In the '70s, she broke the rules by speaking about her own breast cancer, addiction and alcoholism. A new bio reveals how modern she really was 在70年代，她打破常规，谈论自己的乳腺癌、毒瘾和酗酒。一本新传记揭示了她是多么的现代

America's First Ladies often play it safe—avoiding politics, prizing privacy—but there was never anything typical about Betty Ford. 美国的第一夫人们通常会谨慎行事，避开政治，尊重隐私——但贝蒂·福特从来没有什么常规的事。

Thrust into the role overnight when President Nixon resigned in the Watergate scandal in 1974 and Vice President Gerald Ford took over, Betty, a Martha Graham-trained dancer, tiptoed around nothing. 1974年，尼克松总统因水门事件辞职，副总统杰拉尔德·福特接手，贝蒂，一位玛莎·格雷汉姆训练的舞蹈演员，在一夜之间就被推上了这个角色，她一直如履薄冰。

She spoke frankly about her children's use of marijuana ("I'm sure they've all probably tried it"), supported legalized abortion ("Bring it out of the backwoods and into the hospitals, where it belongs") and went public with her breast cancer and mastectomy—easing a long-held stigma. 她坦率地谈到她的孩子们吸食大麻（“我相信他们可能都试过”），支持合法堕胎（“把大麻从偏远地区带出来，带进医院，这是它的归属地”），并公开她的乳腺癌和乳房切除术——以此来减轻长期以来的耻辱。

Sometimes, for her four kids, Betty was a little too candid—like the time she said she "wouldn't be surprised" if her daughter Susan, then 18, was having premarital sex. 有时候，对她的四个孩子来说，贝蒂有点太坦白了——她说如果她18岁的女儿苏珊婚前发生性关系，她“不会感到惊讶”。

"The joke is that there were lines of boys outside the White House waiting to date me since my mother said I could have sex," Susan, now 61, tells People' s Liz McNeil with a laugh. 现年61岁的苏珊笑着对《人物》杂志的莉兹·麦克内尔说:“有个笑话说，自从我妈妈说我婚前可以发生性关系后，白宫外男孩子们就排起了长队等着和我约会。”

But it was in revealing her own prescription-drug addiction and alcoholism that Betty really blazed a trail. 但是，贝蒂在揭露自己的处方药瘾和酗酒问题时，才真正开辟了一条道路。

"To my dying day, I'll be recovering," she said. “直到我生命的最后一天，我都在恢复，”她说。

In 1982 she opened the Betty Ford Center, a rehab clinic made famous by the many stars who've sought help there. 1982年，她开了贝蒂福特中心(Betty Ford Center)，这家康复诊所因许多在那里寻求帮助的明星而闻名。

The center cemented her legacy of removing the shame from addiction. 该中心巩固了她为毒瘾去除污名化的成果。

Seven years after her death at age 93, Betty Ford, a new biography by Lisa McCubbin, excerpted here, tells the story of the girl who was born Elizabeth Anne Bloomer, raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., and always did things her own way. 她93岁去世，七年后，丽莎·麦卡宾(Lisa McCubbin)的新传记《贝蒂·福特》(Betty Ford)讲述了伊丽莎白·安妮·布卢姆(Elizabeth Anne Bloomer)的故事。她在密歇根州大急流城(Grand Rapids)长大，总以自己的方式处事。

Susan hopes the book will teach a new generation about her mom: "She was truly the one who began to change the role of the First Lady." 苏珊希望这本书能让新一代人了解她的母亲：“她是真正开始改变第一夫人角色的人。”

In the middle of a divorce from her first husband in 1947, Betty met Jerry Ford, a lawyer and former University of Michigan football star. 1947年，贝蒂与她的第一任丈夫离婚时，遇到了律师杰瑞·福特，他曾是密歇根大学的足球明星。

They married in 1948, he was elected to the U.S. House, and they had four kids in seven years. 他们于1948年结婚，他被选入美国众议院，他们在7年内生了4个孩子。

Betty taught Sunday school, was a Cub Scout den mother and attended sessions of Congress to learn about Jerry's work. 贝蒂在主日学校教书，当过童子军女训导，参加过国会的会议，了解杰里的工作。

For a woman who appeared on the outside to have everything, even she couldn't understand why she wasn't perfectly happy. 对于一个看起来拥有一切的女人来说，即使是她也不明白为什么她不是很快乐。

In 1964 she suffered a pinched nerve in her neck and was prescribed Darvon, a powerful painkiller. 1964年，她颈部神经紧张，医生给她开了一种强力止痛药达尔丰。

Before leaving the hospital, Betty had expressed her fear about being able to return to normal activities. 离开医院之前，贝蒂表达了她对恢复正常生活的恐惧。

The doctor's response: "Don't let the pain start. Keep your medication with you and take it every four hours." 医生回答说:“不要让疼痛复发。随身携带药物，每四个小时服用一次。”

She was on pain meds around the clock, and every evening, at 5, she'd have a cocktail, just as she'd always done. 她24小时都在服用止痛药，每天晚上5点，她都会喝一杯鸡尾酒，就像往常一样。

Jerry became Senate Minority Leader in 1965. As Jerry's prestige in Washington grew, Betty began growing resentful. 杰里于1965年成为参议院少数党领袖。随着杰里在华盛顿的声望越来越高，贝蒂开始变得怨恨起来。