Anne Rice and Stan Rice: A Life Together Through the Rough and Smooth Times

By Genie Jinn Miller

Usually when someone's initial opinion on someone else is,
"She was truly a weirdo. She wore white loafers and a speckled shirt and a leopard-skin jacket. She dyed her hair and had it in a ponytail that stuck out like a horse's tail. It was bright orange, and the rest of her hair was brown. It was a sight," said Stanley Rice, Jr., (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 3 Sec. 4).

One would never expect them to get married and stay together. Anne Rice was born on October 4, 1941, she was one of four children, and her birth name was Howard Allen Frances O'Brien (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 1 Sec 5). Stanley Rice, Jr., was born in November of 1943, and he had three other siblings (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 3 Sec4). Anne and Stan Rice have endured a tumultuous relationship, which has included a unique courtship, marriage, a partially dysfunctional family life, emotional trauma, success and finally mutual happiness.

They met in Journalism class during Anne's senior High School year and Stan's junior. He had just transferred in to school. Anne had been looking for a boyfriend, and he had everything she wanted in a man: tall, thin, creative, and wild. The year was 1957. He was an editor for the paper and she wrote the features columns. Stan ended up wanting to be with Anne, but only as friend at that time. Over the summer they began to date, but against Anne's wishes Stan did not want to pursue a serious relationship. (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch3 Sec 4).

In 1959 Anne left for Texas Women's University. Anne tried to continue communication with Stan by writing letters and visiting when she came home to New Orleans, but he did not respond. Then she decided that she would move on. When she returned to Texas she met John Scarborough, a young jazz musician. She transferred to North Texas State University. Unknown to her, Stan was going there now, studying law. Her current boyfriend met Stan and they became good friends. Anne's hope for a relationship with Stan was re-vitalized with seeing him again, but just as quickly as they were raised, they where torn down. It was 1960 (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 3 Sec 5).

Later that same year, Anne and a friend, Ginny moved to San Francisco to live at 625 Shrader Street. Anne began going to the all-male Jesuit School, University of San Francisco. This University did allowed women to take night classes there (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 3 Sec 6). Shortly after, Stan had gained a new perspective on life, and he then started to think of Anne again. He learned then that she had moved to California. It was November. "My heart just stopped. It was a staggering shock. I'd let her get away," Stan remembers. Stan was very sad and heartbroken that he had allowed her to get away. He soon got her address and wrote her a long letter. Anne was thunderstruck when she got his letter, and she fell straight back in love with him (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 3 Sec 7). On Easter break, they got to see each other. Stan was swept off his feet when he saw her. After the break was over and they both went home, Anne received a letter a few weeks later in 1961, at 7 A.M. It was Stan's proposal for Anne to marry him (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 3 Sec 8)

The wedding date was set for October 4, 1961. The date was only a few days after Anne's twentieth birthday. Stan was only 18, so they had to have his parents' permission to be married.

A one-legged Baptist preacher, named JP, performed the ceremony. JP kept calling Stan by Anne's birth name Howard, and calling Anne, Stan. Finally, Stan got so frustrated that he yelled at the preacher. Also the ceremony was supposed to be non-religious Stan was an atheist, but the preacher performed the religious version. Anne thought, "Oh no, this is it. He's going it leave the alter!" Stan stayed through the ceremony and they where married (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 3 Sec 9).

They stayed in San Francisco, and Stan enrolled at the same school as Anne. They hosted many parties at their house. Many of which dealt with drugs and/or alcohol. A good deal of those times, they were not even sure who was passed out on the floor (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 4 Sec 4). Soon after, Stan's writing career took off. He then decided not to pursue finishing his education in becoming a College professor, but would pursue being a full time poet. He got a job at San Francisco State as a clerical assistant to the chairperson, and continued doing poetry readings (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 4 Sec 2).

On September 21, 1966, Anne gave birth to her first child, Michele, nicknamed Mouse. Anne and Stan continued having parties, and they let Michele roam free among the people. They thought that it would give her an impression of what people were like. Michele was also allowed to express herself in almost any way; for example, drawing on the walls (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 4 Sec 5). This freedom was inspired by the freedom that Anne's mother gave her as a child (Dorman-Hickson pg. 120-121). This same year Stan started teaching at San Francisco State University (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Chronology).

