Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's Love-Life Secrets Revealed: Inside Their 'Mad Affair' Cemented by Intimacy
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz married in 1940.
Aug. 5 2026, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's 20-year marriage was far from idyllic, but their shaky bond was cemented by intimacy, according to a book.
More than 60 years after their divorce, RadarOnline.com revisits the secrets of their love life and the affairs that allegedly plagued their relationship.
Inside Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's 'Mad Love Affair'
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz allegedly both carried on affairs, according to a book.
In The Sad & Tragic Ending of Lucille Ball: Volume 2, authors Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince claimed Ball and Arnaz swiftly fell in lust and eloped in 1940 after "a night of heavy s--."
Arnaz, who was 28 years old at the time, "woke her up at 6:30 and said, ‘We’re getting married,'" and off they went to tie the knot.
The next day, both of them arrived for a scheduled meeting with George Schaefer, the president of the RKO film production company at the time, but Arnaz had forgotten something important – to zip up his pants.
Ever the comedian, Ball playfully quipped, "George, Desi believes in advertising," according to the tell-all book.
Lucille Ball was rumored to have had an affair with Henry Fonda.
But their relationship – described as a "mad love affair" by the authors – had already been rocked by infidelity from the early days.
Arnaz was rumored to have had a penchant for hiring s-- workers and had allegedly gotten Hollywood starlet Ginger Rogers pregnant and taken her to Canada for an abortion.
Biographer Todd S. Purdum also claimed in his own book, Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television, that Ball was left fuming after he allegedly spent an evening with pin-up model Betty Grable.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz divorced in 1960.
"She drove to the house he now shared with his mother on Wilcox Avenue in Hollywood, barged past Lolita (Arnaz's mom, who lived at his home) at the front door, and excoriated Desi, who was still in bed, as a two-timing b-----d — all with Lolita in earshot," the author penned.
According to Porter and Prince, Arnaz's belief was that "you respect and love your wife, but these on the side are meaningless."
As for the redheaded actress, she was rumored to have sparked a romance with longtime friend Henry Fonda, although that is unconfirmed.
Lucille Ball 'Slapped' Hollywood 'Pimp' Over Affairs
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Lucille Ball allegedly slapped a Hollywood pimp over Desi Arnaz's affairs, an author claims.
As Radar previously reported, Ball once hit back at one of the men offering Arnaz women to sleep with – literally.
In his 2012 memoir, Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret S-- Lives of the Stars, ex-pimp Scotty Bowers claimed the I Love Lucy actor often contacted him, noting that he tipped the adult workers "more generously than anyone else I knew."
Ball was so upset, she allegedly slapped Bowers across the face at a party and demanded, "You stop pimping for my husband, y’hear!"
Throughout their 20-year marriage, the couple welcomed daughter Lucie Désirée Arnaz in 1951 and son Desiderio "Desi" Alberto Arnaz Jr. in 1953.
Ball and Arnaz officially divorced in 1960, but their feelings for each other remained.
"They had a very successful divorce," Lucie said in a 2020 interview with Closer Weekly. "They never said bad words about each other and they stayed friends until the day they died."
