INILAH.COM, Tripoli – Aksi militer gabungan yang membombardir Libya bak maut yang membayang di mata Muammar Khadafi. Namun ia selalu selamat. Benarkah puluhan perawan jadi sumber kesaktiannya?
Di tengah gegap gempitanya bombardir Barat, sudah dipastikan Khadafi aktif mencari perlindungan di negaranya. Namun, tampaknya pemimpin Libya ini tak perlu khawatir, karena ia memiliki tim pengawal pribadi khusus yang dilatih selama beberapa dekade.
Sudah merupakan rahasia umum, pengawal Khadafi itu berjenis kelamin perempuan. Namun, selain gagah dan macho, tak banyak yang tahu kalau para pengawalnya itu ternyata masih perawan! Ya, sebanyak 40 perawan bergincu dengan senjata terkokang ini selalu siap berada di sekeliling Khadafi.
Dayang-dayang penjaga ini mengenakan kacamata keluaran desainer ternama, memakai bot militer berhak tinggi dan tak lupa mengenakan seragam kamuflase. Tapi jangan mudah tertipu. Meski tampil cantik dan seksi, semua perempuan ini adalah pembunuh terlatih.
Benak kita langsung tertuju pada Women’s Military Academy yang didirikan Khadafi di Tripoli pada 1979 silam. Akademi ini dibentuknya sebagai simbol emansipasi wanita.
“Saya berjanji kepada ibu untuk memperbaiki kondisi perempuan di Libya,” ujar Khadafi saat mendirikan akademi tersebut. Ibunya adalah seorang perempuan biasa yang buta huruf dari suku Badui Arab. Adapun ia lahir di tengah penjajahan Italia atas negaranya.
Beberapa pengunjung asing yang sempat diberi akses mengintip akademi itu memberi kesaksiannya. Di blok akademi bergaya Sparta, ada sekitar 100 perempuan yang dilatih teknik membunuh ala pasukan elit, siang dan malam, selama tiga tahun. Mereka dibangunkan setiap pukul 04.30 subuh, kemudian melakukan pemanasan dengan jogging selama satu setengah jam.
Setelah itu, mereka masuk ke kelas-kelas. Beberapa dilatih menerbangkan jet tempur MIG. Lainnya belajar seni bela diri, bahkan menembakkan granat berpeluncur roket. “Pelatihan itu melibatkan semua kemampuan tentara. Mulai dari persenjataan, bertempur dengan tangan kosong, hingga telekomunikasi,” ujar Jane Kokan, jurnalis Kanada yang pernah mendokumentasi aktivitas ini pada 1995.
Sementara Doug Sanders, jurnalis Kanada lain yang pernah mendapat izin serupa pada 2004, menuliskan pengalamannya di blog. Ia meyakini, bodyguard elit perempuan yang juga dikenal sebagai ‘Protectors of the VIP’ ini merupakan simbol.
“Ini gambaran pikirannya yang idiosyncratic dan enigma revolusi di sebuah negara Muslim, dimana perempuan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari masih jauh mendapatkan persamaan hak dan kewajiban,” tulisnya.
Siswi-siswi terbaik dari akademi itu dijuluki ‘biarawati revolusionis’. Mereka tak pernah menikah dan mendedikasikan hidupnya sepenuhnya pada ide Revolusi 1969 yang dilakukan Khadafi. Mereka dilarangan berhubungan seks dan bersumpah untuk melindungi Khadafi, bila perlu hingga ajal menjemput.
Hal ini sudah terbukti, pada 1998 lalu. Seorang seorang bodyguard bernama Aisha melemparkan dirinya ke arah Khadafi ketika militan Islam menyerbu iring-iringan Khadafi. Serentetan peluru menewaskan Aisha dan dua rekan lainnya. Namun Khadafi selamat, tanpa tergores sedikit pun. Jadi, jangan ragukan kemampuan para perempuan ini dalam menyediakan perlindungan.
Agen intelijen Barat berulangkali berusaha menggoyahkan kesetian inner circle Khadafi. Meski ada beberapa yang mengkhianati pemimpin Libya selama 41 tahun itu, tak ada satupun pengawal perempuannya yang tercatat demikian. Sekalipun ada, rezim Khadafi pasti melakukan apapun demi menjaga citra pengawal elitnya.
