The story of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash's first wife and the mother of his four daughters. Includes never-before-seen footage and photographs of Johnny Cash and Rosanne Cash, as well as footage featuring Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix, Tim Robbins, Whoopi Goldberg, John C. Reilly and many more.
The largely unknown story of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash's first wife and mother of his daughters.
The documentary is well-written and well-told by her daughters, hundreds (if not thousands) of letters between Miss Vivian and Johnny, and historical footage.
It's almost like Johnny Cash had a secret life, a mostly good one until he got hooked on drugs.
Miss Vivian's life story, as shared with us by her daughters, is complex and melancholy.
She met Johnny when they were both very young and impressionable. They fell in love in the way that seemed so easy and natural for their ages and the time they grew up in.
But what started out as a fairy tale love story morphed into real world heart break and a haunting tale of things unsaid and unknown.
The pitfalls of fame...
There was an accusation that Miss Vivian was "negro" after she was photographed in public with Johnny Cash, an accusation that threatened to derail Johnny Cash's career. It resulted in a huge campaign to declare her as caucasian, of Italian heritage.
Today we know that both things were true. She was of Italian heritage, on her father's side. She was also Black, thanks to her mother's heritage.
In America, there is a saying: it only takes "one drop" to make you Black. Today, Miss Vivian would have been considered light-skinned.
This revelation isn't covered in the film because it wasn't known until after she died. The discovery was made by her daughter Roseanne. (https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/rosanne-cash-mom-vivian-liberto-black-ancestry-finding-your-roots-rcna86672)
The heartache that she endured when Johnny Cash struggled with addiction, his infidelity, the divorce that followed -- her daughters detail it all in candid detail.
It truly is their story as well. It is evident that these women loved their mother deeply despite her flaws.
She made the best life she knew how, despite the hardships she endured.
Rest peacefully beautiful lady.
A very heartfelt, depressing, occasionally moving story of a family and a marriage destroyed by the changes in a man's personality and his commitment to his dream.
Maybe I'm a little bit different than other viewers, I thought the love story of Vivian and Johnny when they were young was sweet but I couldn't help but wonder what they saw on each other? I never really thought that Vivian and Johnny looked like they belonged together. But that's my personal opinion. The letters are very sweet, if not soppy and I definitely understand why it really hurt Vivian that after all those promises and all of those letters that the love her husband declared he would always have for her faded away. I suppose no one could have predicted how famous he would become so fast, but with how quickly Johnny chose the music life and his music friends over his life at home with his new wife, it makes me wonder if these two should never have married. Because that points to a lack of maturity on his part.
Above all, you really feel sorrow for Vivian that after all Johnny put her through, the obsessive fans, the loneliness, the move out to California that was the beginning of the end for their marriage, the affairs, she was still in love with him the rest of her life. I don't know, I wish Vivian had been a more stronger woman. I had trouble relating to this idea of still Loving your ex-husband who put you through hell.
It wasn't just drugs that pulled Johnny away, it was his choices. The daughters don't seem to realize that, but at a certain point you have to realize it's not the drugs. It was the life he wanted. He also chose to be with June even though he was married.
Anyway I was grateful to see Vivian leave Johnny and I really think she did the right thing by divorcing him. I was glad to see that she seemed to recover as well as she could, and lived a life that she seemed to enjoy. It's just disappointing to know how Joy she really denied herself by not forgiving Johnny and June and letting go of the past. She obsessed too much over losing him and the only one that suffered for it was her.
Definitely a good story on what not to do when you're young, cuz I feel like if Vivian and Johnny had both been wiser, they never would have married.