THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO

Warning: There is heavy LGBT content as well as mentions of domestic abuse, abortion, and physician-assisted suicide.

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Evelyn Hugo’s only daughter recently died of breast cancer. To raise money for breast cancer research, Evelyn is selling her most iconic dresses that she wore to events like the Oscars, and she’s finally spilling her secrets about what her 7 marriages were really like.

But why is she choosing nobody Monique Grant (who works at a respectable magazine, but is a relative newbie) to write about her story?

“I feel the same way I did when I tried weight training and started with the fifty-pound weights. Too much too soon makes it obvious you don’t know what you’re doing” (7).

“It’s as if a gorgeous, delicate bird has just flown to me and sat directly on my shoulder, and if I don’t make the exact right move, it might fly away” (22).

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Evelyn is upfront about the fact that she doesn’t view herself as a good person, but she also expresses her attitude about not being sorry for some of the things that she did (since a lot of her actions were necessary stepping stones).

“When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things. If you learn one thing from me, it should probably be that” (35).

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Here is a summary of Evelyn’s marriages:

1: Ernie Diaz

Evelyn knew that Ernie worked for a movie set, so she used him by pretending to be of marrying age (even though she wasn’t even 16 yet). By marrying Ernie, she was able to escape her abusive father and pursue her dead mother’s dreams of becoming a famous actress. Once Evelyn’s beauty got discovered by producers (Ari Sullivan and Harry Cameron), she got casted. However, the producers urged her to leave Ernie so that she could date high-profile actors and build up her reputation. The producers gave Ernie a pay-out, Evelyn pretended to be heartbroken, and Ernie later went on to faithfully and happily live with a large family of his own.

2: Don Adler

Don Adler was the top actor at that time, and was the son of a famous actor and actress. His ambition was to outshine his parents. The first few months of his marriage to Evelyn went well until he began hitting her. At first, Evelyn made excuses for his behavior, and society at that time discouraged women from speaking out against their husbands. However, Evelyn’s breaking point came at the Academy Awards when she realized that she was actually in love with her female costar (Celia) and caught Don cheating on her. After their divorce, Don convinced the producers to blacklist Evelyn, which they agreed to since Don’s name led more people to the theater than Evelyn’s did.

3: Mick Riva

As rumors about Evelyn and Celia began to circulate, Evelyn knew she had to do something to invalidate those rumors. So she had a “spontaneous” Las Vegas wedding to singer Mick Riva, who Evelyn knew had a big crush on her but would be done with her after they slept together. Evelyn’s plan worked to deter the press from Celia, but once Celia found out that Evelyn slept with Mick (and not just married him), she was furious. Evelyn also found out she was pregnant, so she got Harry to drive her to Mexico for a no-questions-asked abortion.

4: Rex North

Evelyn had to do something to get her name back out there, so she married Rex North. The two were very upfront with each other from the beginning that this would be a phony marriage for publicity and that they would never be intimate. But a couple years later, Rex decides that he wants to marry his ex (Joy) for real before Joy bears his baby.

5: Harry Cameron

Harry Cameron has been Evelyn’s best friend for years, and he had also confided in her for awhile about the fact that he was gay. When Harry falls in love with Celia’s quarterback husband (who was only married to Celia for publicity), Evelyn finally has the perfect opportunity to get back with Evelyn. For the next few years, Harry and Celia always double-dated Jon and Celia. To outsiders, it looked normal. They think about coming out and publicly supporting events like Stonewall, but they’re afraid that they will direct attention away from those events and towards themselves. So they secretly donate money instead.

“I was actually ok. // Because I had Harry. For the first time in a very long time, I felt like I had family. // You do not know how fast you have been running, how hard you have been working, how truly exhausted you are, until someone stands behind you and says, ‘It’s OK, you can fall down now. I’ll catch you’” (190).

Harry and Evelyn bore a daughter since they both wanted a child and knew that adoption might raise questions. However, Evelyn signs up for a graphic love scene with former husband Don Adler before running it by Celia (who expressed that she was uncomfortable with that being out there, knowing that even though what’s being filmed is fake, something similar actually happened at one point). She can no longer take Evelyn’s decisions and lifestyle, so she leaves and “divorces” Jon. Jon also later dies of a heart attack, much to Harry’s dismay.

