I think it's so funny when people think they can't control a movie star. They can. We're just women, you know

Everything about my teenage life was almost ideal.

There was a policy at Hughes against drinking at lunch, but the men ignored it

Even though I had a lucrative contract with MGM, I had a husband who was drinking and gambling our money away faster than I could make it.

I was 15, and the years of hard swimming had packed muscle on my frame and made me very strong. Not as strong as a football player, but strong enough to inflict heavy damage.

Traveling to swimming meets took me beyond my small-town existence, gave me a hint of the exciting world outside of my own home.

Three events. Three gold medals. I was news, big news, in the sports world.