EINSTEIN'S AFFAIRS

New letters shed light on Einstein’s love life

Einstein admitted he spent time with six other women while married

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• Letters reveal Einstein's affairs Family letters show the physicist had several mistresses. MSNBC.com's Dara Brown reports. MSNBC.com

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JERUSALEM - Albert Einstein had half a dozen girlfriends and told his wife they showered him with "unwanted" affection, according to letters released on Monday that shed light on his extramarital affairs.

The wild-haired Jewish-German scientist, renowned for his theory of relativity, spent little time at home. He lectured in Europe and in the United States, where he died in 1955 at age 76. But Einstein wrote hundreds of letters to his family.

Previously released letters suggested his marriage in 1903 to his first wife Mileva Maric, mother of his two sons, was miserable. They divorced in 1919, and he soon married his cousin, Elsa. He cheated on her with his secretary, Betty Neumann.

In the new volume of letters released on Monday by Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Einstein described about six women with whom he spent time and from whom he received gifts while being married to Elsa.

In the early 1980s, Elsa's daughter, Margot, gave almost 1,400 letters to Hebrew University, which Einstein helped found. But Margot directed that the letters not be released publicly until 20 years after her death. She died on July 8, 1986.

Some of the women identified by Einstein include Estella, Ethel, Toni and his "Russian spy lover," Margarita. Others are referred to only by initials, like M. and L.

"It is true that M. followed me (to England) and her chasing after me is getting out of control," he wrote in a letter to Margot in 1931. "Out of all the dames, I am in fact attached only to Mrs. L., who is absolutely harmless and decent."

In another post to Margot, Einstein asked his stepdaughter to pass on "a little letter for Margarita, to avoid providing curious eyes with tidbits."

Barbara Wolff of the Hebrew University’s Albert Einstein Archives said that the persistent M. was Berlin socialite Ethel Michanowski, who was involved with Einstein in the late 1920s and early ’30s. Wolff described their relationship as an affair, but she disclosed little else about Michanowski, other than that she was about 15 years younger than Einstein and was friendly with his stepdaughters.

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