ELIZABETH TAYLOR & RICHARD BURTON Secrets of Their LAVISH LIFESTYLE

THEY LIVED A GLAMOROUS AND COSTLY EXISTENCE THAT SUFFOCATED THEIR HAPPINESS

- LOUISE A. BARILE

Elizabeth Taylor sat down in her suite at New York's Regency Hotel and handwrote a statement announcing her separation from Richard Burton. "Maybe we loved each other too much," she mused.

"We have been in each other's pockets constantly, never being apart but for matters of life and death.... Wish us well during this difficult time.

Pray for us." Dubbed "Liz and Dick" by the press, nicknames they both hated, Elizabeth and Richard fell obsessively in love on the set of 1963's Cleopatra when both were married to others. The highly public affair attracted scorn from the Vatican as Pope Paul VI condemned them for "erotic vagrancy," but their obvious passion fascinated the world.

"They were on the cover of every newspaper and magazine," says Roger Lewis, author of the new book Erotic Vagrancy: Everything About Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. "They became the most famous couple in the world." In the early days, luxury wasn't important to the lovers. They just wanted to be alone. "I am madly in love' with her," wrote Richard in his diary. "[I] want to make love to her every minute." They secretly rented a rundown villa in Porto Santo Stefano to escape prying eyes while filming Cleopatra in Italy. "We'd spend weekends there.

I'd barbecue," recalled Elizabeth. "There was a crummy old shower, and the sheets were always damp. We loved it - absolutely adored it."

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY