Johnny Cash's first wife has revealed what destroyed their marriage
Johnny Cash and June Carter justifiably hold the title of the most famous couple in music history. So many people overlook, or have no idea, that the musician's heart once belonged to another woman, and... his mind was misled. Today, the tangled story of his first marriage to Vivian Liberto is finally being heard.
Johnny Cash and Vivian Liberto consummated their romance on 7 August 1954. Before that, the couple had been exchanging letters filled with love and warmth for three years. At that time, the future composer-songwriter was serving in the army and was in Germany. Later, Vivian and Johnny had children.
But even this factor did not give their marriage optimism... In 1966, after 12 years of married life together, Vivian filed for divorce. The first wife of Johnny Cash died in 2005, having managed to tell her story in a book called "I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny". In it, Vivian emphasises the two main factors that crushed her and Johnny's union: "drugs and June Carter". As Liberto herself puts it, "more like June than drugs..."
If the book is to be believed, the world of these two began to crumble when they lived in a house in Casitas Springs, between 1961 and 1967. It was then that Johnny became addicted to drugs and alcohol, was "captured" by June, and even inadvertently started a forest fire.
In the book, Vivian confesses that she has always loved Johnny, but also laments that she didn't put more effort into their union, didn't cherish their marriage ...
Vivian also explained that it was June who brought discord in their home. For her, this period became a real stress, as Johnny was constantly not around ... Later Liberto noted that the manner in which Johnny and June played in the famous film "Walk the Line" is completely untrue ... Vivian also announced that once backstage June told her: "Vivian, he's going to be mine".
In the book, Vivian makes the case that it was June who contributed to Johnny's estrangement from his family by giving him drugs.
After her divorce, Vivian married a policeman. She devoted her life to her family, work and charity work. Vivian passed away in May 2005, shortly after the publication of her book. She was 71 years old at the time.
In the words of her and Johnny's daughter Cindy, all Vivian needed at that point was to "finally, finally, finally have a voice." In her book, Vivian let her inner voice come out ....