(hahahahahhahaha ini malah nendang perawan kecil)
“Tanpa sang pemimpin, perempuan Libya tak berarti apa-apa. Ia memberi kami hidup dan saya siap mati untuknya. Ia seorang ayah, kakak dan sahabat yang bisa anda percaya. Anda takkan percaya, betapa rendah hatinya Khadafi,” ujar gadis berusia 27 tahun yang sedang dilatih di akademi tersebut, Fatia.
Banyak yang menduga Khadafi saat ini bersembunyi di luar Tripoli. Namun ia muncul di balkon Bab Al Aziziya, kompleks tempat tinggalnya yang terkena rudal beberapa hari lalu. Jet-jet pribadinya juga diyakini telah hancur, memperkecil kemungkinan ia kabur ke luar negeri. Tak ada pilihan lain bagi Khadafi, selain menyerahkan nyawanya kepada para perawan-perawan itu. Namun, sampai kapan? [ast]
Oleh Vina Ramitha |Inilah – Jum, 25 Mar 2011 07.25 WIB
wow baru posting hebatnya sex hmmmmmmm sekarang lsg death hahahhahahahahahaha
Semburan mendadak dalam intensitas sedang hingga aktivitas fisik intens, seperti jogging atau berhubungan seks, secara signifikan meningkatkan risiko terkena serangan jantung, terutama pada orang yang tidak mendapatkan latihan rutin.
Dokter telah lama mengetahui bahwa aktivitas fisik dapat menyebabkan masalah jantung yang serius, tetapi studi terbaru yang dilakukan peneliti Amerika Serikat membantu untuk mengukur risiko, kata Dr Issa Dahabreh dari Tufts Medical Center di Boston, yang studinya dimuat dalam Journal of American Medical Association.
Tim ini menganalisis data dari 14 studi melihat hubungan antara latihan, seks dan risiko serangan jantung atau kematian jantung mendadak, irama jantung yang mematikan yang menyebabkan jantung berhenti mengalirkan darah.
Peneliti menemukan orang cenderung 3,5 kali lebih mungkin mendapatkan serangan jantung atau kematian jantung mendadak ketika mereka berolahraga dibandingkan saat mereka tidak melakukannya.
Orang-orang itu 2,7 kali lebih mungkin untuk mendapatkan serangan jantung ketika mereka melakukan hubungan seks atau segera sesudahnya dibandingkan dengan saat mereka tidak melakukan aktivitas tersebut. (Temuan ini tidak berlaku untuk kematian jantung mendadak karena tidak ada penelitian yang melihat hubungan antara seks dan kematian jantung.)
Jessica Paulus, peneliti dari Tufts lainnya yang juga bekerja pada studi ini mengatakan risikonya cukup tinggi seperti yang ditunjukkan studi tersebut. Namun demikian periode peningkatan risikonya berlangsung singkat.
"Risiko ini tinggi hanya untuk jangka waktu yang singkat (1 sampai 2 jam) selama dan setelah aktivitas fisik atau seksual," kata Paulus seperti dilansir Reuters, Selasa (22/3).
Karena itu, risiko kepada individu selama periode satu tahun masih cukup kecil, katanya.
"Jika Anda mengambil 10.000 orang, setiap sesi aktivitas fisik atau seksual per minggu dari setiap individu dapat dikaitkan dengan kenaikan 1 sampai 2 kasus serangan jantung atau kematian jantung mendadak per tahun," kata Paulus.
Dia mengatakan bahwa penting untuk menyeimbangkan temuan tersebut dengan penelitian lain yang menunjukkan bahwa aktivitas fisik secara teratur mengurangi risiko serangan jantung dan kematian jantung mendadak sebesar 30 persen.
"Kami tidak ingin publik menghindari aktivitas fisik dan mengira olahraga itu buruk bagi kesehatan," kata Paulus.
