EXCLUSIVE: Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich's Secret Affair and Bitter Feud
Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich's secret affair fueled a bitter feud and lasting Hollywood rivalry.
Sept. 26 2026, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
They were two of the Golden Age's most beautiful, exotic and mysterious actresses, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Coolly sophisticated Marlene Dietrich, a Berlin-born cabaret performer, became an international sensation in 1930's The Blue Angel. Meanwhile, Sweden's Greta Garbo broke hearts playing tragic heroines in films like Anna Christie and Anna Karenina.
Garbo and Dietrich's Bitter Rivalry
Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo appeared together in the 1925 silent film 'The Joyless Street.'
Long before the world knew who they were, the actresses appeared together in The Joyless Street, a 1925 German silent film. In it, Garbohad the second lead, playing a prostitute fallen on hard times. Marlene was an extra – something she denied for many years before admitting it to her biographer. "Yes, and in the end, I killed the butcher," she said of her desperate character.
For most of their lives, these film icons tried to avoid being compared to each other. "Garbo had no interest in Dietrich whatsoever. She thought she was riding on her coattails," explained Mark A. Vieira, author of Greta Garbo: A Cinematic Legacy.
Dietrich, meanwhile, could be both mean-spirited and admiring of Garbo. She once said Garbo's lover "was drunk the whole evening," after meeting him at a party.
"But if you have to go to bed with Garbo, you have to drink," she said.
Rumored Affair Allegedly Ended Badly
Biographer Mark A. Vieira said Garbo believed Dietrich was riding on her coattails.
At other times, Dietrich could be quite complimentary.
"I envy Garbo. Mystery is a woman's greatest charm. I wish I could be mysterious like her," Dietrich said.
The actresses had lovers and friends in common – including actor John Gilbert and Mercedes de Acosta, a Cuban-American playwright and actress. Garbo to a 2000 book, The Girls, by Washington Post reporter Diana McLellan, Dietrich and Greta also had an intimate relationship with each other while filming The Joyless Street, when Garbo was 19 and Dietrich was 23.
The affair ended badly when Dietrich gossiped to friends the provincial Garbo wore "dirty underclothes," breaking her trust. "Garbo flatly refused to acknowledge Dietrich's existence for the rest of their lives," wrote McLellan.
Lasting Legacies
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Diana McLellan wrote that Garbo refused to acknowledge Dietrich after their relationship ended.
They came face to face again at a party in the 1930s.
"Dietrich started talking to Garbo, and Garbo ignored her," said Vieira, who noted that Dietrich fumed about the snub the entire way home. "She was just so angry."
In their careers, Dietrich and Garbo would become two of Hollywood's most bankable and wealthy stars. They each played spies, queens and women of mystery whose allure mesmerized both men and women.
However, they never could look beyond their rivalry or forgive the past.
When asked about Dietrich by a reporter, the famously reticent Garbo replied: "Who is this Marlene Dietrich?"
