She Feuded With Co-Stars
Anjelica Huston appeared alongside an all-star cast in the critically-acclaimed The Royal Tenenbaums—but the making of the film seemed like a total nightmare. The set was notoriously dysfunctional, and Huston later revealed her disturbing side of the story. As she tells it, veteran actor Gene Hackman was a vicious presence on the shoot, and he often hurled insults at the young director Wes Anderson.
Huston confessed that it got so bad that she and Bill Murray would have to step in to protect Anderson, with Murray even coming in on his days off to make sure nothing happened. You’d think that would’ve bonded them together, but not so…
45. He Snubbed Her
Though Bill Murray and Huston worked together previously on The Royal Tenenbaums, the actor was reportedly extremely rude to her on Wes Anderson's film The Life Aquatic. According to Huston, when everyone arrived on set, Bill dealt her a cold-hearted betrayal. As she said, "The first week I was there, we were all in this little hotel, and he invited the entire cast to go and have dinner, except me". Ouch. But he wasn’t her only Hollywood enemy…
Getty Images
46. She Got On Her Wrong Side
Reportedly, Huston is on the wrong end of a one-sided feud with one of the most powerful women in show business: Oprah. Ever since Huston beat out the Great O's performance in The Color Purple and bagged her first Oscar for Prizzi’s Honor, she claims Oprah has shunned her. For one, Oprah never had her on the show—but at one Hollywood party, the feud went to the next level.
According to Huston, she was in the middle of talking to Clint Eastwood at the soiree when Oprah inserted herself between them without a word, putting her back to Huston and refusing to acknowledge her. Yeah, that's a grudge.
47. She Lost Her True Love
At the home he’d built for them in Venice, Anjelica Huston finally found her storybook ending with sculptor Robert Graham—but like so many of her other relationships, tragedy made its way into her life. In 2007, Robert fell ill. Sadly, six months later, he passed, leaving Anjelica a widow. The loss absolutely devastated her.
While she hasn’t moved on romantically, she did find solace in making the TV show Smash, and by writing two memoirs, one of which covered not only her love story with Robert, but also the nitty-gritty depths of her childhood.
48. He Betrayed Her
Though they eventually reconciled, there was one event from Anjelica Huston’s childhood with her father that she never forgot—and took a long time to forgive. John Huston had his fair share of illicit trysts, frequently cheating on her mother, but one time, he went way too far. John started sleeping with his teen daughter’s friend, Zoe Sallis.
Although Zoe was older than Anjelica, it was still a shock to realize the person she’d considered a friend was hooking up with her dad. But that’s not even the worst part.
49. She Took A Long Time To Get Over It
When John Huston broke the news to Anjelica about his affair with her friend, he did it in an utterly brutal way: By telling her she now had a baby half-brother. That child, actor Danny Huston, later became a beloved part of the Huston clan, but it took years for Anjelica to accept Danny and Zoe into her family. No wonder it hurt so much later on, when she experienced something similar…
Getty Images
Anjelica and Danny Huston
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50. It Destroyed Her
Anjelica Huston and Jack Nicholson were together on and off for 16 years, and according to Huston, there was never, ever a time in their relationship where she felt that she could fully trust him. She’d often find evidence of his affairs in his home, but would brush it off. After all, none of them ever stuck around for more than a night or two—until the day Nicholson committed the ultimate betrayal. One night, Jack invited Anjelica over for dinner. There, he informed her "Someone is having a baby". Except by "someone," he meant him, with another woman.
After years of infidelity and her own struggles with fertility, it was the final straw in their relationship. That was when she finally left Jack—although not without at least one instance where she, as she put it, wailed on him. He took it, knowing he deserved it, and they laughed about it later.