6: Max Girard

Max is a French director who was in charge of Evelyn’s most iconic movies. He knows that Harry is gay, so he professes his love to Evelyn and asks her to leave Harry. Harry also encourages Evelyn to give Max a shot, so she does in hopes of finally finding true love again. However, Evelyn still cannot forget about Celia, and eventually, after Celia mentions in her Oscar speech that she hopes no one chips their tooth kissing the TV set (which Evelyn once did), Evelyn sends Celia a letter. The two become pen pals for some time, until Max finds the letters. Evelyn breaks up with Max to be with Celia (although she has a public outing with one of Celia’s congressmen friends), so that when Max slanders her name about being gay, it looks like he’s just bitter about her leaving him for a good-looking, younger dude.

7: Robert Jamison

Celia finds out that she only has a decade left to live. Her lungs are damaged from her heavy cigarette use. She asks Evelyn to marry her brother (who would do anything for Celia, and likes to sleep around with different women instead of being tied to one committed relationship) so that the three (plus Evelyn’s daughter) can spend Celia’s last years together on a private beach in Spain. When Celia passes, Evelyn inherits her possessions without raising suspicions.

Back

A movie star’s life isn’t as glamorous as it seems.

“How silly is it that I thought that if I ever found myself in a movie star’s dressing room, that meant I’d have no troubles?” (78).

“This is something that everyone should know about stars. We like to be told we are adored, and we want you to repeat yourself. Later in my life, people would always come up to me and say, ‘I’m sure you don’t want to hear me blabbering on about how great you are,’ and I always say, ‘as if I’m joking, ‘Oh, one more time won’t hurt.’ But the truth is, praise is just like an addiction. The more you get it, the more of it you need just to stay even” (83).

“Men were almost never with me for my personality. // I’m not suggesting that charming girls should take pity on the pretty ones. I’m just saying it’s not so great being loved for something I didn’t do” (116).

“I could barely hear myself think over the din of camera snapping and the crowd buzzing. But, as I had long ago trained myself to do, I pretended as if I felt perfectly calm inside, as if being treated like a tiger at the zoo was my most comfortable situation” (117).

“Women who collected rare jewels seemed exactly the same as men who were desperate to have just one night with me. The world was about objects to them, all they wanted to do was possess” (119).

“You should know this about the rich: they always want to get richer. It is never boring, getting your hands on more money. // When I was a child, trying to find something to eat for dinner besides the old rice and dry beans in the kitchen, I would tell myself that if I could just have a good meal every night, I’d be happy. // When I was at Sunset Studios, I told myself all I wanted was a mansion. // When I got the mansion, I told myself all I wanted was two and a team of help. // Here I was, just turned twenty-five, already realizing that no amount would every really be enough” (205).

“I thought of how many women out there thought they could prevent their husbands from cheating if only they were as gorgeous as Evelyn Hugo. But it never stopped any man I loved” (306).

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In the end, the following happens:

Evelyn reveals that around the end of her marriage with Max, Harry fell in love with Monique’s dad (James). Harry was trying to convince James to go to Spain with them (and thus leave Monique and Monique’s mom), but James expressed that even though he found passion with Harry, he found true friendship with Monique’s mom and could never leave her or Monique. Harry was so upset that he got drunk and crashed the car that he and James were riding. This killed James on the spot. Monique discovered the crash soon after it happened and moved James to the driver’s seat to frame him for his death while she took Harry to the hospital. Harry died a few hours later anyways.

Evelyn reveals that she has breast cancer.

“Her dress is low-cut, revealing her still-simple cleavage, and it occurs to me that it is the very thing that made her that will be the thing to finally take her down” (373).

After Monique leaves, Evelyn “overdoses” with conflicting medication (similar to what was described in one of Monique’s early articles) so that even for death, Evelyn is the one to call the shots. Monique suspected that this is what Evelyn was going to do, but she didn’t try to stop her.

The effects on Monique were that she found out her dad wasn’t driving drunk that day and that he really loved her, and she decided to officially end her one-year marriage to look for something more passionate.