Yang hendak ditekankan adalah orang yang tidak berolahraga secara teratur perlu menjalankan semua program latihan perlahan-lahan, secara bertahap meningkatkan intensitas latihan dari waktu ke waktu.(go4/*)
Oleh Metro TV News| Metro TV – Kam, 24 Mar 2011 06.17 WIB
Liputan6.com, New Jersey:Banyak faktor yang membuat rasa cinta tumbuh. Seiring dengan perjalanan cinta, rasa cinta dan nafsu pun susah dibedakan. Jadi bagaimana Anda tahu apakah itu cinta atau nafsu Seorang Antropolog dari Rutgers University, Professor Helen Fisher, menjelaskan cinta dan nafsu itu berbeda. Nafsu dapat muncul seiring perjalanan cinta seperti dikutip dari howstuffworks, Kamis (24/3).
Fisher mengatakan, antara cinta dan nafsu ada komponen emosional dan fisiologis yang berbeda. Romantisme dan perasaan cinta seseorang mendorong dopamin dan kadar serotonin, yang menyebabkan perasaan gembira dan hilangnya nafsu makan. "Ketika kita sampai ke titik perasaan tersebut dan makin panjangnya jangka percintaan, tubuh kita menghasilkan lebih banyak oxytocin (dikenal sebagai "hormon cinta").
"Sementara gairah seks dan nafsu untuk seks dapat datang selama proses percintaan yang dihasilkan oleh kadar testosteron yang meningkat, baik pada pria maupun wanita. Semakin tingginya kadar testosteron menginspirasi perasaan yang terfokus pada perhatian dan gairah seksual," jelasnya.
Umumnya, lanjut Fisher, perasaan cinta itu muncul dari daya tarik seseorang. Kaum pria cenderung jatuh cinta dengan wanita dari wajahnya yang cantik. Sementara kaum wanita lebih tertarik dengan pria yang berdompet tebal.
"Kita cenderung memilih pasangan yang memiliki daya tarik dengan tingkat yang sama. Dari sudut pandang evolusi, ini masuk akal karena pria ingin memperbaiki keturunan mereka sementara wanita mencari pria yang dapat membantu mereka untuk menyokong kebutuhan anak-anak mereka," ujarnya.
Lalu apakah usia mempengaruhi keinginan untuk seks "Laki-laki muda memiliki testosteron 10 kali lebih pada awal 20-an, dan ini adalah puncak dorongan seks mereka. Di sisi lain, dorongan seksual untuk wanita saat berusia akhir 20-an dan awal 30-an," ujarnya.
Menurut Fisher, semakin menurunnya tingkat testosteron pada pria cenderung membuat mereka lebih mengasihani. Sebaliknya, dengan menurunnya tingkat estrogen pada wanita seiring dengan usia, mereka akan menjadi lebih tegas. "Ini ada hubungannya dengan kenyataan bahwa proporsi testosteron dalam sistem wanita memainkan peran yang lebih besar layaknya estrogen," katanya.(MEL)
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ADA baiknya melakukan sesuatu cukup sedang-sedang saja. Tak perlu berlebihan maupun sedikit. Begitu pula dengan berhubungan intim. Peneliti di Amerika Serikat mengatakan penyakit jantung akan menyerang apabila Anda jarang melakukan seks dengan pasangan.
Asisten profesor kedokteran di Harvard School of Public Health mengatakan seks ataupun olah raga yang dilakukan sekali-kali dapat berisiko serangan jantung bahkan kematian mendadak. Hasil penelitian para ahli itu kemudian dimuat dalam Journal of The American Medical Association.
"Pemicu masalah ini sepertinya adalah kegiatan yang berintensitas tinggi secara tiba-tiba, padahal mereka yang melakukan itu belum terbiasa melakukan aktivitas fisik," kata penulis studi, Jessica K. Paulus, yang juga asisten profesor kedokteran itu.
Dari penelitian itu, Jessica menyarankan melakukan kegiatan olahraga maupun seks secara konsisten dan bertahap. Bila perlu, diawasi dokter.
Dari hasil meta-analysis ini diketahui bahwa mereka yang melakukan aktivitas seks hanya sekali-sekali memiliki risiko serangan jantung sebanyak 2,7 kali lebih besar. Sedangkan aktivitas fisik sporadis meningkatkan risiko 3,5 kali lipat.
