Diana Ross: A Biography

by J. Randy Taraborrelli

One popular story about Jackson amongst Ross’s intimates has to do with what happened when Diana worked with Michael on the song “Eaten Alive,” which he produced with Barry Gibb. At this time, the autumn of 1985, Michael had recently had another rhinoplasty, his second of what would be quite a few more in years to come. This was the first time Diana had actually seen the new nose and, though she tried not to stare, it wasn’t easy—especially since he also now had a cleft in his chin which she most certainly knew had not been there before. As they worked, Michael—who was twenty-eight at this time—went into the recording studio to put a “scratch vocal” over the instrumental track of the song (a vocal performance that would then be used as a guide when it was time for Diana to record the tune). While he did so, Diana watched from the other side of the glass booth. She turned to an associate and said, “My God! That boy has got to stop fooling with his face! What is he doing?” She continued to stare at Jackson as he sang. Finally, she became exasperated and insisted, “Someone please tell me, what he is doing to his face?”

  “Well, Miss Ross,” the colleague began, carefully, “they say he’s trying to look like you.”

  After a double take worthy of Lucille Ball, Diana exclaimed, “I look like that?”

  As it happened, Michael seemed genuinely heartbroken that Diana planned to marry Arne. He would later say that he was hurt that she hadn’t introduced them. “I was jealous because I’ve always loved Diana Ross and always will,” he claimed.

  Of course, Michael had always lived in his own world. Most certainly, Diana could never have been expected to know how he would feel about her decision. They never had any kind of romantic relationship, ever. Still, Michael insisted that she was the one and only love of his life. “Yes, I would like to marry her,” he told this author. “Perhaps, one day …”

  Because of his history with her and the way he apparently felt about her, it must have been a difficult decision for Jackson to make … but he decided not to go to Diana’s wedding, let alone give her away. Things would never again be the same between them. “When he wants to see me, he sees me,” a disappointed Diana would say of Jackson. “When he doesn’t, he closes the door. There’s no reaching him, there’s no finding him, there’s no anything …” As of this writing, Diana hasn’t seen Michael since 2002, when the two attended Liza Minnelli’s high-profile wedding to David Gest.

  In addition to whatever feelings Michael had about it, Berry also felt a certain melancholy over Diana’s new marriage. She had finally made a life for herself that did not include him. Moreover, she was doing so with a man everyone kept telling him was a lot wealthier and, at least in his domain, more powerful than Berry. Somehow, say his friends, Berry always believed Diana would come back to him, especially after she appeared on the Motown 25 program. Still, despite any conflicting feelings, Berry was a class act. Though he would not be attending the wedding, he hosted a party for Diana and Arne at his Bel Air home to celebrate the upcoming nuptials, a generous gesture. He wanted Diana to be happy—that is really what he had always wanted for her through the years—and he had to admire Arne. The two really were very much alike. Though from completely different backgrounds, they shared common streaks of determination and ambition. Both men made something of themselves despite tremendous odds, Arne in the industrial business, Berry in the record game. Both were powerful, fascinating men. And both could not resist Diana Ross.

  Diana and Arne marry

  The wedding of Diana Ross and Arne Naess was held on 1 February 1986 in a tenth-century Swiss Reformed church in Romainmotier, a small picturesque village in the foothills of the Jura Mountains just outside Geneva. About 250 people attended the memorable service. For her special day, Diana was dressed in a long white satin and lace gown with a bodice embroidered with pearls. For years, she had been collecting antique lace as a hobby, and now had the chance to use some of it when she had this gown and six-foot train designed by Elizabeth Courtney. Her wild mane was pulled into an elegant chignon beneath her white veil of Belgian lace crowned by a 250-year-old diamond tiara which Diana had found in Paris. Over each ear she wore white roses and baby’s breath to match her bridal bouquet. Her smile was bright and absolutely electric. It doesn’t overstate it to say that she never looked happier.

  “Repeat after me,” Graham Ferguson Leasy, a Baptist minister, instructed Arne. “I want you to be my wife because I love you.”

