OnlyOnAOL: Natalie Wood's daughter Natasha pays sweet tribute to her mom
By: Donna Freydkin
During her career, Natalie Wood reached icon status, thanks to roles in "Splendor in the Grass," "Rebel Without a Cause" and "West Side Story," before dying in a mysterious drowning death in 1981. She was incandescent, impossibly gorgeous and enigmatic.
(Watch our interview with another acting legend, Isabelle Huppert, above).
Now, her daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner pays tribute to the glamour her mom represented with a signature fragrance, called simply, Natalie.
"The impetus was the birth of my daughter. After she was born I was so in love with her and I didn't want to be away from her. I realized pretty quickly that I couldn't pursue acting and be a mom who was around. I started to think about my mom's legacy through the eyes of my daughter. If I don't perpetuate it, who will? I talked to my sister Courtney about what we would do. Her scent was such a powerful sense memory for us. That was the first step," says Wagner, the mom of daughter Clover.
The scent is modern gardenia, with hints of orange blossom and neroli. And whenever Wagner wears it, she feels an immediate bond with mama Natalie. "I feel that feeling of happiness and peace in my heart. I feel close to her," she says.
After her death, says Wagner, "her scent lingered in our house. I could smell it in her closet, her sheets, everywhere. It's a very comforting smell. It makes me feel close to her. I wanted the design to be very classic. This is an homage to my mom, so it's modern and classic and something she would have on her own dressing table."
Turner Classic Movies is paying tribute to Wood's formidable film resume.
"For the last three weeks, my husband (Barry Watson) and I had been watching her movies in chronological order. I am learning so much about her in a way I didn't know before. Seeing her work – in the place I'm in now, I'm a mom myself, my pain of her loss isn't as great so I can watch her with a more detached eye. I marvel at her talent. It's crazy. As a child, I didn't really get that at all. She was just my mom. I didn't even think she was so beautiful. She walked around the house with no makeup on. I'm exactly the same way now," says Wagner.
So if her mom could hold a bottle of Natalie, "she would be humbled and flattered that I'm doing this for her. The display was so beautiful. My mom loved the holidays. Everything was in gold and she only wore gold jewelry. She would have been very happy."
