The letters were published in the book ‘Lucy and Desi: The Love Letters,’ out now.
Recently unearthed love letters between I Love Lucy stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz lay bare the couple’s debilitating trust issues, which ultimately led to their split in 1960.
Ball Begged Arnaz Not to ‘Jeopardize’ Impending Marriage
The letters were published in the new book Lucy and Desi: The Love Letters, which hit shelves on Nov. 4. Most of the correspondence in the book was written during WWII, when Arnaz and Ball were separated by their duties to work and country, and details the tempestuous courtship between the two creatives. Ball and Arnaz were married from 1940 until 1960, and shared two children—Lucie Arnaz (b. 1951) and Desi Arnaz Jr. (b. 1953).
In a letter dated Oct. 20, 1940, Ball asked Arnaz to remember their union while touring with his band and not to “jeopardize” their relationship by giving in to wandering eyes. “Please don’t jeopardize the next few months with these awful dames I dislike so…Please don’t prefer them instead of me—really darling it won’t be worth it…”
In the same letter, dated just weeks before the couple’s Nov. 30, 1940, elopement, Ball playfully ribbed Arnaz for not putting enough time into his letters. “Desi Arnaz—you never answer anything in my letters! Do you throw them away and forget what I write about?” she asked. “I’m trying to get this wire off to you, and I’ll be all sad myself tonite [sic] if I haven’t had a wire in answer…Wish I could really have a chance to try to make you happy—without counting every hour with you like two condemned criminals.”
Ball ends the Oct. 20 letter with a plea for Arnaz to be more transparent on the heels of their wedding. “Tell me, darling—can’t you be just a little more explicit in your letters…and tell me really what you do think about me while you’re bouncing around New York. Can’t you tell me what goes on in your mind even one day, as I tell you, not just what you do [and] when you do it, but just as I ask you so often out here. What, please, are you thinking—about us, I mean[?]”
‘Don’t Get Mad at Me for Just 2 Weeks’
Another letter, dated June 7, 1943, finds Ball now on the wrong side of her husband’s trust. It details her desperate entreaties to smooth things over with Arnaz before beginning an important job.
“Please, Desi, don’t get mad at me for just two weeks,” Ball wrote. “Please don’t have any disbeliefs about me at all. Just take everything out of your mind that bothers you and wash it nice [and] clean. Just give me a clean slate for a couple of weeks anyway, and then if you want to go back to mistrusting me after that, you may…I have to have a thorough [and] direct answer on this right away, Desi. And if you don’t think you can do it easily for [two] weeks, then I can’t start…So, let me know.”
Arnaz replied on June 11. “Would you marry me again sweetheart, I love you now more than the first time, and I’m also proud of you and I’m in love with you and I’m sure we’ll have at least a couple of kids, and there is nothing that I would like better,” he wrote.
In 1944, Ball filed for divorce from Arnaz, citing his infidelity and substance abuse, but the couple quickly reconciled. In March 1960, Ball once again filed for divorce. It was finalized in May of that year. Though both moved on with other partners, they remained good friends until Arnaz died in 1986.
