Diamonds are forever.
For Vogue‘s prestigious September 2024 issue, Blake Lively donned a $3.8 million Cartier necklace that once belonged to Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor — and comes with a tragic backstory.
The 36-year-old actress played the role of a glamorous jewel thief (“The Cat”) for a Hitchcock-inspired Vogue “fashion fantasia” titled “The Heist of the Heart,” directed by Baz Luhrmann. In the cinematic editorial spread, which also stars Hugh Jackman, Lively is dripping in stolen jewels, one of which is a ruby and diamond Cartier necklace that was given to Taylor by her then-husband Mike Todd in 1957.
“And I had Elizabeth Taylor’s necklace!” the Gossip Girl alum told Vogue in her accompanying interview. “Elizabeth Taylor’s necklace in my hand. I have to show you. So there were these people there that had these rubber covers on their fingers, and I had a foam mat below me in case the necklace fell….”
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Baz Luhrmann/Vogue
According to The Adventurine, the necklace, along with a matching bracelet and earrings, were a gift to Taylor from her film producer husband while they were on vacation in the South of France in August 1957.
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The late actress’ sweet reaction to the jewels was caught on camera by a friend. In the 20-second silent clip, Taylor smiles while wearing the necklace and earrings before planting a kiss on Todd. At the time the video was taken, the actress was pregnant with the couple’s only child, Elizabeth “Liza” Todd, prompting some to theorize that the gift was an early push present, per The Adventurine.
Taylor married Todd, her third husband, in 1957. In 1958, he was killed in a plane crash, leaving Taylor a widow at 26. Following his death, the Cartier jewels have remained a symbol of their tragically short love story.
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The necklace, earrings and bracelet were sold individually at Elizabeth Taylor’s Christie’s estate auction in 2011, where the Cartier Collection purchased the necklace for $3,778,500.
