Special Guest Blogger: Gloria Swanson

I was the Queen of the Silent Movie Era but my life was full of more drama and tragedy than any of the films i starred in and no one was paid as much either but i didn’t save any for a rainy day, i spent almost all of the $8 million i earned.
It all started with a vist to a local film studio in Chicago when a talent scout spotted me and asked if I wanted to come back and work as an extra sometime and i got so much work that i dropped out of school and soon i got bigger roles, got married to husband number 1, then divorced husband number 1 and was signed to Paramount Pictures and began working (and an affair) with director Cecil B. DeMille and we made six films together and then went to work with Sam Wood and starred in 10 of his films, one with Rudolph Valentino who of course i had an affair with.
Husband number 2 came along, the President of a film company handily but that divorce wasn't quite so straight forward, he accused me of adultery with 13 different men (just the 13 he knew about) and as this was the time of the Fatty Arbuckle scandal, the film company made me sign a morality clause stating that i had to behave in a way that followed general moral standards, or else.
After the divorce, i threw myself into my work as it was probably the best way to keep out of trouble which worked for a while until filming Madame Sans-Gêne in France, and i hired a translator, a French nobleman called husband number 3.
I moved to United Artists studio and made the movie Sadie Thomas which saw me nominated for the very first Best Actress Oscar for the film but one of the critics was film maker Joseph P. Kennedy, father of future President John F. Kennedy but we still started an affair (obviously) and Kennedy even gave my husband a job at his film studio on one of the 3 films we made but then came the talkies and my star began to fade.
Divorce number 3 and my career may be fading but my love life never and husband number 4 was athlete Michael Farmer, the same guy as my divorce number 4 but i had already started an affair with British actor Herbert Marshall but Hollywood was moving on without me so i kept busy for the next few decades appearing in TV, theater and radio until Director Billy Wilder came knocking with a movie called Sunset Boulevard, all about a silent film star who faded into obscurity and became reclusive after the advent of sound pictures which is something i certainly knew much about.
Many of my friends from my heyday appeared as themselves in the film and it was such a hit that i decided to go out on a high and retired from films but not from marriage vows as husband number 5 came and went to be replaced by husband number 6.
All that wedding cake took its toll and i died just as i got back home from Portugal to celebrate my 84th birthday but i left two two stars on the Walk of Fame, countless awards and nominations, films selected for preservation on the merit of their cultural significance and some very rich wedding bridal gown shop owners.