Aktivitas fisik yang jarang-jarang meningkatkan risiko sudden cardiac death 5 kali lipat. Tapi risiko secara keseluruhan rendah karena orang melakukan aktivitas ini sangat jarang dan risiko ini akan cepat terhapus.(go4/***)
baca liputan public ttg berita ini dari VIVAnews.comini berita bikin ketawa hahahahhaahahahaha
planet mars
VIVAnews -- Planet Mars menjadi fokus perhatian manusia dalam rangka penjelajahan luar angkasa. Ada dua hal yang dicari tahu dari planet merah itu: apakah ada kehidupan di sana, dan apakah Mars bisa jadi koloni manusia, jika nantinya Bumi tak bisa menopang kehidupan.
Namun penelitian terbaru yang sedang dikerjakan oleh para ilmuwan cerdas dari dua universitas ternama dunia, MIT dan Harvard justru lebih maju dan revolusioner. Ingin membuktikan apakah ada kemungkinan pohon kehidupan di Bumi punya akar di Planet Mars. Para peneliti juga menciptakan sebuah instrumen untuk membuktikan dugaan itu. Instrumen itu dinamakan Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genom atau SETG. Instrumen yang sedang dikembangkan itu akan menelaah sample debu dari Mars, mengisolasi materi genetik yang mungkin ada -- berupa serangga atau mahluk hidup lain yang mati beberapa juta tahun lalu.
Dengan instrumen ini, para ilmuwan bisa menggunakan teknik biokimia standar untuk menganalisa setiap urutan genetik yang dihasilkan lalu membandingkannya dengan temuan di Bumi.
"Ini proyek jangka panjang," kata peneliti dari MIT, Chris Carr seperti dimuat Space.com. "Jikan nantinya kita menemukan ada kaitan dengan Bumi, bisa jadi mahluk Bumi berasal dari Mars. Atau sebaliknya, bermula dari Bumi dan dikirim ke Mars."Gagasan bahwa kehidupan Bumi berasal dari organisme di Mars mungkin tak ada di pikiran setiap orang. Namun, ini bukan ide gila. Sebab, meski saat ini permukaan Mars dingin, kering, dan tanpa kehidupan -- ada banyak bukti planet ini lebih hangat dan basah miliaran tahun lalu. Seperti halnya di Bumi, ketika semua kehidupan bergantung pada air. Mars kuno mungkin pernah menjadi pendukung beberapa bentuk kehidupan -- mungkin bahkan sebelum Bumi. Demikian kata para peneliti. Jika ini yang terjadi, mikroba Mars mungkin telah mengkolonialisasi Bumi, saat asteroid raksasa meluncur ke Mars dan membuat partikel-partikelnya muncrat dan lalu mengalami perjalanan antar ruang. Para peneliti mengestimasi, ada 1 miliar ton bebatuan Mars yang berkelana di tahun-tahun itu.Dan mikroba yang sangat kuat, sehingga mungkin bahwa beberapa dari mereka bisa selamat dari dampak asteroid dan menuju rumahnya yang baru di planet lain. Car menambahkan, dinamika orbital menunjukkan adalah 100 kali lebih mudah untuk batuan Mars menuju Bumi daripada sebaliknya. Namun, Carr mengatakan, sangat kecil kemungkinan untuk menemukan sesuatu di permukaan Mars. Cara yang bisa dilakukan adalah penggalian. "Ada dua kemungkinan, Mars memiliki kehidupan atau tidak sama sekali. Namun kami ingin memastikannya."Sementara, Badan Antariksa Amerika Serikat tak seoptimis pendapat para ilmuwan itu. "Hal ini tidak masuk akal bahwa kehidupan di Mars terkait dengan kehidupan di Bumi -- dan disebut bahwa dua planet berbagi genetika," kata astrobiologis dari Ames Research Center NASA di Moffett Field, California, Chris McKay. Namun, "dalam kasus apapun, akan menjadi penting untuk menguji hipotesis ini. "Chavez: Kapitalisme Musnahkan Kehidupan MarsJika para ilmuwan mendasarkan teori kehidupan di Mars dengan beberapa fakta ilmiah, entah apa yang ada di kepala Presiden Venezuela, Hugo Chavez saat ia mengatakan: "kapitalisme mengakhiri kehidupan di Planet Mars." "Saya selalu mengatakan, juga mendengar, tak aneh jika Mars ternyata punya peradaban. Namun mungkin datanglah kapitalisme, imperialisme, dan lihat apa yang dilakukannya pada planet ini," kata dia Selasa 22 Maret 2011, seperti dimuat Irish Times. Tawa para pendengar pidato presiden nyentrik ini membahana. Namun, Chavez dengan cerdik mengurai maksud perkataannya itu. Ia memperingatkan, proses yang sama dengan Mars, degradasi lingkungan tengah terjadi di Bumi. "Lihat! Berhati-hatilah! Di sini, di planet Bumi, lahan yang ratusan tahun lalu adalah hutan lebat menjadi kering-kerontang. Sungai besar menjadi padang pasir di mana-mana. Bagaimana kemajuan mempertaruhkan risiko kehidupan di planet ini, bukan jangka panjang, namun bahkan dalam jangka menengah.
