10 Tragic REAL Star-Crossed Lovers From History

Name: 10 Tragic REAL Star-Crossed Lovers From History
Uploaded: 2025-09-09T17:08:12+00:00
Duration: 13 min 49 s
Channel: MsMojo

00:00Someone ask me what I want, to live with you in peace and love.

00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at some of the most famous and heartbreaking

00:10star-crossed couplings across history.

00:13I sing your restless longing for the statue, your fear of the feelings that await you in the street.

00:21Lily Elbe and Gerda Wigner.

00:23It's been said that it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

00:26This quote is encapsulated perfectly in the ill-fated yet genuine connection between

00:31Lily Elbe and Gerda Wigner.

00:33During the former's transition, the latter was incredibly supportive.

00:37I believe that I'm a woman.

00:40Inside.

00:43And I believe her too.

00:45Lily was the muse behind some of Wigner's famous paintings, a permanent reminder of their bond.

00:50Unfortunately, Danish law decreed that marriage between two women couldn't be recognized.

00:54Thus, their 25-year union was officially annulled in 1930.

00:59You took care of me, but now I have to take care of myself.

01:02I have to have a life of my own.

01:06And you need to do the same.

01:08Though this meant the end of their relationship, the sacrifice allowed Elbe to truly come into herself.

01:13Tragically, she died less than a year later, and Gerda remarried.

01:17But their previous attachment still lives on today in her work.

01:20You made me beautiful.

01:24And now you're making me strong.

01:30Such power in you.

01:32Charles V and Isabela of Portugal.

01:34It was a love so powerful that its end nearly drove a man to the brink of insanity.

01:39If it were for me, I would never be apart from you.

01:42Not one day, not one hour.

01:44Despite being arranged, the relationship between Charles V and Isabela of Portugal was genuine.

01:50His romantic gestures even led to the carnation becoming Spain's national flower,

01:54and a permanent reminder of their affections.

01:56Unfortunately, their union was short-lived.

01:59After 13 years, Isabela passed away in 1539 after childbirth.

02:04Charles was understandably devastated, and became a shell of the man he once was.

02:21He isolated himself for months to mourn, wore black every day, and never remarried.

02:26When he met his own end in 1558, he was reportedly holding the same cross Isabela held on her own deathbed.

02:32Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

02:49Charles V wasn't the only royal to be affected by the loss of his soulmate.

02:53Queen Victoria's affection for Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was clear from the beginning.

02:58She waxed poetic both about his looks and the happiness he gave her.

03:02She proposed to him in 1839, making her own choice of spouse in a move that was rare for royal women throughout history.

03:09I'm sure you're aware why I wished you to come here.

03:14Because it would make me happier than anything.

03:19Too happy, really, if you would agree to what I wish.

03:23And stay with you.

03:25And stay with me.

03:26And marry you.

03:29And marry me.

03:30Their wedding in 1840 was reportedly the happiest day of her life.

03:34Just over 20 years later, Albert contracted typhoid and died.

03:38And Victoria was never the same.

03:39The moment when he died, she went out.

03:43And this shriek was heard through the castle.

03:47Shriek of horror.

03:49But when she realized what had happened,

03:51that she'd lost her angel, as she always told him.

03:54She withdrew from the public eye and wore black to signify her permanent mourning.

03:58When she passed away in 1901, she had a cast of his hand placed in her own, before being buried next to him.

04:05He was the light in our home.

04:09The best father who ever lived.

04:11Clark Gable and Carol Lombard.

04:24It may seem like star-crossed couples are a classical phenomenon, but there have been more recent prominent pairings.

04:30Despite being known as a playboy, Hollywood giant Clark Gable found true love in his past co-star Carol Lombard.

04:36She brought a ham to the set and put it in his seat, because he was such a ham, because she thought he was such a ham actor.

04:46And a joke may have been lost to him, but it definitely didn't have a romantic connection whatsoever.

04:51At that time, he liked her a lot, but she was not interested. She was married.

04:57The two reconnected in 1936 and quickly fell for each other.

05:01By 1939, they were married.

05:03The period soon became known as one of the best in Gable's life.

05:06There's all these photos circulating of her with their chickens and all the animals that they had on the ranch

05:12and sitting on their jalopy truck that they bought for their fishing and camping and hunting trips.

05:17Throughout World War II, Lombard became involved in the war effort, which led to her own demise in a plane crash in 1942.

05:24Gable was devastated by the loss.

05:26He lost 20 pounds and even joined the Air Force, fulfilling one of Lombard's wishes, even though she wouldn't be there to see it.

05:33It was a mourning, a way to expound his grief.

05:36But some, I think he was quoted as saying to close friends, like, I'm going over there and I don't care if I come back.

05:42Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.

05:44This may be one of the most prominent displays of devotion in the world.

05:49Emperor Shah Jahan I and Mumtaz Mahal married in 1612 and were a powerful couple.

05:54Shah Jahan calls her the Chosen One of the Palace.

06:01From the Chronicles, we know this royal couple were especially close for those times.

06:06The two ruled side by side until 1631, when Mahal passed away during childbirth.

06:12Her loss had an immediate impact on her children and husband, with the latter having regular bouts of sobbing and even reportedly isolating himself for a year.

06:19His hair and beard had turned gray.

06:25He looked older.

06:28Much, much older than what he looked when he went into confinement or statutory mourning.

