It Seemed Important at the Time: A Romance Memoir

Gloria Vanderbilt

Sep 2008 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

An elegant, witty, frank, touching, and deeply personal account of the loves both great and fleeting in the life of one of America's most celebrated and fabled women.
Born to great wealth yet kept a virtual prisoner by the custody battle that raged between her proper aunt and her self-absorbed, beautiful mother, Gloria Vanderbilt grew up in a special world. Stunningly beautiful herself, yet insecure and with a touch of wildness, she set out at a very early age to find romance. And find it she did. There were love affairs with Howard Hughes, Bill Paley, and Frank Sinatra, to name a few, and one-night stands, which she writes about with delicacy and humor, including one with the young Marlon Brando. There were marriages to men as diverse as Pat De Cicco, who abused her; the legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, who kept his innermost secrets from her; film director Sidney Lumet; and finally writer Wyatt Cooper, the love of her life.
Now, in an irresistible memoir that is at once ruthlessly forthright, supremely stylish, full of fascinating details, and deeply touching, Gloria Vanderbilt writes at last about the subject on which she has hitherto been silent: the men in her life, why she loved them, and what each affair or marriage meant to her. This is the candid and captivating account of a life that has kept gossip writers speculating for years, as well as Gloria's own intimate description of growing up, living, marrying, and loving in the glare of the limelight and becoming, despite a family as famous and wealthy as America has ever produced, not only her own person but an artist, a designer, a businesswoman, and a writer of rare distinction.

Ratings and reviews

This book is a perfect example of what Ms. Vanderbilt has done her whole life. When she is in need of money she finds a way to make some. She wrote a book, from all accounts I can knowingly say is a wild and gripping tale of her the fantasies that whirl around in that so called head of hers. Not only is it written poorly, I should know but I have no intention of saying why, but it is unfounded, totally fabricated except for enough "truths" here and there to make it remotely believable. Trust me, I saw this entire drama she IRONICALLY calls a 'Romance Memoir' play out in front of me. Innocent and unaware. All I know is she is a liar. She is a petty, pathetic human being who uses her family's name to allow her the ability to find another financial windfall. Why do you think Carter doesn't need to use his mother's maiden name? I saw it all. The book is trash and if you feel sorry for her then meet her at the bar at the Carlyle for a gin martini. But, keep in mind, you're paying... Ms. Vanderbilt, you should be ashamed of yourself and finally GROW UP! YOU POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL... ME... Oh and one more thing...telling the world how many men you have slept with is NOT a positive thing. You name the ones you think people care about...how about the ones no one knows? I can name a few...

Gloria Vanderbilt memoirs I love the free flow of her writing. It's funny heartwarming. She loves to be in love and that sums it up!

About the author

Gloria Vanderbilt has been in the public eye since she was ten years old as the "poor little rich girl" who was the prize in a bitter custody battle between her widowed mother and her aunt. The aunt won by proving in court that Gloria's mother had dipped into her daughter's inheritance to finance her own lavish lifestyle. Heiress to a four-million-dollar fortune at age twenty-one, Vanderbilt eventually added to her personal wealth by starting an immensely successful line of clothing and cosmetics bearing her name. Her private life remained tinged with suffering and loss: she married and divorced three times, was later widowed, and then witnessed her 23-year-old son's suicide as he leapt from their fourteenth-floor terrace in front of her. She wrote about that loss in her 1996 book, A Mother's Story. Along the way she has authored several other books, both fiction and nonfiction.