Talk:Natalie Wood

"Separated" or "Announced separation"

Slow-motion edit war is getting tiresome on my watchlist. On 20 June, Str1977 changed:

−

On June 20, 1961, the couple announced their separation in a joint press release and divorced ten months later on April 27, 1962.

+

The couple separated on June 20, 1961 and divorced ten months later on April 27, 1962.

• Reverted by 66.57.216.242
• Reverted by Str1977
• Reverted by 2A00:23C5:7B2F:3601:588E:3AD6:1482:6DCA
• (22 June) Reverted by Str1977
• Reverted by 2a00:23c7:6cbe:f901:da93:63d:3754:808e
• (23 June) Reverted by Str1977
• Reverted by 2A0A:EF40:6C:7601:5493:4049:5884:FFBD
• (24 June) Reverted by Str1977

Please, could the two of you hash it out here rather than via edit summaries? Thanks. Schazjmd (talk) 19:46, 24 June 2025 (UTC)

Obviously, the date of separation is not the same as the date the separation was announced. These are two different things. We don't know when they separated, we only know when they announced it. It's not complicated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.9.97.121 (talk) 00:26, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

I repeatedly called on the IP - assuming it is the same person behind all these reverts - to do just that.

No, the date of separation (arguably!) is not the same as the separation itself. Some of my edits took that into account - so the comparison above is not entirely accurate - to which the IP reacted with another revert.

What's however also true is that the date the couple announced their separation to the public is an irrelevant, non-event. If a person dies, we will record - to the best of our abilities - the death date, not when the person dying was "announced" (unless there is a considerable gap between the two, in which case we note both.)

The logical assumption is that they separated shortly before "announcing" it to the public.

One final note: the links giving in reference I could access (Perroni 2021) note that they "separated in June". Where does the exact date even come from? Str1977 ^(talk) 07:54, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

Trial separation

A recent edit by Augmented Seventh has added another element into the mix. His edit insists that it is a "trial separation".

This is sourced to < ref >"Film Pair Separate". The Berkeley Gazette. June 20, 1961.< / ref >, which however cannot be openly accessed. I'd suggest that the relevant passage should be quoted either in the ref or at least here on talk. (The same for the following reference about the divorce.)

Then there's the question what difference the word trial separation makes. The term links to Marital separation, which unfortunately does not even address the term. An [earlier version of trial separation] had "A trial separation is an informal splitting of a couple. Unlike legal separation, this is purely a personal arrangement and does not require legal proceedings." - Assuming this is true, "trial separation" is misleading to non-specialist as "trial" suggests some sort of legal proceedings when the opposite is true. (The "trial" actually refers to "trying to separate, as in "trial and error".) Especially if it comes with an explicit date. Str1977 ^(talk) 08:35, 27 June 2025 (UTC)

Wagner has said on camera that he and Wood separated in 1960. I think they were living in the same house, but had separate bedrooms, when Wood caught him "in flagrante de licto" with David Cavendish and decided to make the split public. You have to understand that news traveled slower back then. It wasn't like today where such events get contemporaneous coverage.

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