Who did Lucille Ball intensely dislike?

Desi Arnaz.

Yes, the most iconic ginger in television history had an intense dislike for her husband of 20 years (1940–1960). Ball said that there were times where she would cry for hours. Sometimes between the scenes of I love Lucy her eyes would be so red, Ball says in her book Love Lucy. That just smacks of…

No way!

She said that she and Desi never liked one another. That there was more physical chemistry between them than anything else. “I realized we never really liked each other,” wrote Ball. “We had a great attraction going for each other in the beginning, but we didn’t approve of each other.” She mentioned that the sex was great between the two, but there wasn’t much else. So they had no problem sacking each other but sacrificing themselves for the other in front of a moving train?

Wasn’t going to happen.

Ball then went on to say that there was a disconnect in how the two wanted to live their lives. According to the woman who financed shows such as The Lucy Show, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek, she titled toward Conservatism while Mr. “Lucy, I’m home! ” was very much indulgent.

“He disapproved of my moderation and my conservatism,” wrote Ball. “I was square, he said. I disapproved of the way he worked too hard, played too hard, and was never moderate in anything. It was like living on top of a volcano; you never knew when it would erupt or why.”

Ball let it be known that asking for emancipation and a divorce from Arnaz was not easy. The couple reportedly tried to divorce one another multiple times in the past, but each had false starts. But eventually, Arnaz asked Ball for a divorce not too long after an episode where Ball appeared as a geisha girl.

This is so hard to process, especially considering what I have read in the past. Just before Arnaz died in 1986, Ball called him “the great love of my life.” With the way their marriage flushed down the crapper, one would think, “How could a man you never liked be the great love of your life?”

You’re barking up the wrong tree, I don’t have the answer that you seek, only Lucille Ball does, and considering she went the way of the Dodo Bird in 1989, I don’t think she’s up for further debate on this matter.