‘We had to eat whatever we could dig out of the ground’: How Eartha Kitt rose from ‘extreme poverty’ to superstardom
It was not until 1978, ten years after the White House incident, that Kate made her triumphant return to Broadway in the musical Timbuktu!. She remained a frequent visitor to Britain, often making outrageous appearances on television talk shows. And again, her weaknesses were never far from the surface. In one amazing one in 1989 BBC appearanceShe began resting her feet flirtatiously on host Terry Wogan’s lap. Only a few minutes later, she was admitting that her public persona did not resemble her private personality.
“Mr. Wogan,” she said, “you know something? I’m not an extrovert. I can joke around as Eartha Kitt, but as Eartha Mae? Forget it. I hide behind bushes, behind chairs, behind everything I own.” “Maybe I’ll find her to hide in, because I’ve never had the kind of security inside Eartha Mae that makes me feel like she’ll ever be accepted.”
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Kate’s lasting loves were her fans and her daughter. After her mother abandoned her, Kate insisted on bringing her daughter with her around the world. Her marriage to businessman Bill McDonald in 1960 lasted less than four years, and she never married again. When Wogan asked her if she was reluctant to let her guard down, she said: “The man always wanted to put me down, but he never wanted to pick me up.”
She said it was the love she received from adoring fans that “makes me feel like I’m a really worthwhile person.” However, she also explained: “When I go back to the dressing room, I take the makeup off and I’m not Eartha Kitt anymore, I’m Eartha Mae again.”
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