It took Phil Spector adopting children without her knowledge for Ronnie Spector to reach her breaking point.
In an interview with People magazine, the pop legend explained why the 1971 adoption, meant as a Christmas present, made her realize she needed to get away from the maniacal producer once and for all.
“We were in the car and all of a sudden we pull up to the mansion and there’s a fountain and there are these twins running around — these blond-haired, blue-eyed twins,” Ronnie, 75, told the magazine. “I’m saying, ‘What’s this?’ He said, ‘Merry Christmas!’”
She continued, “He never said, ‘Ronnie, what do you think we should do? Should we adopt twins?’ Nothing! Everything was a surprise, and no woman wants live children as a surprise,” she continues.
It was at that point that the singer’s mother Beatrice stepped in.
“She said, ‘I’m your mother and I’m telling you, we gotta get out of here,” she said. “Or you, my little girl, are going to be gone.’”
Ronnie and Phil married in 1968, five years after he had signed her girl group, The Ronettes, to his label, Philles Records. During their time together, the singer lived in their Beverly Hills mansion surrounded by barbed wire and guard dogs.
Shortly after she came home to find her new children, Ronnie finally left Phil for good in 1972. Their divorce would be finalized two years later. In addition to the twins, Louis and Gary, the couple had adopted another son, Donté, in 1969.
Ronnie would go on to have a solo career and married again in 1982. She and husband Jonathan Greenfield have two children together.
Phil, who had already been married once before, wed Rachelle Short in 2006 while he was awaiting trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. In 2016, the producer, who would eventually be found guilty of second-degree murder during a second trial, filed for divorce while he was behind bars citing irreconcilable differences.
He won’t be eligible for parole until 2028 when he’ll be 88.