Mia Farrow Recalls the Moment Frank Sinatra Served Her Divorce Papers on “Rosemary's Baby” Set
Mia Farrow said Frank Sinatra "left me in the middle of" making 'Rosemary's Baby' because she "wouldn't leave the movie when he told me to leave it"
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Mia Farrow in New York City on April 26, 2023; Frank Sinatra in Los Angeles on April 15, 1971Mia Farrow was wrestling with her own personal challenges while facing onscreen demons on the set of Rosemary's Baby.
The actress, 79, appeared on the Nov. 8 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show alongside Patti LuPone, her costar in Broadway's The Roommate, and discussed being served divorce papers from then-husband Frank Sinatra while making her breakout 1968 horror film.
"He left me because I wouldn't leave the movie when he told me to leave it," said Farrow, who married Sinatra in 1966. "It had another month. He had some dispute with the head of the studio and he said, 'I'm taking my girl out of this,' that kind of thing."
She further recalled, "When he told me to leave it, I said, 'How can I leave it?' You know, I'm the daughter of a director and an actress ... my mother was Maureen O'Sullivan and my father was a movie director, and I couldn't leave a movie."
"And I was in every shot, and it was almost [done]; I had one more month," Farrow said. "I just thought it wouldn't happen, but it did — his lawyer came on set, served me with divorce papers."
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Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)Related: Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra's Relationship: A Look Back
After meeting on the 20th Century Fox lot in 1964, Farrow and Sinatra quickly fell in love. They wed two years later at a Las Vegas hotel in 1966, when Farrow was 21 and Sinatra was 50.
Though they divorced, the actress and the "My Way" singer didn't completely part ways. The two enjoyed a long-lasting friendship until his death in 1998 at age 82.
During a Sept. 1 appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, Farrow said "the essential person" of the late Sinatra "was so compassionate and shy, and readily available, more than anyone I've ever known."
"It ended up being a friendship that lasted until he died," she added.
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Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow on their wedding day in Las Vegas on July 19, 1966Related: Mia Farrow's 14 Children: All About Her Sons and Daughters
On The Drew Barrymore Show, Farrow reflected of her wedding to Sinatra, "I only knew the day before when we were gonna get married, so I had to wear whatever I had in my closet."
"We were engaged, but he went to England to finish a film he was in the middle of and I was in my little rented house; it had two rooms," she continued. "And press had surrounded my house — cameras against every window — and there were no drapes, there were no curtains."
According to Farrow, she'd "crawl around" and "go to the refrigerator and I would open it from the floor, which isn't easy, and try to get, like, a pizza out or something."
"Then [Frank] would call and I would just pretend everything was just fine, but it was a freaky thing," the actress recalled. "But I guess he saw it on TV in England. So he called and he said, ‘I think we should get married tomorrow.’ I'm like, 'Oh, okay.' "