Lover, don Juan, heartbreaker – these are just some of the terms that were thrown around Andrzej Łapicki at the peak of his career. But one of the most handsome and talented actors of the times PRL He spent as many as 58 years as the husband of one woman. And although he did not remain faithful to her, his wife mercifully turned a blind eye to it. Łapicki is credited with having affairs with the silver screen sex bombs of that time – including: with Beata Tyszkiewicz, Elżbieta Czyżewska, Krystyna Janda, Irena Karel and Anna Nehrebecka. But he had a unique relationship with his wife, which was interrupted only by Zofia's death. Then Andrzej Łapicki broke down and withdrew from public life. After a few years, however, he returned with a bang, becoming the hero of a media scandal. All because of one of the most controversial relationships of that time. Because he and his second wife were over 60 years apart, and they got married after only half a year of knowing each other.
Harbor captain and blondes
Andrzej Łapicki went down in the history of cinema thanks to his unforgettable roles, such as Pietuch in “Salt” and Andrzej in “How Far From Here, How Close” by Tadeusz Konwicki and Poet in “Wesele” and director in “Everything for Sale” by Andrzej Wajda . But he delighted and seduced not only on the screen – the actor had an extremely colorful private life. It is true that he was married to one woman for almost six decades. He married Zofia Chrząszczewska in 1947 – the woman was already a widow and had a one-year-old son, Grześ. Łapicki adopted a boy, and after some time the couple had a child together – a daughter, Zuzanna. But Andrzej Łapicki – not only extremely talented, but also devastatingly handsome – was not faithful to his wife. While Zofia took care of the house and children, he led a colorful social and emotional life. As he recalled years later, he did it with her silent consent.
“My wife lived only my life, she didn't work. Before the war it was called, it was even written in the passport, 'with her husband'.” And he added: “She was the port captain. And sometimes I arrived with battered sides, after storms, but there was always this port,” Andrzej Łapicki confessed in his book “First, keep your distance.” He also called his wife his best friend, from whom he always found support and understanding. “I had some consent for madness, for nightlife and pub life. Besides, she never asked me where I was going, where I was coming from and why at such a late hour,” he confessed.
When Andrzej Łapicki couldn't sleep at night, his daughter Zuzanna advised him to count his blondes instead of counting sheep. “I wouldn't fall asleep until morning,” her father reportedly replied. And no wonder, because there was someone to count on – the actor was linked with, among others, with Elżbieta Czyżewska, Beata Tyszkiewicz, Anna Nehrebecka, Irena Karel and Gabriela Kownacka, as well as the much younger Ewa Błaszczyk, then his student. “We all fell in love with him. Drama school students, actresses, all women in Poland. (…) He was a symbol of worldliness, elegance, tact, personal freedom,” Krystyna Janda wrote on her blog after Andrzej Łapicki's death. However, Zofia Łapicka's patience had its limits. When she realized that the relationship between her husband and Elżbieta Czyżewska was more than just a passing affair, she reported her rival to the Security Service.
Escape from old age
Although marital fidelity was not Andrzej Łapicki's strong point, the fact that he loved his first wife very much is clearly proven by the fact that after her death he completely broke down. He withdrew from public life and literally sank into the ground for some time. Many feared the worst then. The greater surprise was when, after a few years, the news broke that Andrzej Łapicki not only returned to living roomsbut – what's more – he is not alone. He was accompanied by his second wife. Getting married at the age of 85 would be enough to generate gossip. However, the temperature was heated by the fact that wife number two was more than 60 years younger than the former cinema enthusiast.
Kamila Mścichowskaa theater studies graduate, met Andrzej Łapicki in 2008 while working for the “Teatr” magazine. One day, the actor brought a column to the editorial office. There he saw Kamila and, as he recalled, something sparked. And so successfully that after seven months of dating, the couple was already married. This was enough for a social scandal to break out.
All of Poland knows my last suicidal step, that is, marrying a young girl. (…) I said: complain to yourself and I will get married, because I do not agree to old age and what will you do to me. (…) After three months of looking deeply into each other's eyes, we were a couple. I consciously escaped from old age by building a life with a woman – said Andrzej Łapicki in one of the interviews.
The family of Andrzej Łapicki's young wife accepted her chosen one, as did the actor's daughter, Zuzanna Łapicka-Olbrychska. Although she didn't like Kamila, she didn't cause problems for her father. “My father married Kamila out of fear of old age. He wanted to have someone to whom he could tell his anecdotes, and the theater expert seemed perfect for this,” she said in an interview for Wysokie Obcasy. When asked by Newsweek magazine whether he was afraid of such a big age difference and considered this relationship madness, the actor himself replied: “More like a gamble, an experiment.” In 2010, the couple gave an interview to “Viva!” magazine. In it, they talked more about their feelings. Interestingly, Kamila herself played the role of the journalist conducting the conversation. She asked her husband about love and the most important things in life, as well as about her friendship with Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and her youth. Two years later, the Łapicki family published a book they wrote together, “Paw in Paw”.
A sad end
Andrzej Łapicki called marriage to a twenty-something woman an escape from old age and argued that a young wife gives him strength. “This relationship gave me a boost in life,” he said in an interview with Viva! magazine, adding that Kamila made him look younger. Unfortunately, when Andrzej Łapicki got married, he already knew that he was seriously ill. And people close to the actor said after his death that he was not at all happy with his second wife. “She didn't give him as much time and attention as he needed,” he told “Vivie!” Jerzy Iwaszkiewicz. A journalist and a good one friend Andrzej Łapicki had a theory that the actor's death was not an accident at all, but his conscious choice. “He asked what would happen if he didn't do dialysis. They told him he would fall asleep. So he fell asleep,” he wrote in his column for “Viva!”. After Andrzej Łapicki's death, it turned out that he had indeed given up treatment.
Andrzej Łapicki died on July 21, 2012. His funeral was organized not by the young widow, but by the actor's daughter. “He made me promise that I would bury him next to my mother,” confessed Zuzanna Łapicka-Olbrychska. However, Kamila Łapicka argued that her husband's death was a great blow to her. “The moment I realized that I was a widow was very difficult. I remember the first time I heard the word “condolences”. At first it seemed very abstract to me and only after a while I realized that the person who used it was saying to me (…) Death was probably something everyone expected, except us and Andrzej. At least not entirely,” Kamila Łapicka admitted in an interview for Newsweek.
The young widow probably did not expect that her husband would leave her with nothing. Meanwhile, after reading the will, it turned out that she had been disinherited. According to the actor's daughter, he changed his last will just before his death because he was so disappointed with his marriage that he even considered divorce. “She left in the morning, came back in the evening, she became fascinated with the career she started pursuing thanks to his surname. He had to order a taxi to go to dialysis,” said an informant of the weekly “Na Żywo”. It is hardly surprising that in the face of such an unfavorable atmosphere, after the death of her husband, Kamila Łapicka receded into the background. From the world of show business, she returned to her academic career – she completed her doctoral studies, even received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and went to Rome. “I was moved by the moment when the names of my scholarship class appeared on the wall (…) – the ultra-positive classmates with whom I share this great adventure,” Kamila Łapicka wrote some time ago on Facebook.