The “Secret Daughter” of Movie Stars

The New York Times reports today on the death of the “secret daughter” of Loretta Young and Clark Gable. Conceived during an affair between the married Clark and his co-star Loretta while filming a movie in 1935, Judy was placed in an orphanage. At 19 months, her mother collected her and announced she’d adopted a child. It wasn’t until Judy was 31 that she realized who were her parents.

Loretta privately admitted the truth to Judy only after her daughter figured it out, but publicly kept it a secret until after her death in 2000 when her autobiography was published.

The movie star’s explanation for giving birth was a window into her soul. Loretta told Judy “And why shouldn’t I be unhappy? Wouldn’t you be if you were a movie star and the father of your child was a movie star and you couldn’t have an abortion because it was a mortal sin?”

It must be irritating to Hollywood stars to realize that the regular rules of life apply to them.

Did she mean for this frank admission to show how self-absorbed she was? Did she consider how this would impact her daughter, the subject of her annoyance?

Perhaps Loretta later came to appreciate the gift that she once wanted to reject. Maybe her blame of the morality of that age and of her religion for not aborting her daughter later turned to gratitude.

She reclaimed Judy from the orphanage and raised her. No one forced her to do that. It’s a hopeful hint that her heart knew she was a mother.

Thank goodness that the protective constraints of morality kept Loretta from doing what she wanted and making a deadly choice.

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