NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A new biography of legendary Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor describes a difficult childhood and empty marriages for the two-time Oscar-winner.
"Elizabeth" details Taylor's ambivalence toward her show mother, Sarah Taylor, who gave up her own Broadway career to raise a family, author J. Randy Taraborrelli told CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday.
Sarah Taylor thought she was responsible for Elizabeth's success and was also envious of it, Taraborrelli said.
"So you can understand why both love and ambivalence existed in Elizabeth where her mother was concerned," he said.
Taylor and Michael Jackson became friends partly because they both had had difficult childhoods, Taylor said on CNN's "Larry King Live."
"Well, working at the age of 9 is not a childhood. He started at 3. And that certainly isn't a childhood," Taylor told King.
Explaining the star's eight marriages, Taraborrelli said Taylor wanted her husband to be a soul mate.
"She was always looking for a sense of inner peace, but not within," he said. "She began self reflection in her 50s.
"I really think this is a true look at a legend," Taraborrelli said.
