INSIDE EDITION takes a look at the years Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor spent as the wife of a United States Senator in Washington, D.C.
It's one of Elizabeth Taylor's little-known roles: her real-life stint as a Washington D.C. wife.
The Hollywood star moved to Washington in 1976, when husband number six, John Warner, was elected as a U.S. Senator from Virginia. Taylor celebrated at Warner's side when he won and the couple lived in a sprawling Georgetown mansion. Taylor played the part of the dutiful politician's wife and attended countless events.
"When she first came to Washington people were absolutely dazzled, I mean it was Elizabeth Taylor," renowned Washington Post reporter Sally Quinn tells INSIDE EDITION.
Quinn frequently encountered the screen legend on the D.C. social circuit and she says Taylor was not fully embraced by the Washington community.
"There was a sort of alien quality about her; I mean she was so different from everyone else that people didn't quite know how to deal with her. She had no friends here and I think people were scared of her, you know, they were intimidated by her," says Quinn.
Taylor's years in the Nation's Capital turned into one of the bleakest periods of her life: "I was the loneliest person in the world," she later admitted. "I didn't have a friend. I rarely saw my husband."
"I think Washington, for women, is a desperately lonely city," she told 20/20 in 1997.
In her boredom, Taylor turned to food. The actress once known as the world's most beautiful woman packed on 60 pounds. At one point the 5'4" screen legend weighed 180 pounds.
Nasty headlines followed, and Taylor had to endure John Belushi mocking her weight on Saturday Night Live.
Even her husband seemed worried about the weight gain. In a 1977 interview with Barbara Walters, the issue came up.
"Barbara, I wish she'd take better care of herself," said Warner.
"Are you worried about putting on weight?" Walters asked Taylor.
"No," said Taylor.
"Oh yes we are," interjected Warner.
"Does it matter to you?" Walters asked.
"No it doesn't, because I'm happy," Taylor told her.
Quinn says, "People were sort of speculating about why she was gaining weight and it was clear to me that she was eating more because she was not happy."
Even more destructive, Taylor also began drinking heavily and became addicted to pain and sleeping pills.
It's no wonder her life in Washington lasted only six years. She and Warner divorced in 1982.
"Washington was not for Liz Taylor," says Quinn. She tells INSIDE EDITION she regrets not inviting Taylor over for dinner during her years in D.C. because she later discovered the movie star would have happily accepted.
