From PEOPLE Magazine Click to enlarge
A BAD MARRIAGE IS LIKE A VOLCANO. Some—say, Don and Melanie or Tom and Roseanne—send off so many smoke signals that the final eruption is no surprise. Others blow all at once, burying the surrounding countryside in a deep blanket of dust—or tabloid headlines. It's ironic that, despite her eight-isn't-enough marital history, the trial separation of Liz Taylor, 63, from Larry Fortensky, 43, announced two weeks ago, fell into the latter category. As Taylor's pal Merv Griffin says, "I really thought that Elizabeth had found the fellow she was looking for."

Sure, some in her circle had been skeptical about the relationship when it started. "At first we were all surprised that she would marry him," says another friend, Wendy Goldberg, "but once you got to know Larry, you really liked him." Indeed, the chemistry between the two was clear. After a lifetime of failed marriages and dizzying fame, Taylor found a kind of calm in the low-key company of Fortensky, who drives an off-road Caterpillar dirt compactor for a living. The twice-divorced Fortensky asked his millionaire superstar wife for little more than the comfort of her company. They ate hamburgers at home, hung out in front of the TV and got to bed early so Fortensky could rise before dawn when work called. "Everything seemed fine," says Griffin. Yet, he concedes, "you never know the reasons behind the closed doors."

This is not, in fact, the first time the door of Taylor's $7 million Bel Air home has closed on Fortensky with a bang. As friends say, the two, who met in 1988 while battling drug dependencies at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif, have bickered over personal foibles: his constant smoking drives her nuts; her at-times imperious attitude makes him bristle. "They both have tempers," says a Taylor business associate. "They shout first and think later. He leaves once or twice a year for a few days, and then things blow over and he comes back."

According to those who know them, tension began mounting after Taylor's first hip operation, in March 1994, left her largely incapacitated and in pain. "She hates to be dependent on anyone," says her associate. "Sometimes she would act silly, picking fights."

The arguments intensified after Taylor underwent a painful second hip operation in June. Fortensky stayed attentively by his wife's side. "He was absolutely devoted," says Griffin. But all was not tranquil. A nurse on duty during Taylor's weeklong hospital recovery says she witnessed numerous spats. "It was normal married-people stuff," she says. "I was like, 'Wow, Liz Taylor is just like any other broad fussin' at her husband.' " Though Taylor has hopes her marriage can be saved, some friends think her fussingat-Fortensky days are past. "My bet," says one, "is it's over for good."