Kahlo Letters Reveal Anguish Over Miscarriage

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo reveals one of her long-held secrets in a new collection of letters published for the centenary of her birth, the Guardian reports. Titled “My Beloved Doctor,” they express her anguish over being unable to bear Diego Rivera’s child after injuries she suffered in a tram crash. “I cried a lot, but it's over, there is nothing else that can be done,” Kahlo writes.

Her doctor, to whom the letters are written, played a vital role in Kahlo’s personal life, persuading her to remarry Rivera even while admitting that the man was incapable of monogamy. Rivera later ordered the letters sealed until 15 years after his death in 1957 – but a Rivera patron, fearing damage to the couple's reputation, hid them in the walls of Kahlo's house-turned-museum until three years ago. (More Frida Kahlo stories.)