Bert Fields
Headline:
Why is Bert Fields crying?
Synopsis:
Warren Beatty loves him. Michael Jackson didn't listen. Madonna incurred his wrath. He'll fight anybody who says Tom Cruise is gay - and he's counselling Pooh. So why is Bert Fields crying?
It is a Saturday afternoon in Malibu. Fields is standing in his sunlit kitchen, sipping white wine and chopping tomatoes. He has paused because he is suddenly overcome with emotion.
'I'm sorry, it's still very painful,' he says. He is talking about his second wife, Lydia, who died in 1986 from lung cancer. They were married for 27 years. Her illness was one of the few battles he has lost. 'I had supreme arrogance. I've never been able to not solve a problem. I thought by reading everything I could get my hands on that I would find a way to beat it. But I couldn't do it.'
During her illness, his good friend Warren Beatty was terrific. 'He used to fly across the country to be with us at the hospital. He said, 'Don't underestimate the power of a movie star.' So there was this huge line of people and the doctor would usher us in - not having to wait on the line for four or five hours. It's a terrible thing, but I learnt a lesson about how unequal American medical treatment is. If you have clout, your treatment is superior.'He takes a sip of wine, resumes chopping, but his mood remains contemplative.
'It's hard when you live with someone for 27 years, happily, and then that person is suddenly gone.' He claps his hands together to signal that the anguish is over and refocuses on preparinghis super-sized salad.
- Publish date:
- 20 April 2003
- Author:
- Ariel Leve
- Source:
- Sunday Times Magazine
- Media:
