Many people believe that the American debutante from Philadelphia, Grace Kelly, lived the charmed and privileged life she was destined to lead. As with so many fairy tale stories, the truth is not so simple or so sweet and what the world sees, or wants to believe, isn’t the truth. It is true that Grace Kelly was born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth. In Grace’s case, as with many others with this particular dining table attribute lodged in her mouth, nearly strangled her. Not in the conventional sense but in a much more cruel and sinister way. Like most good daughters, Grace coveted parental love, respect, and approval. None of these were ever really afforded Grace. Her childhood dream of becoming an actress on the silver screen was realized but without the support or approval of her conservative and traditional Catholic family. Unlike the pure and wholesome characters she portrayed in her films, Grace Kelly had a spontaneous, romantic, and promiscuous side that disgusted her parents and, more often than not, left her heartbroken. She was clearly a woman in need.
Her introduction, romance, engagement, and eventual marriage to Prince Rainier Grimaldi of Monaco were the high points in her life. That her life would thereafter become stagnate and decline into a virtual prisoner in a gilded cage, is the story the society photographers and journalists missed. Her story adds light to the current ME TOO movement as her encounter with writer/director Al Cap will attest to.
I enjoyed this short history of an icon of the silver screen. It proves once more that not all fairy tales end happily ever after.