Presiden Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, menyambut rakyatnya di Kota Caracas
Elizabeth Taylor pernah menikah 8 kali dan bercerai 7 kali (menjanda sewaktu ditinggal mati suami ke-3, Michael Todd), termasuk di antaranya dua kali menikah dan dua kali cerai dengan aktor Richard Burton.hmmm doyan amat kawin cerai dan dia memenangkan 2 piala oscar loe dalam film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? sebagai martha pada tahun 1966 danButterfield 8sebagai gloria wandrous tahun 1960. dan yang film yang membuat dia terkenal walau ngak dapat oscar cleopatra. Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (lahir di Hampstead, London, Inggris, 27 Februari1932 adalah pemeran wanita Amerika Serikat kelahiran Inggris yang dua kali memenangi Academy Award sebagai Aktris Terbaik.ok kita lihat perjalanan sie cleopatra ini
Lassie Come Home featured child star Roddy McDowall, with whom Taylor would share a lifelong friendship. Upon its release in 1943, the film received favourable attention for both McDowall and Taylor. On the basis of her performance in Lassie Come Home MGM signed Taylor to a conventional seven-year contract at $100 a week but increasing at regular intervals until it reached a hefty $750 during the seventh year. Her first assignment under her new contract at MGM was a loan-out to 20th Century Fox for the character of Helen Burns in a film version of the Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre (1944). During this period she also returned to England to appear in another Roddy McDowall picture for MGM, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). But it was Taylor's persistence in campaigning for the role of Velvet Brown in MGM's National Velvet that skyrocketed Taylor to stardom at the tender age of 12. Taylor's character, Velvet Brown, is a young girl who trains her beloved horse to win the Grand National. National Velvet, which also costarred beloved American favorite Mickey Rooney and English newcomer Angela Lansbury, became an overwhelming success upon its release in December 1944. Many years later Taylor called it "the most exciting film" she had ever made,[4] and the film changed her life forever. Although it vastly increased her star power, many of her back problems were traced to injuries from her falling off a horse during its filming. National Velvet grossed over US$4 million at the box office and Taylor was signed to a new long-term contract that raised her salary to $30,000 per year. To capitalize on the box office success of Velvet, Taylor was shoved into another animal opus, Courage of Lassie, in which a different dog named "Bill", cast as an Allied combatant in World War II, regularly outsmarts the Nazis, with Taylor going through another outdoors role. The 1946 success of Courage of Lassie led to another contract drawn up for Taylor earning her $750 per week, her mother $250, as well as a $1,500 bonus. Her roles as Mary Skinner in a loan-out to Warner Brothers' Life With Father (1947), Cynthia Bishop in Cynthia (1947), Carol Pringle in A Date with Judy (1948) and Susan Prackett in Julia Misbehaves (1948) all proved to be successful. Her reputation as a bankable adolescent star and nickname of "One-Shot Liz" (referring to her ability to shoot a scene in one take) promised her a full and bright career with Metro. Taylor's portrayal as Amy, in the American classic Little Women (1949) would prove to be her last adolescent role. In October 1948, she sailed aboard the RMS Queen Mary travelling to England where she would begin filming on Conspirator, in which she would play her first adult role.
