Frank Sinatra Once Threw a Douche Filled With Water at Ava Gardner
Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner had one of Hollywood’s most explosive marriages. The pair’s romance began as an affair and remained just as drama-filled until their divorce. They separated often, and during one of their off-periods, Sinatra came home to find Gardner in the house. A screaming match ensued, and Sinatra ultimately threw a douche filled with water at Gardner and Lana Turner.
Frank Sinatra once threw a douche at Ava Gardner
During one of Sinatra’s performances, Gardner believed he was singing to another woman in the audience. As a result, she stormed out, put her wedding ring in an envelope for him, and left the city. After several weeks apart, they reconciled, albeit briefly.
A few days into their reunion, the couple got into another argument. When Gardner told Sinatra to get out, he responded, “Okay, baby, I’ll get out. You can find me in Palm Springs. I’ll be there f***ing Lana Turner!’” (via the book Ava Gardner: Love Is Nothing by Lee Server).
Incensed, Gardner drove to the Palm Springs house, where she found Turner and her manager, Ben Cole. When they all sat for dinner, Sinatra stormed in. He and Gardner went into a bedroom, where their argument raged on. As it escalated, Turner and Cole decided to leave.
Gardner was also planning on leaving, as Sinatra had told her to “get the hell out.” As she was saying goodbye to Turner, Sinatra threw a water-filled douche on the both of them.
“[Sinatra] found an article hanging in the bathroom and he filled it with water and went out to the porch where Ava was saying good night to Lana and he threw water from that … that article of usefulness known as a douche bag,” Gardner’s friend Esther Williams said. “He threw the water on both Lana and Ava standing there.”
Lana Turner reflected on the fight between Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra
Turner and Cole went to eat dinner elsewhere, hoping the fight would end while they were gone. When they returned to the house, however, they found the police had arrived. They drove to a rented house where, eventually, Gardner joined them.
Turner noted that after that night, they never discussed the incident again. Still, rumors spread.
“It was as though it hadn’t happened, except that a lot of sick rumors grew out of it,” she wrote in her book Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth. “One particularly vile rumor had it that Ava had walked into the house and found Frank and me in bed together. Another one suggested that it was Frank who walked in to find Ava and me in bed. There was even a third version that Ava and I had gotten mad at Frank, picked up a strange man, and shared him between us — and Frank had walked in on that scene. The simple fact is that Ava, Ben, and I were about to eat chicken in the kitchen when Frank appeared at the door.”
The couple divorced in 1957
Gardner and Sinatra had many fights just like this one. While they loved each other, the marriage was not sustainable. She filed for divorce in 1954, and they finalized it in 1957.
Despite the animosity in their marriage, they remained fixtures in each other’s lives for decades to come. Sinatra called Gardner on the day of his wedding to Mia Farrow and even brought Farrow to meet his ex-wife. He also insisted on paying for a specialist for Gardner after she had a stroke.
