Her first marriage lasted 7 years but they never lived together. Her next one lasted 33 years (and eternity in Hollywood) until he dropped dead in 1968.
"In 1958 she met Verna Hull, a wealthy painter/photographer and the stepdaughter of a Sears Roebuck heiress. They had a nine-year friendship and painted together, went for drives together, traveled together and even rented twin penthouses in New York. They had a mutual interest in art. When Colbert bought a house in Barbados in the early 1960s, Hull also bought a modest house next door. The friendship ended suddenly after an argument that took place as Colbert's husband lay dying. Colbert denied, and took offence at, lesbian rumours.
Colbert was childless. She left most of her estate, estimated at $3.5 million and also including her Manhattan apartment and Bellerive, to a long-time friend, Helen O'Hagan, a retired director of corporate relations at Saks Fifth Avenue. Colbert had met O'Hagan in 1961 on the set of Parrish, her last film, and the pair became best friends around 1970.
After the death of Pressman, Colbert instructed her friends to treat O'Hagan as they had Pressman, "as her spouse".