Transition into adult roles
Unlike other child actors, Taylor easily transitioned to adult roles.[4] Before Conspirator's 1949 release, a Time cover article called her "a jewel of great price, a true star sapphire", and the leader among Hollywood's next generation of stars such as Montgomery Clift, Kirk Douglas, and Ava Gardner.[11] The film failed at the box office, but 16-year-old Taylor's portrayal of a 21-year-old debutante who unknowingly marries a communist spy played by 38-year-old Robert Taylor, was praised by critics for her first adult lead in a film. Taylor's first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was The Big Hangover (1950), both a critical and box office failure, that paired her with screen idol Van Johnson. The picture also failed to present Taylor with an opportunity to exhibit her newly realized sensuality.
Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride (1950), alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. The film spawned a sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), which Taylor's costar Spencer Tracy summarised with "boring… boring… boring". The film did well at the box office but it would be Taylor's next picture that would set the course for her career as a dramatic actress. In late 1949, Taylor had begun filming George Stevens' A Place In The Sun. Upon its release in 1951, Taylor was hailed for her performance as Angela Vickers, a spoiled socialite who comes between George Eastman (Clift) and his poor, pregnant factory-working girlfriend Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters).[4] The film became the pivotal performance of Taylor's career as critics acclaimed it as a classic, a reputation it sustained throughout the next 50 years of cinema history. The New York Times'A.H. Weiler wrote, "Elizabeth's delineation of the rich and beauteous Angela is the top effort of her career", and the Boxoffice reviewer unequivocally stated "Miss Taylor deserves an Academy Award".
Taylor became increasingly unsatisfied with the roles being offered to her at the time. While she wanted to play the lead roles in The Barefoot Contessa and I'll Cry Tomorrow, MGM continued to restrict her to mindless and somewhat forgettable films such as: a cameo as herself in Callaway Went Thataway (1951), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), Ivanhoe (1952), The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) and Beau Brummel (1954). She had wanted to play the role of Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, but the part was given to Joan Fontaine. Taylor was given the role of Rebecca. When Taylor became pregnant with her first child, MGM forced her through The Girl Who Had Everything (even adding two hours to her daily work schedule) so as to get one more film out of her before she became too heavily pregnant. Taylor lamented that she needed the money, as she had just bought a new house with second husband Michael Wilding and with a child on the way things would be pretty tight. Taylor had been forced by her pregnancy to turn down Elephant Walk (1954), though the role had been designed for her. Vivien Leigh, almost two decades Taylor's senior, but to whom Taylor bore a striking resemblance, got the part and went to Ceylon to shoot on location. Leigh suffered a nervous breakdown during filming, and Taylor reclaimed the role after the birth of her child Michael Wilding, Jr. in January 1953. [12]
Taylor's next screen endeavor, Rhapsody (1954), another tedious romantic drama, proved equally frustrating. Taylor portrayed Louise Durant, a beautiful rich girl in love with a temperamental violinist (Vittorio Gassman) and an earnest young pianist (John Ericson). A film critic for the New York Herald Tribune wrote: "There is beauty in the picture all right, with Miss Taylor glowing into the camera from every angle… but the dramatic pretenses are weak, despite the lofty sentences and handsome manikin poses."[citation needed]
Taylor's fourth period picture, Beau Brummell, made just after Elephant Walk and Rhapsody, cast her as the elaborately costumed Lady Patricia, which many felt was only a screen prop—a ravishing beauty whose sole purpose was to lend romantic support to the film's title star, Stewart Granger. The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) fared only slightly better than her previous pictures, with Taylor being reunited with The Big Hangover costar Van Johnson. The role of Helen Ellsworth Willis was based on that of Zelda Fitzgerald and, although pregnant with her second child, Taylor went ahead with the film, her fourth in twelve months. Although proving somewhat successful at the box office, she still yearned for meatier roles.[citation needed]
In March 2003, Taylor declined to attend the 75th Annual Academy Awards, due to her opposition to the Iraq war.[23] She publicly condemned then US President George W. Bush for calling on Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq, and said she feared the conflict would lead to "World War III".[24]
Taylor is known to have smoked cigarettes into her mid-fifties.[25] In November 2004, she announced that she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a progressive condition in which the heart is too weak to pump sufficient blood throughout the body, particularly to the lower extremities: the ankles and feet. She broke her back five times, had both her hips replaced, survived a benign brain tumor operation and skin cancer, and faced life-threatening bouts with pneumonia twice, one of which (1961), resulted in an emergency tracheotomy. Towards the end of her life she was reclusive and sometimes failed to make scheduled appearances due to illness or other personal reasons. She used a wheelchair and when asked about it stated that she had osteoporosis and was born with scoliosis.[26]
In 2005, Taylor was a vocal supporter of her friend Michael Jackson in his trial in California on charges of sexually abusing a child.[27][28] He was eventually acquitted when the prosecution collapsed due to a lack of concrete evidence.
