Frank Sinatra’s Wife Said They Had to Trick the Press to Stay Undetected

Frank Sinatra rose to fame in the 1940s and was the subject of press coverage until nearly the end of the century. In the final years of his life, Sinatra had stopped tours and performances, preferring a more laid-back life at home. Despite his retreat from public life, Sinatra’s wife, Barbara, said the media attention on him was unusually high. In order to get out of the house, they had to send out diversions for the press.

The singer was able to relax when he retired from performing

After decades of performing across the world, Sinatra allowed himself to step back from touring and relax. 

“Once Frank was no longer pushing himself so hard with constant touring and performing, though, his body — and his mind — were finally able to relax,” Barbara Sinatra wrote in the book Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank. “Some claimed that without his music he lost the will to live, but I don’t think that at all. It was more a case of admitting his age at last and allowing himself to act it.”

She explained that he began to enjoy lazy mornings around their home.

“His hearing, sight, and balance weren’t what they used to be, but his passion for reading and crosswords had never diminished, so he spent more and more time at home, curled up with a dog or three, his nose in a newspaper or a book, and a cat on his shoulder,” Barbara wrote. “His occasional lazy mornings of slouching around in his pajamas became the norm, and sometimes he didn’t bother to get dressed at all.”

Frank Sinatra and his wife had to dodge the press to stay undetected 

Though Sinatra had taken a step back from public life, speculation about his health was at an all-time high. According to Barbara, the media mobbed them every time they left the house. They had to take preventative measures to avoid them.

“Sadly, when he felt well enough to go out, the press hounded him with even more fervor than they had before,” she explained. “Whenever we left the house, we’d send out two or three cars in different directions first so the press couldn’t be sure which one to follow. If they followed ours, I kept Frank’s head down in the backseat.”

They often couldn’t keep dodging the press when they arrived at their destination. According to Barbara, restaurant staff would often call the newspapers as the payment for tips was generous. Because of this, she explained that the couple preferred to stay home.

Frank Sinatra had a tense relationship with the press

Sinatra’s unfriendly relationship with the press did not just crop up late in his life. For nearly his entire career, Sinatra made his dislike of the media very clear. He once angered unions all across Australia with his inflammatory remarks about reporters. In 1947, he was arrested for attacking a journalist. While he apologized for his actions, he proved he never let go of the anger when he urinated on the same journalist’s grave years later.

Barbara believed that Sinatra’s love of privacy caused him to lash out. She explained that he valued his private life so much that he decided not to write a memoir.

“My husband was also extremely private and never wrote his memoirs, although he did consider it for a while,” she wrote. “I think if he had, though, the reminiscences would have been much more about the music than about the life.”