06:36When he returned, he had a mausoleum built in Mumtaz's honor.

06:3922 years later, the result was a breathtakingly beautiful structure made of ivory and marble, known as the Taj Mahal.

06:46To this day, it's the ultimate symbol of their love, as well as their shared final resting place.

06:51Shah Jahan is reunited with his Chosen One of the Palace.

06:57Their legacy will make them immortal.

07:00Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia Lorca.

07:03He's so known for his eclectic art that it's hard to imagine him in a romantic relationship at all.

07:08Yet, throughout the 1920s, Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia Lorca found themselves drawn to each other.

07:13You know what you said in your letter about everything that you are being split apart?

07:25As young creatives, they formed a strong bond that many felt was stronger than friendship.

07:30Lorca, in particular, felt an extreme passion for the painter, which opened his eyes to his own sexuality.

07:36The poet even penned Ode to Dali in the mid-1920s.

07:39I've seen the small sea siren who sings to you, riding her bicycle of corals and conches.

07:47But about what?

07:48I've seen a common thought that joins us in the dark and golden hours.

07:54However, the surrealist artist claimed that the relationship was platonic, and ended up marrying a woman.

07:59Despite that, Dali and Lorca maintained their emotionally intense connection up until the latter's assassination in 1936.

08:06The speculation around their feelings still lives on today.

08:09I hurt your pride, I know.

08:11I know.

08:13But I'll make it up to you.

08:16You'll teach me how.

08:18Kais ibn al-Malua and Layla al-Amariyah.

08:21To have a love so beautifully tragic that it becomes the topic of its own legend is truly special.

08:26In the 7th century, Kais was a poet for the Banu Amr tribe.

08:30He met his soulmate, Layla, when they were children.

08:33As an adult, his feelings never faded, and he began to write hauntingly beautiful poetry about her.

08:38It's love through verse.

08:39He is completely infatuated by her.

08:42The fact that he's uninhibited, he's going overboard, let's say, in wooing her, and he's mentioning her by name, scandalizes her family.

08:52Layla's father separated the young couple before a relationship could fully blossom.

08:56What happened next isn't known by historians.

08:59Kais is completely, he loses it.

09:03He's completely lost.

09:05He takes to the desert.

09:07He's seen reciting his poetry alone in the desert.

09:11And his family starts to leave him food out in the wilderness so he can get something to eat.

09:17And he's completely lost to society.

09:19Apparently, Kais was eventually found by Layla's grave and engraved a poem into it.

09:24While that hasn't been verified, the poem itself is.

09:27And it's so heartfelt that it could make even the most cynical individual believe in love again.

09:31Indeed, you have returned to her, my heart.

09:35And lo, tears are shed profusely pouring forth.

09:40Foretelling that passion is a fire ignited.

09:44And beneath fire's embers, the heart melts.

09:47Mildred and Richard Loving

09:49White and colored went to school different.

09:55Things like that, you know.

09:57They couldn't go in the same restaurants.

10:00I knew that.

10:03But I didn't realize how bad it was until we got married.

10:06The government should have no place in a loving union between two consenting adults.

10:11Unfortunately, the laws preventing groups from marrying prove they don't agree.

10:14One such decree was the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which barred interracial marriages in Virginia.

10:21Mildred and Richard Loving defied the rule and were wed in 1958, with disastrous consequences.

10:26What you doing in bed with that woman?

10:31I'm his wife.

10:38That's no good here.

10:40They were arrested in the middle of the night and tried, before having to choose between prison or leaving the state.

10:45They chose the latter, but that didn't stop them from fighting for their rights.

10:49Their case made its way up to the Supreme Court, where they finally won.

10:53Unfortunately, Richard perished in a car accident less than a decade later.

10:57You tell the judge...

10:59You tell the judge I know my wife.

11:04Eloise and Peter Abelard.

11:05It wouldn't be a list about star-crossed lovers without them.

11:08Ill-fated from the very beginning, the complex story between Eloise and Peter Abelard has mystified historians for centuries.

11:15Why?

11:17Why did it happen?

11:18I hear your voice every minute of the day.

11:23I see your face in the firelight.

11:25They first fell for each other as student and tutor, a pairing that was frowned upon for good reason.

11:30The forbidden couple secretly got married following the joining of the church.

11:34Unfortunately, it wasn't long before things went awry.

11:37Our lord was betrayed by Achis.

11:39That was preordained.

11:43Is this?

11:43From the beginning of time.

11:47Peter had sent Eloise to a nunnery, and in response, her uncle arranged for him to be attacked and castrated in the dead of night.

11:54While they couldn't be together physically, their affection was defined by a series of romantic letters, some of which have become the foundation of French literature.

12:01Join me in thanksgiving.

12:03You were made my partner, both in guilt and grace.

12:08I want to be free of you.

12:38Of wanting you.

12:41Of being afraid.

12:42The two started a highly controversial relationship, even coming together to overtake their rivals.

12:48Unfortunately, their high wouldn't last.

12:50In 31 BC, the tide suddenly turned during the Battle of Actium.

12:54No, I cannot run.

12:56I will be guided by you, naturally, if you think there is some other path available to us.

13:02In a fit of panic, Antony attempted to take his own life, assuming Cleopatra had done the same.

13:07He ended up dying in her arms, leaving her alone to face the Romans.