On May 30, 2006, Taylor appeared on Larry King Live to refute the claims that she had been ill, and denied the allegations that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was close to death.[29]
In late August 2006, Taylor decided to take a boating trip to help prove that she was not close to death. She also decided to make Christie's auction house the primary place for selling her jewelry, art, clothing, furniture and memorabilia.[30] Six months later, the February 2007 issue of Interview magazine was devoted entirely to Taylor. It celebrated her life, career and her upcoming 75th birthday.
On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Taylor into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.[31]
Taylor was in the news in 2007 for a rumored ninth marriage to her companion Jason Winters, which she dismissed as a rumour.[32] She was quoted as saying, "Jason Winters is one of the most wonderful men I've ever known and that's why I love him. He bought us the most beautiful house in Hawaii and we visit it as often as possible,"[33] to gossip columnist Liz Smith. Winters accompanied Taylor to Macy's Passport HIV/AIDS 2007 gala, where Taylor was honoured with a humanitarian award. In 2008, Taylor and Winters were spotted celebrating the July 4 on a yacht in Santa Monica, California.[34] The couple attended the Macy's Passport HIV/AIDS gala again in 2008.
On December 1, 2007, Taylor acted on-stage again, appearing opposite James Earl Jones in a benefit performance of the A. R. Gurney play Love Letters. The event's goal was to raise $1 million for Taylor's AIDS foundation. Tickets for the show were priced at $2,500, and more than 500 people attended. The event happened to coincide with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike and, rather than cross the picket line, Taylor requested a "one night dispensation." The Writers Guild agreed not to picket the Paramount Pictures lot that night to allow for the performance.[35]
Personal life
Marriages
Taylor was married eight times to seven husbands, with all but one ending in divorce. When asked why she married so often, she replied "I don’t know, honey. It sure beats the hell out of me."[4] The husbands were:
Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (May 6, 1950 – January 29, 1951) The marriage was unhappy and ended in divorce after nine months.[4]
Michael Wilding (February 21, 1952 – January 26, 1957) Wilding was 20 years older than Taylor.[4]
Michael Todd (February 2, 1957 – March 22, 1958) Todd's death ended Taylor's only marriage to not result in divorce. She later called Todd one of the two loves of her life, with Burton.[4]
Eddie Fisher (May 12, 1959 – March 6, 1964) Todd's best friend, Fisher, consoled Todd's widow, Taylor, after his death. They began an affair while Fisher was still married to Debbie Reynolds, causing a scandal.[4]
Richard Burton (March 15, 1964 – June 26, 1974) The press closely followed Burton and Taylor's relationship before, during, and after their 10 years of marriage, due to great public interest in "the most famous film star in the world and the man many believed to be the finest classical actor of his generation." Taylor hoped to focus on her marriage over her career, and gained weight in an unsuccessful attempt to not receive film roles.[4]
Richard Burton (October 10, 1975 – July 29, 1976) Sixteen months after divorcing they remarried in a traditional house in Botswana, but soon separated and redivorced in 1976. Burton once disagreed with others about Taylor's famed beauty, saying that calling her "the most beautiful woman in the world is absolute nonsense. She has wonderful eyes, but she has a double chin and an overdeveloped chest, and she’s rather short in the leg."[4] On another occasion, however, he praised her lavishly, stating that, "She was unquestionably gorgeous. I can think of no other word to describe a combination of plentitude, frugality, abundance, tightness. She was lavish. She was a dark unyielding largesse. She was, in short, too bloody much."
