Kate's younger sister, Jessica, is severely autistic and lives in an institution in the US "It's terribly sad," she says, gently. "But I'm incredibly grateful, and so was Dad, that earned so much money that, if the rest of us went up in a puff of smoke tomorrow, Jessica would still get the very best care."Alcohol abuse has also taken its toll on the family. By contrast, Kate has been happily married to the theatre producer Michael Ritchie for 19 years, and they have two children, Charlotte, five, and Morgan, 15 But there is a darker side to her story. Summers were spent with her father and Taylor, on movie sets, taking trips, or aboard the couple's yacht.
There was no shortage of playmates: Elizabeth had three children from previous marriages, and she and Richard also had an adopted daughter, Maria "Dad and Elizabeth lavished us with love. It was dreamy."She remains close to her extended family, including all three stepmothers – Richard Burton married Susie Hunt in 1976, and Susie Hay in 1983. She lived with her mother in New York, and went to the United Nations school, along with the children of George C Scott, Christopher Plummer, and Malcolm X. So who the heck knows?"Despite the glare of publicity, Kate's childhood memories are sunny. Asked what ultimately destroyed their relationship, she responds with candid common sense.
"In any relationship, you don't know what goes on behind closed doors Only the two people know And even they have two different versions of events. They married in 1965.Things were more difficult for Taylor and Burton. "Dad's relationship with Elizabeth was wonderful, but also tumultuous," she says "And the media were on them, morning, noon and night. It was awful." Burton and Taylor were, famously, married twice, in 1964, and then again, for less than a year, in 1975.
