Larry King Live

Dame Elizabeth and her Maltese partner in crime, Sugar, dropped by for a chat with their old friend Larry King on his primetime CNN talk show on February 3, 2003. (If you’re keeping score, it was Elizabeth’s third appearance on Larry King Live and Sugar’s first.) “If we have to tell you who she is, you’re definitely of another world,” Larry said in his introduction.

Elizabeth was sporting a unique fashion accessory that was also serving a very practical purpose. The morning she was fêted at the Kennedy Center Honors Gala, Elizabeth suffered a longitudinal spiral fracture in her foot, and was in considerable pain throughout the evening. “The full weight of my body went on my foot, which was under me, and I heard it go crack,” she explained. “I let out a scream of pain.” To make it through the Honors, Elizabeth said she repeated what she described as a mental mantra—“I am strong, I am strong, I am brave, I am brave”—to help her get through. She was still wearing a boot when she visited Larry’s show, and had a little help from her spokesman, Warren Cowan, in hoisting her foot on Larry’s desk to give him and his viewers a better look. In true Elizabeth Taylor fashion, she had adorned the book with faux flowers.

Among other topics, the two also chat about Elizabeth’s recently published book, My Love Affair with Jewelry, and House of Taylor’s latest fragrance, Forever Elizabeth. Towards the end of their conversation, Larry shared with his viewers that Saturday, February 8, 2003, was to be Elizabeth Taylor Day in the state of California.