A blockbuster new book by FRANK SINATRA’s widow, Barbara, is a no-holds-barred memoirs reveals Frank’s hatred of Barbara Walters and his breakdown over Rat Pack pal DEAN MARTIN’s death.
Those secrets and more are revealed in the blockbuster new book, “Lady Blue Eyes, My Life with Frank,” a memoir by Barbara Sinatra, his wife of 22 years – and a publishing source provided The ENQUIRER with an exclusive sneak peek.
Desperate to achieve his dream of becoming U.S. ambassador to Italy, the legendary star cozied up to Democrat John F. Kennedy, as well as Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, Barbara writes. He was promised by all those presidents that he’d be considered for the coveted ambassadorship, but the appointment never came.
A neat freak and germaphobe, Sinatra showered at least twice a day and repeatedly shaved, brushed his teeth and used mouthwash, his widow writes.
“Ol’ Blue Eyes” despised Barbara Walters for manipulating interviewees into crying, according to the book, so when Henry Kissinger invited them both to the same party, Sinatra refused to attend until Kissinger booted Babs from the guest list.
When longtime Rat Pack pal Dean Martin died on Christmas Day 1995, Sinatra was so devastated that he couldn’t bring himself to attend the funeral.
“He said Dean was ‘like the air I breathe, always there, always close by,’ ” Barbara writes.
By then Sinatra’s own health was failing, and on May 14, 1998, when he was rushed to the ER, Barbara raced to his side.
She found Sinatra lying on a gurney in a cubicle with three doctors in attendance. Gripping his hand she told him: “You’ve got to fight.” His lips were blue, but she saw them moving and leaned in closer.
“Briefly his eyes flickered open. They were watery but still the same dazzling blue….Leaning closer, turning my head to hear, I heard him whisper the words, ‘I can’t,’ ” she writes.
“Then his eyes closed forever, and that was it. That was the end.”
Sinatra was buried with a roll of dimes inside his casket.
When his 19-year-old son, Frank Sinatra Jr., was kidnapped in 1963, the star carried a roll of dimes with him so he could call the abductors from pay phones. The singer was able to get his son safely returned by paying a $240,000 ransom. Forever after, dimes became a symbol to Sinatra that he was able to protect his family in a time of crisis.
Also buried with him was a flask of Jack Daniel’s, stuffed toys from his grandchildren, a pack of Camels, his Zippo lighter and his favorite candies, Tootsie Rolls and cherry Life Savers, and a gold Bulgari medallion, which was a birthday gift from Barbara, inscribed in Italian: “You still give me a thrill.”
