22. Babies were often prohibited in female stars’ contracts
In her autobiography Ava: My Story, Ava Gardner wrote that, “MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies.” Horrifyingly, this led to many actresses of the time having abortions. According to website ranker.com, when Gardner had an abortion during her marriage to Frank Sinatra in the 1950s, she reportedly did it because she was afraid the studio would cut off her salary if she had the baby.
Page 20 of 41
