 Critics established a snobbery toward me. |
| I took a job at the pool in order to earn the five cents a day it cost to swim. I counted wet towels. As a bonus, I was allowed to swim during lunchtime. |
| What the public expects and what is healthy for an individual are two very different things. |
| I never walked the streets of New York hoping to be a musical comedy star. For one thing, they would have thought I was too tall, because l was five feet eight and a half, and they were all little bitty things running around in the studio at that time. |
| I think it's so funny when people think they can't control a movie star. They can. We're just women, you know. |
| I was all in gold sequins for Million Dollar Mermaid, 50 feet in the air. |
| By the time I got home at night, my eyes were so chlorinated I saw rings around every light. |
| There was a policy at Hughes against drinking at lunch, but the men ignored it. |
| Widowhood had done nothing to curb my smart mouth. So much for diplomacy. |
| Life magazine ran a page featuring me and three other girls that was clearly the precursor of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. |
| It appeared as if I had invited the audience into the water with me, and it conveyed the sensation that being in there was absolutely delicious. |
| Three events. Three gold medals. I was news, big news, in the sports world. |
| I always felt that if I made a movie, it would be one movie; I didn't see how they could make 26 swimming movies. |
| With two little boys in diapers, I had to keep it simple if I were going to have a life at all. |
| Once I married Fernando, I became invisible. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| We can't all win Olympic medals. Even I never won one. |
| When you're out of sight for as long as I was, there's a funny feeling of betrayal that comes over people when they see you again. |
| Marriage to Fernando offered shelter and security, but the shackle was the price I'd pay. |
