Cary Grant/Archie

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I recently watched Archie, Cary Grant's limited biographical series. It was four episodes and described who Archibald Leach was, which is who the real Cary Grant was. I have the books his ex-wife and daughter wrote on hold at the library that I plan to read. I found the series fascinating, albeit some of it was fictionalized for entertainment purposes, but a lot of it is based on the stories from his ex and his daughter. I have read a biography on him before, but it was a long time ago and not written by those closest to him. I could believe the things that were said about him because no one is as perfect as Cary Grant was made to look. Cary Grant said himself he wished he could be Cary Grant. Cary Grant was an image he made himself to show the public because he did have a terrible childhood and had a lot of trauma from it and to show that side of him made him vulnerable in a way he didn't want to be vulnerable. All of this trauma made it difficult for him to hold onto relationships and he became controlling in relationships and was a perfectionist and wanted everything done a certain way. He really wanted love because he didn't really know what real love was like and I think he sought out relationships that could never give him what he wanted because he didn't fully understand what he wanted himself. Cary Grant was a human and therefore very flawed. Everyone saw him as perfect, but he wasn't because no one is. I feel like he genuinely tried to love the best he could, and he ended up becoming controlling and destroying his relationships, even though he didn't want to. I could be wrong, but I believe almost all of his wives left him and not the other way around. I think they could only stand so much from him. When he had his daughter in his 60s he became the father he never had. He deeply loved his daughter and tried to be there for her every step of the way and even retired to help raise her. He and his ex wife put their differences aside to coparent. There was the perfectionist side of Cary and then there was the goofy, silly, kind side of Cary. I'm a big believer that two things can be true. I believe he could be controlling and cruel but also loving and silly. It's entirely possible he had undiagnosed mental health issues, especially given his childhood. I might have some new/different opinions once I read the books I have on hold. I do know that it's not possible for anyone to be perfect in the way Cary Grant was often seen. Cary Grant seldom ever gave interviews and it's difficult to find him doing any work outside of his movies. He was extremely private. I believe a lot of this is because he wanted people to love him, and he may have been afraid for the public to see him as he was, because they may not have loved him anymore, and I think he craved that love. When people get to see you with all of your imperfections, they can be incredibly unforgiving, and I think he knew that. I think he wanted the love he maybe felt he didn't deserve or maybe thought he wouldn't receive if people knew the real him. I think Cary Grant's biggest hangup was the fear of not being loved because he spent his entire childhood feeling unloved. I think he finally got that love in his later years as a father and with his last wife. It's difficult to find people around whom you can genuinely be yourself and who continue to love you regardless of those imperfections. Cary Grant wasn't someone who actually existed off a movie screen but Archibald Leach was.