HOW SEX SAVED VIVIEN LEIGH

Secret story behind Gone with the Wind

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Playing Scarlett O'Hara brought Leigh fame but it came at a great emotional cost

VIVIEN LEIGH played tough-as-nails survivor Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, but in real life, she was emotionally fragile and was crushed by the pressure of her career-making role.

Hysterical and buckling under the pressure of relentless production, the 25-year-old beauty began popping sedatives as she struggled to cope and nearly killed herself with an accidental overdose on the Hollywood set in 1938.

Vivien's alarmed lover, actor Laurence Olivier, 32, wrote, “How dare you take four pills like that!"