In 1970, some terrible news came; Michele was diagnosed with leukemia (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 8 Sec 7). Anne and Stan began frantically searching for something to cure Mouse. They tried many cures: while some, did nothing, others, like radiation, made Michele's hair fall out. One of the cures even caused her to swell all over (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 5 Sec 1). In the last stages of her illness Stan and Anne took her to Disneyland. Shortly after they returned, Mouse had to be hospitalized, and she was kept under an oxygen tent. At 5 A.M. on August 5, 1972, Michele's heart failed and the doctors could not save her. They had both just fallen asleep when she died. They began to blame themselves, and all of the "What if "questions started flowing into their minds. To cope with the lost of their daughter they both started drinking heavily, Anne more than Stan. Not only was Anne dealing with the death of her daughter, but also with the memories of her mother's death. Since this had all happened they began arguing terribly, and when they where not arguing, the house was filled with a terrible silence. Their patterns of anger and fear were never the same. They attacked each other constantly. Anne then left for three weeks to be with Stan's parents. She sorted out her feelings and decided that she may have lost Michele, but she was not going to lose Stan, so she returned shortly after that (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 5 Sec 5).

Anne and Stan began discussing another child. They decided to wait, so they would not risk having the same thing happen again. Anne began to overwork herself as a copy editor for a law book company. In that autumn, Anne experienced trouble getting out of bed. She was first diagnosed with labyrinthitis, an inner ear problem that affects balance. A couple of weeks later, the problem got worst. Anne went into the hospital. She thought that she had a stroke, but the doctor said she had gotten Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a serious viral infection of the nerves, sometimes called "mock polio." The illness affected her for several months. "Lighting has struck twice," Stan said in despair (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 5 Sec 6).

When Anne got better she began to write, she wrote Interview with the Vampire, IWTV, during this time. The original response to the book was not very good (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 6 Sec 3). With the rejection of the book and the recent passing of Michele, recoil soon after that, causing Anne to develop an obsessive-compulsive disorder. "I felt I was going crazy!,"said Anne. Anne went to Dr. David Geisinger, but her grief did not decrease, yet the irrational behaviors did (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 6 Sec 6).

Anne went to a writer's conference at Squaw Valley, in California that August. She did not send in IWTV, but pieces about her family. Fortunately, when Anne was getting on the bus Stan slipped a copy of it into her suitcase. Anne let Phyllis Seidel, an agent, read her manuscript, and Phyllis loved it. One night in October, their phone rang, Anne expected that it was for Stan, but when he handed it back, she was in for a pleasant surprise. Alfred A. Knopf had bought IWTV for $12,000 (the going price was $2,000) (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 6 Sec 3).

Even with this wonderful event, Anne felt sad for Stan: people had stopped calling for him. Also some of their friends had abandoned them because of the wealth, and then gluttonous people, wanting to be friends, were always around(Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 6 Sec 7).

On March 11, 1978, Christopher Travis Rice was born. It had been 5 years since Michele's death (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 7 Sec 1). On May 31, 1979, the Rice's decided not to drink again (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 7 Sec 3). In 1980 they moved into a Victorian house in the Castro district in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1981 Stan quit teaching and started to paint (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Chronology). In 1991 Anne's Father, Howard O'Brien died at the age of 74. He had been suffering from failing health. All of the Rices went to Texas where he was buried. A couple of weeks later Anne started to work again (Ramsland, Prism of the Night, Ch 14 Sec 1). In 1998 Anne was diagnosed with diabetes. She was hospitalized, and when her husband and her assistants Brandy and Ross found her unable to move or speak, she had a blood sugar reading of 800 or so, she was 5-15 minutes away from dying. "I have Diabetes I, which means I'll use insulin for the rest of my life..." Anne Rice wrote (Kith and Kin).

To achieve such success in their relationship, they had to endure many problems. Many people would have given up after so many problems in the beginning by interpreting it as a bad sign. They persevered and achieved their goals. They both now are successful writers and own several houses. (Ramsland, The Anne Rice Trivia Book, Ch 11). Their endurance through the good and the bad is very inspiring to all that are going through hard times in life and love.

"Works Cited"

"Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat Fan Club." arvlfc. 2000.

http://www.arvlfc.org
(24 Feb. 2000).

"Anne Rice vitro." Veinotte.

http://www.veinotte.com/anne/
(24 Feb. 2000)

Dorman-Hickson, Nancy. "Daughter of Darkness."

Southern Living October 1998: 120-121

Kith and Kin, LLC "Anne Rice's Official Homepage." annerice. 1999.

http://www.annerice.com
(9 April 2000).

Ramsland, Katherine. Prism of the Night.

New York: Plum/Penguin, 1992.

Ramsland, Katherine. The Anne Rice Trivia Book.

New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.

Riley, Michael. Conversations with Anne Rice.

New York: Random House, Inc., 1996.