Was Diana Ross' love of life Michael Jackson or Berry Gordy, or was it someone else?
Diana Ross is an international superstar, yet she has tried to keep a somewhat private personal life. Ross had a very close relationship with Michael Jackson, as well as an intimate relationship with Motown founder Berry Gordy. She was also married twice. This raises an interesting question: who did Ross call her "love of her life"?
Relationships of Diana Ross with Michael Jackson and Berry Gordy
ABC News claims that Jackson made her solo debut on a Ross TV special in 1971. Jackson appeared again on a Ross TV special in 1981. The two had a strong bond and lasting relationship from the moment they met. they met Diana Ross: A biography says that Ross considered asking Jackson to give her away at her wedding ceremony in 1986. Jackson passed away in 2009 and Ross said, "My heart aches."
Ross also had a close and intimate relationship with Gordy while with The Supremes. Beginning in 1965, Ross and Gordy's relationship turned from professional to personal as they began dating. Gordy told Rolling Stone that "she was the big star of my life" and that he was "madly in love" with her. Diana Ross: A Biography claims that work problems between the two began to cause tension. Also, Ross realized that the relationship was "going nowhere" and decided to finally end it.
Diana Ross married a man while she was pregnant with another's child
In 1971, Ross married Robert Silberstein. The wedding sent "shock waves" through the entertainment industry because it was so unexpected. Ross was two months pregnant with her daughter, Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein, when she married Silberstein. Rhonda was actually Gordy's daughter.
Ultimately, Gordy played a role in the demise of his marriage to Silberstein. Ross said: “The pressure of her trying to get over Berry's importance in my life was too much. Berry was too demanding; She was too confused. It was a messy triangle. I wish I had been stronger so that instead of becoming twisted in confusion, she could have freed herself." Ross filed for divorce in 1976.
The tragic end of his second marriage
Ross met her second husband, businessman and mountaineer Arne Naess Jr., in 1985 on a trip to the Bahamas. After meeting, the pair became Naess's "constant companions," attending his concerts in Nevada, London, Stockholm, and Paris. Ross was very enthusiastic about Naess, who was European, very successful, and had a philosophical approach to life from him. The couple married in 1986 and had two sons together, Ross and Evan.
Ross and Naess were two people who were unwilling to "compromise their freedom" by each living her life separately. Ross said: "He never wanted to talk about our problems ... and when I wanted us to go to therapy, he didn't know about it." During a television interview, Naess declared, to Ross's surprise, that they were going to divorce, which happened in 2000. Tragically, Naess died in a 2004 mountaineering accident in South Africa.
'The love of my life'
Ross has certainly had a full life that includes her career, her partners and her children. According to Oprah.com, Ross said, "I've had a lot of amazing moments in my career." As for the men in her life, she spoke of one in particular as "the love of my life": her second husband, Naess.
Ross said that through her relationship with Naess she learned: “That love is eternal. She said, "I love him now." Ross loved different men and had unique relationships with each, but it was Naess who seemed to have her heart above all others.
