"I've always admitted that I'm ruled by my passions."

Those who know me well know this about me: I really love Elizabeth Taylor. 

It started years ago when I saw Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for the first time and I realized, overwhelmingly, that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. 

And she was so much more than pretty - her prime was during a Hollywood Golden Age, an age when there were true movie stars, and being "just pretty" simply didn't cut it. What was required was charisma, and this woman had it in spades. Watching one of her films today, and you see it - she'll draw you in, she'll captivate.  Watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and you'll see, she didn't need to show you how stunning she was to pique your interest.

On the subject of her great beauty though - I can say that personally, she was such a visual aspiration. It sounds absurd, but she is the reason I was never one of those girls who over-plucked her eyebrows. Also, the woman had violet eyes. Violet! A dear friend of mine's grandmother also had violet eyes, and that's such a rare feature, it is impossible not to envy it.

So much has been written about Taylor's personal life: her struggles, her eight marriages, her apparent frivolity with jewels and other lady's husbands. I feel no need to elaborate more on that, though I urge you to explore her fascinating story. All I want to say is this: She lived a passionate and unapologetic life. How many of us are lucky enough to say the same?

Elizabeth Taylor stood out as an activist, an advocate of gay rights, and a great supporter of AIDS research - she took a stand in the 1980s when so little was known about the condition, and drew much needed celebrity attention to the cause. I think it is fair to say that much of this passion and empathy sprung from her fierce loyalty to her friends, which is one of the things I most admired about her.

Today the world lost a true gem, a movie star, a humanist, a beauty, a great woman. 

x.