In the spring of 1926, Hadley Richardson, the first wife of Ernest Hemingway, became aware of Hemingway's affair with Pauline,[4] and in July, Pauline joined the couple for their annual trip to Pamplona.[5] Upon their return to Paris, Hadley and Hemingway decided to separate, and in November, Hadley formally requested a divorce.[6] They were divorced in January 1927.[3]
Hemingway married Pauline in May 1927, and they went to Le Grau-du-Roi on a honeymoon.[7][8] Pauline's family was wealthy and Catholic; before the marriage, Hemingway converted to Catholicism.[9] By the end of the year Pauline, who was pregnant, wanted to move back to America. John Dos Passos recommended Key West, and they left Paris in March 1928.[10]
In 1937, on a trip to Spain, Hemingway began an affair with Martha Gellhorn.[3] Pfeiffer and he were divorced on November 4, 1940, and he married Gellhorn three weeks later.[3]
Later life and death
Pfeiffer lived in Key West, with frequent visits to California, until her death on October 1, 1951, at age 56.[3] Her death was attributed to an acute state of shock related to Gregory's arrest and a subsequent phone call from Ernest. Gregory, later known as Gloria, who had experienced gender identity issues for most of her life,[11] had been arrested for entering the women's restroom in a movie theater.
Years later, after becoming a medical doctor, Gloria interpreted her mother's autopsy report as indicating that she had died due to a pheochromocytoma tumor on one of her adrenal glands. Her theory was that the phone call from Ernest had caused the tumor to secrete excessive adrenaline and then stop, resulting in a change in blood pressure that caused her mother to go into acute shock and led to her death.[12]