  Arne looked deep into his bride’s eyes and repeated in his charming, accented English, “I want you to be my wife because I love you.” Then he added with a sly grin, “And because I desire you.”

  “We will respect each other’s individuality and not change each other for our own gratification,” Diana promised as her three children and Arne’s two daughters, all bridesmaids, watched.

  After they were pronounced husband and wife, Diana and Arne embraced and kissed passionately for several moments. For Diana Ross, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks in Detroit, this whole scene must have seemed surreal. Arne certainly appeared to be the ideal romantic catch, and he was hers. The newlyweds intended to honeymoon on their private Pacific island of Taino—not bad for a girl from the projects.

  Following the hour-long ceremony, Diana donned a satin-lined white mink wrap before leaving for the reception. She and Arne emerged from the church and walked under a row of crossed ice axes used in mountain climbing. A lavish wedding reception followed at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne. After a lunch of roast veal, waiters served chocolate wedding cake (which was flown 6,655 miles from San Francisco) while Stevie Wonder sang “I Just Called to Say I Love You.”

  The event was made even more special by the presence of Diana’s father. When she called to invite him, she wasn’t sure that he would want to attend. She was delighted when he accepted.

  Diana had seen Fred, who was sixty-five, a few months earlier when she played the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. She had introduced him from the audience and then welcomed him backstage. Diana had longed for a closer relationship with her father, but had always been left feeling that she was never quite good enough and this had strained their relationship. Fred had told this author in an interview just a year earlier that he “still wished Diana would attend college,” a comment that may seem innocuous to many, but revealed the ever-present theme for this father and daughter: Diana’s achievements weren’t “enough” for her father. She had for so long craved his praise, or at least his approval. But Fred Ross was a man who revealed little of his deepest most private thoughts or feelings.

  Yet, on this day, something was about to change. Fred would finally bestow upon Diana a gift she never expected. After the wedding, according to one observer, Diana pulled Fred aside and asked him, “What are you thinking at this moment, Dad? What do you think about all of … this?”

  Fred must have known what his daughter had wanted—maybe even needed—to hear for so long. “I’m proud of you, Diane. I am,” he said, taking both of her hands into his. “And you know something else?” he asked her. “Something that I never expected?”

  “What’s that, Daddy?”

  “You make me proud of myself.”

  That was it, seemingly all Diana needed to hear. Father and daughter embraced. What appeared to some observers to be a joyful expression of her feelings about the day was actually much, much more. Indeed, Diana had got what she had been after her entire life. Not simply her father’s approval, but his respect. She had been a sensitive and intuitive child who had sensed a hidden sadness in her father—an ache she had always wanted to heal but knew she could never address. However, on that wonderful day he let her know that a dream of hers had come true. No, she hadn’t miraculously ended his deeply shrouded pain, but she had done something great indeed. She, even in some small way, had made him feel better about himself.

  Part Six

  ORDEAL

  Mary Wilson’s Dreamgirl

  Just as Diana Ross was beginning her new life with Arne Naess, her former singing partner Mary
Wilson was getting ready to reevaluate the old one: she was in the process of writing her memoirs, which of course promised to be as much a sensational Diana Ross exposé as a Mary Wilson autobiography. Diana had heard about the book and couldn’t help but wonder how it was going to turn out. She, personally, had at least tried to move past any resentment she felt from those early days, but she also knew that Mary had not done so. In fairness to Mary, it was a lot easier for Diana to let it all go. After all, during the course of all of the Supremes’ angst she had become Diana Ross, whereas Mary felt she had been overlooked. In the intervening years Mary worked hard but, despite her best efforts, still had a tough time. There’s little doubt that if she hadn’t had to fight Motown every step along the way for use of the name Supremes, she would have re-formed the group at another label and would have continued to make a lot of money, record new songs and—even today—be the rightful leader of the Supremes, heir to the throne so long ago abandoned by Diana. As of this writing, though, Mary does not own the name and therefore cannot use it. From a business standpoint, where Motown is concerned it may make sense. But, in the real world, it does seem rather unfair.