John Warner (December 4, 1976 – November 7, 1982) As with Burton, Taylor sought to be known as the wife of her husband, a United States Senator from Virginia. Unhappy with her life in Washington, however, Taylor became depressed and entered the Betty Ford Clinic.[4]
Larry Fortensky (October 6, 1991 – October 31, 1996) Taylor and Fortensky met during another stay at the Betty Ford Clinic and were married at the Neverland Ranch.[4]
In 1971, Taylor became a grandmother at the age of 39. At the time of her death she was survived by her four children, ten grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.[43]
Taylor won two Academy Awards for Best Actress (for her performance in BUtterfield 8 in 1960, and for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966). She joined a select list of two-time Academy Award winning Best Actress winners which includes Luise Rainer, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster, and Hillary Swank. Additionally, she was awarded the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 1992 for her work fighting AIDS.
On May 16, 2000, in a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace, Taylor was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, from Queen Elizabeth II.[47]
Other interests
Taylor had a passion for jewelry. She was a client of well-known jewelry designer Shlomo Moussaieff. Over the years she owned a number of well-known pieces, two of the most talked-about being the 33.19-carat (6.64 g) Krupp Diamond and the 69.42-carat (13.88 g) pear-shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond, which were among many gifts from husband Richard Burton. Taylor also owned the 50-carat (10 g) La Peregrina Pearl, purchased by Burton as a Valentine's Day present in 1969. The pearl was formerly owned by Mary I of England, and Burton sought a portrait of Queen Mary wearing the pearl. Upon the purchase of such a painting, the Burtons discovered that the British National Portrait Gallery did not have an original painting of Mary, so they donated the painting to the Gallery.[36][37] Her enduring collection of jewelry has been documented in her book My Love Affair with Jewelry (2002) with photographs by the New York photographer John Bigelow Taylor (no relation).
Taylor started designing jewels for The Elizabeth Collection, creating fine jewelry with elegance and flair. The Elizabeth Taylor collection by Piranesi is sold at Christie's. She also launched three perfumes, "Passion", "White Diamonds", and "Black Pearls", which, together, earn an estimated US$200 million in annual sales. In fall 2006, Taylor celebrated the 15th anniversary of her White Diamonds perfume, one of the top 10 best selling fragrances for more than the past decade.[citation needed]
Taylor devoted much time and energy to AIDS-related charities, and helped raise more than $100 million to fight the disease.[4] She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) after the death of her former costar and friend, Rock Hudson, also created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF). In 2006, Taylor commissioned a 37-foot (11 m) "Care Van" equipped with examination tables and X Ray equipment and also donated US$40,000 to the New Orleans Aids task force, a charity designed for the New Orleans population with AIDS and HIV. The donation of the van was made by the Elizabeth Taylor HIV/AIDS Foundation and Macy's.[38]
In the early 1980s, Taylor moved to Bel Air, Los Angeles, which was her residence until her death. She also owned homes in Palm Springs, London and Hawaii.
Taylor was a supporter of Kabbalah and member of the Kabbalah Centre. She encouraged long-time friend Michael Jackson to wear a red string as protection from the evil-eye during his 2005 trial for molestation, where he was eventually cleared of all charges. On October 6, 1991, Taylor had married construction worker Larry Fortensky at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.[39] In 1997, Jackson presented Taylor with the exclusively written-for-her epic song "Elizabeth, I Love You", performed on the day of her 65th birthday celebration.
In October 2007, Taylor won a legal battle, over a Van Gogh painting in her possession, View of the Asylum and Chapel at Saint Remy. The United States Supreme Court refused to reconsider a legal suit filed by four persons claiming that the artwork belonged to one of their Jewish ancestors,[40] regardless of any statute of limitations.
Taylor attended Michael Jackson's private funeral on September 3, 2009.[41]
Kematian Taylor berurusan dengan berbagai masalah kesehatan selama bertahun-tahun. Pada tahun 2004 ia mengumumkan bahwa ia menderita gagal jantung kongestif, dan pada tahun 2009 ia menjalani pembedahan jantung untuk mengganti katup bocor. Pada Februari 2011 gejala baru yang terkait gagal jantung kongestif menyebabkan dia menjadi diterima ke Cedars-Sinai Medical Center untuk perawatan.[1]
Taylor meninggal pada tanggal 23 Maret 2011, dikelilingi oleh empat anaknya di Cedars-Sinai Medical Center di Los Angeles, California, pada usia 79.
