As anyone seeking divorce advice in Pasadena knows, it isn't always possible to remain friendly with your ex. Yet sometimes it pays off to be civil to an ex-spouse - literally. Take Larry Fortensky, for example. The former construction worker and ex-husband of film legend Elizabeth Taylor kept in touch with his famous ex-wife and recently revealed the star left him $825,000 in her will.
Taylor, who passed away last month from congestive heart failure, was well-known for her generosity and big heart. She kept tabs on Fortensky over recent years even though the pair had divorced in 1996. Fortensky had fallen on rough times after suffering from a fall. Taylor previously came to his aid a few years ago when he was in danger of losing his house, sending him a check for $15,000 to keep his home out of foreclosure.
The last week, he received a letter from Taylor's lawyers saying he had inherited $825,000. Fortensky talked to Taylor regularly and told the Daily Mail they spoke the day before she went into the hospital for the last time.
"She was going into the hospital the next day. I thought she was going to be okay - I told her she would outlive me; she said 'Larry, I'm going to be okay.'"
Days later, Taylor passed away and Fortensky learned about it on television.
"I was so shocked - I was so sure she would get to go home and I would talk to her once again."
Elizabeth Taylor married Larry Fortensky in 1991. He was her eighth and final husband. Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Liza Minnelli and Nancy Regan were among the guests at the big Hollywood wedding, which became legendary for the paparazzi helicopters hovering above the ceremony. The pair met at the Betty Ford Clinic where he was being treated for alcoholism and she was being treated for prescription drug addiction.