  A month after the wedding, Mary and some friends drove to Las Vegas to visit Diana backstage at Caesar’s Palace. It was Mary’s hope that she would be able to obtain an interview with Ross for her book. After the show, Mary and her entourage went backstage, where they met Diana, who was joined by her lawyer John Frankenheimer, her best friend, Suzanne dePasse, and other associates. Everyone seemed to sense that something was going to happen, as it always did when Diana and Mary got together—and they were not disappointed.

  During the course of conversation, Diana mentioned that Arne was on his way to Caesar’s Palace from the Las Vegas airport and that the two would soon be off to Los Angeles before departing for Taino, their private island. Mary must have sensed that she would not be interviewing Diana in the midst of these plans. “Okay,” she said, “well, when you get to LA call me, because I want to talk to you about my book.”

  The room fell silent.

  “What book is that, Mary?” Diana asked. “What’s it about?”

  “Well, no one wants to read about me,” Mary answered. “It’s about us—the Supremes.”

  “Is it a good book or a bad book?” Diana asked.

  “Well, if you call me when you get to LA, we’ll discuss it,” Mary answered.

  “Call you? Call you! Why should I call you?”

  “Well, you’re the one who wants to know about the book.”

  At that point, Diana just turned to someone else and started a conversation with him, thereby totally dismissing Mary.

  “I was made to feel like I was writing something dirty about her,” Mary said later.

  Mary, by now thoroughly embarrassed, was preparing to leave the dressing room when Suzanne dePasse popped her head in and happily announced, “Guess what? Arne’s here!”

  “How wonderful!” Diana exclaimed as she bolted up and out of the room. “Hi, hi, hi,” she exclaimed when she saw him standing in the corridor. Apparently Arne didn’t want to go into the lions’ den with Diana and Mary; instead, he stayed at a safe distance in the hallway. As the newlyweds embraced, Arne was overheard asking, “Say, isn’t that Mary Wilson in there?” Diana then brought Arne into the room and introduced him to Mary and her friends. Shortly thereafter, Mary slipped out of the room.

  In October 1986, Mary’s book Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme was published by St. Martin’s Press. In these memoirs Mary told the story from her perspective of how Diana became the star of the Supremes, pretty much at the expense of herself and Florence. It was not a flattering portrait of Diana but obviously Mary had every right to publish it. It was, after all, her story, too. In the end, it was a huge success for her—a New York Times best-seller—but it totally ruined her relationship with Diana, and she actually still had one, though the public hadn’t been aware of it.

  For instance, five years earlier, in the summer of 1981, Mary had called upon Diana for financial assistance. She was having some personal difficulties and was in need of a down payment for a home for herself and her three children. It’s so tragic that Mary and Florence both ended up in such dire straits, considering all of the money they must have generated with their hit records and concert tours. However, unlike Florence, Mary has never given up, never allowed circumstances to get the best of her. As tenacious as she is talented, she still entertains around the world, to this day. She’s nobody’s victim.

  Of all of the people Mary knew in 1981, Diana was probably the last person she wanted to ask for money. However, she swallowed her pride for the sake of her children and made that phone call. The two former singing partners made arrangements to meet in Las Vegas, where Diana was performing at the time. Once Mary got there, Diana took her into her private dressing area and spoke to her for over an hour. She was surprised that Mary was having so many problems, and said that she would definitely lend her the money she needed, about $30,000. The business of it would be taken care of in weeks to come; Mary signed a promissory note drawn up by Diana’s business representatives at Loeb and Loeb.

  One of the collaborators with whom Mary later worked on Dreamgirl was distressed to discover that Mary planned to omit the information about Diana’s generosity from the book. However, Mary felt that since she eventually did pay back the money with interest, it wasn’t incumbent upon her to mention it in the book. In hindsight, she may now realize that she should have included it, just to be fair. But she would actually write another book a few years later (called Supreme Faith), and the story of the loan would be found in that one.

