Let me tell you a story about two sisters whose lives were intertwined by love, fame, and tragedy. When Lana Wood was a teenager, she found herself in a tough spot and decided to run away from home. “I called Natalie from a payphone, and she sent [Robert Wagner] to pick me up and bring me to her house in Beverly Hills,” Lana recalls in an exclusive conversation with Closer. “I stayed with her for a couple of weeks. She even started looking into schools for me. I always ran to Natalie when I needed someone to lean on.”
Forty Years Later: The Pain Still Lingers
It’s been four decades since the untimely passing of her beloved older sister, Natalie Wood, off the coast of California’s Catalina Island. Lana, now 75, an accomplished actress and author, still grieves for Natalie every single day. “I miss the sound of her voice, her laughter, and the way she lit up any room she entered,” Lana shares, her voice tinged with emotion. “She was so open and joyful when we were together.” Lana has poured her heart and soul into her new book, Little Sister: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood, which is available now. It’s a tribute to her sister and a quest for truth.
Natalie: The Star Who Never Lost Her Sense of Fun
Natalie wasn’t just a Hollywood icon; she was a woman who embraced life with both hands. Despite her illustrious career, she never took herself too seriously and enjoyed a good laugh. “We did some pretty wild things together,” Lana confesses with a chuckle. “One time, Natalie grew tired of waiting for help at Bullock’s department store. She just wanted to pay for a pillow, but they kept sending her to different departments. So, finally, we just walked out with the pillow tucked under her arm! She had this free spirit that allowed her to do ridiculous things like that when we were together.”
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Pushed Into the Spotlight
Born eight years apart, Natalie and Lana were both thrust into the world of show business by their mother, Maria, a Russian immigrant. Natalie made her acting debut just before her fifth birthday, and by the age of eight, she was a star in her own right, playing a precocious child who doubted the existence of Santa Claus in the classic film Miracle on 34th Street. “Natalie thrived on all the attention,” Lana reminisces fondly.
However, Lana didn’t share her sister’s enthusiasm for the entertainment industry. She rebelled against the auditions her mother set up for her and longed for a normal life. “I just wanted to be like my friends and go to school,” she says. It was Natalie who intervened with their mother and secured a promise that she would stop pushing Lana into the limelight. “She always looked out for me,” Lana tells Closer with gratitude.
Bonding Through Life’s Ups and Downs
As adults, the sisters remained close, often meeting for lunch and shopping sprees. “La Scala was our go-to spot for lunch. We also frequented Bistro Garden,” Lana recalls with a smile. “That’s what we did together — share meals, shop, drive around, and talk about everything under the sun.”
They were each other’s confidantes. “Whenever I went through a breakup or had an audition, I would turn to Natalie. I’d run the dialogue by her, and she’d always be there for me,” Lana says, reflecting on her time as a star on the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place in the 1960s. “The only time we weren’t as close was during the years when she was married to [Robert Wagner]. Those were the times when she seemed distant.”
Unspoken Pain: A Dark Secret Comes to Light
In her new book, Lana reveals a harrowing truth that Natalie confided in her years later. At the age of 16, Natalie was brutally raped by actor Kirk Douglas. “She tried to bury it deep inside, but I think it drained her of the energy she should have had,” Lana says somberly. “It left a deep scar on her soul. Natalie was working hard through therapy to come to terms with the issues she felt she carried.” Lana was around 22 when Natalie finally opened up to her about the trauma.
A Complicated Marriage
Natalie wasn’t one to discuss her marriage to Robert Wagner, known affectionately as RJ. The couple’s relationship had its ups and downs. They were first married from 1957 to 1962 before parting ways for a decade. In 1972, they remarried during a ceremony aboard a yacht anchored off the coast of Malibu, shortly after Natalie ended her three-year marriage to British producer Richard Gregson. “I wasn’t thrilled about her second marriage to RJ. I openly voiced my concerns,” Lana admits. “I never felt a strong connection with my brother-in-law Robert. When I visited their home, I didn’t really engage with RJ. It was always just me and Natalie doing things together.”
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Throughout her life, Natalie dated some of Hollywood’s most famous men, including Elvis Presley, Warren Beatty, and David Niven Jr., but she never confided in Lana about any of them being the love of her life. Nor did she ever express deep affection for RJ. “She never told me, ‘I can’t live without him,’ or, ‘We are meant to be together,’” Lana says, her voice tinged with confusion. “A psychic once told me that they were together in another life, and it didn’t end well, and they keep trying to make it right,” she adds.
A Tragic Night on the Water
That fateful weekend forty years ago, Natalie and RJ were hosting her co-star Christopher Walken aboard their yacht, Splendor. The boat’s captain testified that the couple had an argument. RJ claims Natalie wasn’t in their cabin when he went to sleep. Sometime during the night, she and the boat’s dinghy disappeared.
Natalie’s bruised body, still dressed in her nightgown, was discovered in the water the next day, not far from the missing dinghy. The cause of her entry into the water remains a mystery. Lana insists that Natalie was terrified of the ocean and would never venture out in a small boat alone at night. “Lt. John Corina in homicide had an insightful comment. He said, ‘All we know is that there were two people on the back of that boat and they were arguing, and then there was one,’” Lana explains.
Time hasn’t dulled Lana’s desire for answers. “If I could speak to Natalie now, I would tell her, ‘I will do everything in my power to clear your name, your motives, and to explain who you truly were,’” she says passionately. “And I won’t rest until we uncover the truth.”
