Though she married her husband and co-star Desi Arnaz in 1940, Ball suffered at least two devastating miscarriages, and didn't have her first child until she was 40 years old.
Ball and Desi Arnaz were married a second time in 1946 in a church because his mother believed that the couple could not have children because they had not been married in the Catholic Church. (She suffered three miscarriages with husband Desi Arnaz, in 1942, 1949 and 1950.)
How many biological children did Lucille Ball have?
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz shared two biological children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. While they both decided to walk in their parents' footprints into the entertainment business, it's important to debunk the myth that Little Ricky from “I Love Lucy” was their real son.
How old were the kids when Lucy and Desi divorced?
Lucie was 9 years old and her brother, Desi Jr., was 7 when their famous parents split. And the former couple moved on quickly. Ball remarried with standup comedian Gary Morton just a year later in 1961.
The Tragic Story Of Lucille Ball's Son, Desi Arnaz Jr.
Did Desi Arnaz have a child at 15?
Arnaz has a daughter, Julia Arnaz, from a relationship with model Susan Callahan-Howe in 1968 when they were both 15 years old; Julia's relationship to Desi Jr. was proven by a paternity test in 1991.
PUBLISHED: November 29, 2022 at 3:13 p.m. | UPDATED: November 30, 2023 at 10:13 a.m. Lucille Ball was 28 when she met Desi Arnaz, 23, on the set of 'Too Many Girls,' in 1940. The two quickly hit it off and were married by year's end on Nov. 30.
Ball died of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. In an interview in the 2019 docuseries, Autopsy, The Last Hours of..., forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Hunter claimed that Ball had been using amyl nitrite, a prescription drug used to treat chest and heart pain, as early as four years before her death.
Lucy filed for divorce in 1944, over issues with Desi's heavy drinking and cheating, according to People. Desi was also gone a lot on tour and, when he was home, he would be out late while Lucy had to be up early for work.
Arnaz, who was born in 1953. After 20 years of marriage and multiple I Love Lucy spinoffs, Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960. The story of their relationship was told in Amy Poehler's 2022 documentary, Lucy and Desi, which dove into who Ball and Arnaz were as people in addition to Hollywood stars.
Lucille Ball had a net worth of $40 million—equal to about $80 million today—according to the Gazette Review. Desi Arnaz—whom she divorced in May 1960—was worth $20 million at the time of his death, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Ethel Louise Roberta Mae Potter Mertz (portrayed by Vivian Vance) was born sometime between 1905 and 1915 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1954, Ethel celebrated somewhere between her 40th and her 50th birthday.
Desi Arnaz Jr. has lived in Boulder City, Nevada, since 1986, where he owns the Historic Boulder Theatre and helps direct non-profit Boulder City Ballet Company (BCBC) with his wife, Amy Arnaz.
He was survived by his kids, Lucie and Desi Jr. and his ex-wife Lucille Ball. His second wife, Edith Hirsch, whom he married in 1963, died a year earlier in 1985. Desi Arnaz was worth $20 million before his death, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Though Ball and Arnaz's marriage ended in a bitter divorce back in 1960, their "unconditional love for each other" lasted and "never went away," Lucie recalls: "There was forgiveness.
Did Lucy and Desi remain friends after their divorce?
Arnaz, for his part, remarried with his neighbor, Edith Hirsch, 1963 until his death in 1985. Despite their dramatic divorce, Arnaz and Ball remained friends until their deaths. In his memoir, A Book, Arnaz wrote of Ball: “All I can say is that I loved her very much and, in my own peculiar way, I will always love her.”
While her parents' marriage "didn't last as long as their children might have wanted it to," Lucie told Entertainment Tonight at the Wednesday premiere of Amazon Studios' "Lucy and Desi" documentary, "in reality, their love for each other lasted forever."
They weren't your typical Hollywood couple: Ball was nearly six years older than her husband (a gap so taboo at the time that she reportedly lied about her birth year on their marriage certificate); Arnaz was Cuban. (Bear in mind: This was the '50s.)
Arnaz was a regular smoker for much of his life and often smoked cigarettes on the set of I Love Lucy. He smoked cigars until he was in his sixties. Arnaz was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1986 and underwent treatment.
For many years during their marriage, Desi and Lucille Ball hid the fact that she was six years older than he by splitting the difference in their ages. She (born in 1911) said she was born in 1914 and he (born in 1917) also said he was born in 1914.
