Who Was Frank Sinatra's Second Wife? Everything to Know About Screen Legend Ava Gardner

Here is expert analysis on Who Was Frank Sinatra's Second Wife? Everything to Know About Screen Legend Ava Gardner.

The newlyweds set up home at Twin Palms, Sinatra’s modernist desert residence in Palm Springs, California. Designed by E. Stewart Williams, the house featured a piano-shaped swimming pool and state-of-the-art recording equipment, but it quickly became the staging ground for explosive arguments.

Their mutual jealousy was legendary. Sinatra suspected Gardner of lingering interest in her former lovers, including billionaire Howard Hughes and bandleader Artie Shaw. Gardner grew impatient with Sinatra’s black moods and entourage. Architecture bore the brunt of their disputes: champagne glasses were hurled into the swimming pool, sink fixtures were torn from walls, and during one midnight row, Sinatra reportedly tossed Gardner's luggage onto the driveway before firing a pistol into a bedroom mattress to shock her into staying.

Yet beneath the chaos ran genuine devotion. Gardner matched Sinatra drink for drink and insult for insult, refusing to play the traditional mid-century domestic partner. "We were great in bed," Gardner later wrote in her autobiography. "The trouble usually started on the way to the bidet."