My First Five Husbands.: And the Ones Who Got Away

“'You will do foolish things' said the great writer Colette, 'but do them with enthusiasm!' And that, my darlings, I have done! So put your feet up, relax, and let me take you on one woman's journey through the beguiling, bewildering wilderness of romantic encounters, replete with puppy love, Latin love, smoldering lust, stardust, obsession, high comedy, high camp, and all manner of peccadilloes and misadventures. A rollicking, madcap ride through the wide-open countryside of love. Just watch out for land mines.”
--From My First Five Husbands . . . And the Ones Who Got Away


People always ask me if I'm like Blanche. And I say, 'Well, Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man-crazy, vain Southern Belle from Atlanta -- and I'm not from Atlanta!’” -- Rue McClanahan

Who can forget Rue McClanahan as the sexy Southern vixen, Blanche Devereaux, on the Emmy-award winning series The Golden Girls? With her breezy sex appeal and sharp comedic timing, Rue infused her character with a sassy joie de vivre that captured the hearts of audiences around the world. Now, the actress behind the magic reveals her life in and out of the spotlight in a laugh-out-loud funny memoir about love, marriage, men, and getting older that is every bit as colorful as the characters she plays.

Raised in small-town Oklahoma in a house “thirteen telephone poles past the standpipe north of town,” Rue developed her two great passions—theater and men—at an early age. She arrived in New York City in 1957 with two-weeks worth of money in her pocket, hustled her way into a class with the legendary Uta Hagen, and began working her way up in the acting world against the vibrant, free-spirited backdrop of the sixties. That’s when she met and married Husband #1—a handsome rogue of an aspiring actor who quickly left her with a young son. Still, she was determined to make it on the stage and screen—and in the years that followed, rose to the top of the entertainment world with a host of adventures (and husbands) along the way.

From her roles on Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman and Brad Davis, to her first television appearances on Maude and All in the Family, to the Golden Girls era and beyond, My First Five Husbands is the irresistible story of one woman’s quest to find herself. Now happily married to Husband #6, Rue is proof that many things can and do get better with age—and that with tenacity, talent, and a little help from Saint Dymphna, even a small-town girl can make it big.

Told with Rue’s saucy wit and Southern charm, My First Five husbands is a deliciously entertaining take on life and love from an irrepressible star.