  When Diana realized that the story of her generosity was not in Dreamgirl, yet every unkind thing she’d ever done to Mary, Florence and Cindy was an anecdote present and accounted for, she couldn’t help but be hurt. After all, Diana had always been insecure. Indeed, despite her bravado and demonstrations of ego, she’d often wondered why others seemed to dislike her so much…. What was so wrong with her? Of course, Mary had her reasons for writing her book, a specific story she wished to tell and the way in which she wanted to express it. However, it doesn’t stretch credulity to imagine that it would have been a very different book if Diana had been more receptive to Mary in Las Vegas when first approached about it and had consented to an interview. But Diana handled the matter as she handled it and, as a result, she got the book Mary felt she deserved. Still, this literary indictment of the past hit Diana hard.

  Now more than ever, there was no ambiguity about it as far as Diana was concerned: Mary was an adversary. However, Diana said privately that she couldn’t help but wonder how the book would affect her relationship with Florence’s family. Then, in August 1989, a few years after Dreamgirl was published, Diana appeared in concert in Detroit. Florence’s daughters—Nicole, Michelle and Lisa, all three now grown women—came backstage to visit her. Fred Ross was also present, as was Esther Edwards, Berry’s sister. Michelle had brought along her infant son Christopher. As soon as Diana saw him, she scooped the baby into her arms and began kissing his little face. “Oh my God! To think that this is Blondie’s grandson,” she said. “I just can’t believe it. Why, he looks just like her!”

  “I don’t think that book makes much difference to anyone tonight,” Fred Ross told one backstage visitor a little later, speaking of Dreamgirl. “What was the point of dredging all that up?” he asked. “I always thought Mary and Diana got along. Shows how much I know, I guess.”

  “Oh no. Don’t bring that book up now,” Esther Edwards said. She glanced at Diana with a worried expression. Diana caught her eye and, for a moment, seemed embarrassed. “Don’t worry,” she finally said, according to witnesses. “I’m not going to blow up, Esther. After all, look at us. We’re here with Florence’s family and my dad, and we’re all happy, despite,” she took a deep breath and, through clenched teeth, finished, “that book.”*

  “Hear, hear,” said Fred, laughing.

  Of cour
se, Diana would have the opportunity to write her own book in five years, Secrets of a Sparrow. Of Mary’s Dreamgirl effort she would write: “I was depressed for a while, but I don’t hold on to bad feelings. I wish Mary only good things in life, but I no longer consider her a friend. It was very hard for me to make a final emotional break from her, but it had to be done.” She did not mention the loan in Secrets, though she certainly could have if she had wanted to make a point of it.

  Dreamgirl would not mark the end of Mary Wilson in Diana Ross’s life, however. In a few years, Mary would be back in the picture in a way so sensational as to even eclipse Dreamgirl in the public’s consciousness. Indeed, these two old friends weren’t quite finished with each other … not yet, anyway.

  More babies … and back to Motown

  Maybe not so surprisingly, some of Arne Naess’s friends, family and business associates viewed Diana’s union with him not only with skepticism but with a certain amount of racism. For instance, one very close relative of Arne’s had this comment to make about Diana: “Well, okay, I admit it—she is not very deep. But she always seems so happy. Negroes are always happy, really. They’re always laughing, smiling and playing music.” This was an older person, now deceased, who perhaps didn’t mean the comment as it sounded, but it was a terrible one to make and indicative of the surprising amount of prejudice Diana would face in her new marriage. Another of Naess’s relatives said, “You have affairs with those kinds of women. You don’t marry them.” A former girlfriend of his had this observation: “Oh yes, Arne has gone off and married the big Negro mama with long pink nails.” That comment was even published in the Norwegian press!

  Indeed, Arne took quite a bit of flak for marrying a black woman. Many people in the shipping community and in Arne’s social circle did not care that Diana was a star. They only cared that she is black, and it became a constant topic of conversation. Of course, Diana was well aware of such attitudes and, she said privately, couldn’t help but be as surprised as she was hurt. Even in the 1980s, things hadn’t much changed. She, of course, never forgot that she was a black woman and had always been proud of her identity. However, she had become accustomed to being treated with a great deal of reverence ever since she was in her twenties. For her to now face such blatant racism in her forties was, she had to admit, “absolutely stunning.”