Although Grant’s marriages didn’t typically last long, he carried the memories of all of his ex-wives with him. There was always a gold chain around his neck which held three charms.
Each one represented the religion of his previous wives: a St. Christopher medallion for Virginia Cherrill who was Roman Catholic, a small cross for Barbara Hutton and Betsy Drake who were Protestants, and a Star of David for Dyan Cannon who was Jewish. The necklace can even be seen in some of his films.
A Different Man
Cannon talks in her book about the changes that took place in Grant’s behavior and attitude towards her following their engagement. She wrote, “He’d started criticizing my appearance and was agitated on our wedding day,” and added, “The following day, my ring finger started to swell up and we had to find a plumber to blowtorch my wedding ring off. If that wasn’t a sign, I don’t know what was.”
That does seem quite telling and makes you wonder if similar personality changes and bad omens occurred with any of his other wives.
A Difficult Pregnancy
Grant and Cannon’s problems did not end once they were married, and additional issues came up when Cannon was pregnant with the couple’s daughter, Jennifer. She talks about the changes in their relationship in her memoir, “By the time I was pregnant, [Grant] had also withdrawn from me physically – which is hard because, before that, we had been all over each other. Things became polite, almost cold, between us.”
Although Grant was ecstatic about being a father and doted on Jennifer, that was still not enough for the couple to make their marriage work.
Courting Barbara
Grant met Barbara Harris when he was on a business trip to London. She was 47 years younger than him and they had a long-distance relationship for several years. In 1978, she finally agreed to move to California to be with him.
They lived together for three years before Grant decided to ask her to marry her, but first, he asked for 15-year-old Jennifer’s permission. The couple had a small wedding on the terrace of their Beverly Hills house and then had lunch inside, which the bride had prepared that morning.
Psychedelic Treatments
Despite his public persona, Cary Grant was often unhappy and suffered from depression. He tried many experimental therapies to help with his condition and discovered a popular, and at the time legal, psychedelic compound. He claimed that the compound helped him find inner peace and urged Cannon to also partake in order to save their marriage, even though she told him she disliked taking it.
Looking back, she says, “When we split up, I was terribly depressed. I had a breakdown and ended up in a psychiatric hospital – the doctors said it had contributed to my mental state.”