😤 Shocking Confessions at 70: Vivian Vance Names 5 Famous Men She Couldn’t Stand! 📽️💔

 

Vivian Vance played second fiddle for most of her career—but never again.

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In private, she was sharp, outspoken, and unafraid to call out injustice when she saw it.

Now, her closest confidantes have revealed what Vivian truly thought about the men who shaped—and in some cases, shattered—her time in Hollywood.

Her list of “most hated men” isn’t just shocking, it’s a raw portrait of one woman’s quiet rebellion against a system that constantly tried to keep her in the background.

1.William Frawley – “A Misogynistic Bully”
The on-screen chemistry between Ethel and Fred Mertz was legendary.

But off-screen? Vivian despised William Frawley.

The two bickered relentlessly from the moment I Love Lucy began.

William Frawley - Vaudevillian, Actor

Frawley, nearly 22 years older than Vance, resented her youth and popularity.

“He called me fat, dumb, and worse,” she confided in friends.

“Every day was a war.

” He reportedly took offense to the fact that Vivian complained about playing the wife of such an older man.

The tension never eased.

Though they remained professional, Vivian later said, “I worked with him.

I never liked him.

” For her, he was the embodiment of everything wrong with old-school Hollywood masculinity—entitled, cruel, and impossible.

2.Desi Arnaz – “Charming Devil with a Knife in His Smile”
Vivian respected Desi Arnaz as a producer, but she never trusted him.

While Desi helped launch I Love Lucy into television history, Vance saw his darker side firsthand.

Desi Arnaz | Biography, Lucille Ball, I Love Lucy, Music, & Facts |  Britannica

“He could charm the cameras, but off-set he was a tyrant,” she once told a friend.

According to insiders, Desi constantly undermined her and pushed Lucille Ball to downplay Vance’s role.

Worse, he allegedly suggested rewriting scenes to make Ethel seem dumber or more ridiculous—fearing she was getting “too many laughs.

” Vivian called him “calculating and insecure.

” When Lucille later divorced Desi, Vance told friends, “It should’ve happened ten years earlier.

” Despite his pivotal role in her career, she considered him manipulative and self-serving to the core.

3.A Director from the Stage Years – “He Broke Me”
Before television fame, Vivian Vance was a stage actress—and one particular director left scars that never healed.

Theatre director - Wikipedia

Though she never revealed his full name publicly, she referred to him in journals as “M.

” During a major Broadway production, this man reportedly screamed at her in rehearsals, called her “forgettable,” and even told producers she lacked star quality.

“He made me hate myself,” Vance wrote.

“Every night I went home convinced I was a fraud.

” The abuse pushed her into a severe depression that nearly derailed her acting career.

It wasn’t until I Love Lucy that she began to rebuild her confidence.

Even then, the memory of “M” lingered—and her hatred for him never faded.

4.A Former Husband – “He Wanted Me Small”
Vivian Vance was married multiple times, but one man in particular left her emotionally shattered.

According to friends, this unnamed husband resented her success and constantly tried to “put her in her place.

Meghan Markle ex-husband working on TV show about American man whose ex  marries a Prince | Express.co.uk

” He allegedly criticized her weight, discouraged her from taking ambitious roles, and even accused her of overshadowing him in public.

“He didn’t want a partner—he wanted a pet,” Vivian confided.

Their marriage ended in bitterness and betrayal, with Vance swearing never to speak his name again.

“He loved me small,” she once said.

“And I was never meant to be small.

5.A Studio Executive – “He Saw Me as Disposable”
Even after winning over audiences as Ethel, Vivian Vance faced continuous disrespect from studio brass.

One executive in particular dismissed her requests for better contracts, higher billing, and even basic accommodations.

“He told me flat-out: ‘You’re lucky to be here,’” Vance recalled.

When she tried to renegotiate her contract after the first season of I Love Lucy, he reportedly laughed and said, “Who else are you gonna play? You’re stuck as Ethel.

” That phrase haunted her.

She hated him for limiting her, for boxing her into one role, and for never acknowledging the critical part she played in the show’s success.

“He saw me as replaceable,” she wrote.

“But I was the glue.

Though she maintained grace in public, Vivian Vance harbored deep emotional wounds from years of belittlement, mistreatment, and male domination in Hollywood.

She endured it all while putting on a smile, delivering punchlines, and supporting a legend.

But behind the laughter was a woman who saw clearly—and remembered everything.

Now, thanks to her own words and those who knew her best, we finally see Vivian Vance not just as Lucy’s sidekick, but as a woman who fought to be heard in a world that rarely listened.

These five men may have underestimated her—but today, we know exactly who she was: brave, brilliant, and unafraid to call out the truth—even if it took her 70 years to say it.