Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are Married

On August 21, in a civil ceremony in the town hall of Coyoacán, Kahlo becomes Rivera's third wife.

Diego was 42 years old, 6'1" tall, and 300 pounds; Frida was 22, 5'3" tall and only 98 pounds. Frida's mother does not approve of the union saying that Diego is too old and too fat and worse yet he is a Communist and an atheist. Frida's father is less resistant to the marriage. He understands that Diego has the financial means to provide for his daughter's medical needs. Frida's friends are shocked by her choice while others see it as a way for Frida to advance her own career as an artist.

She married Diego Rivera, a union which, according to her parents, was like that between an elephant and a dove. Diego was fat, ugly, and much older than Frida, but she loved and admired him. However, he frequently had affairs with other women, including Frida's sister. This caused Frida a lot of pain, but she retaliated: she had affairs of her own, with men and with women. The most notable of her lovers was Leon Trotsky, the great Russian revolutionary who spent time with Frida and Diego in Mexico while in exile. Frida had a seductive effect on many people and charmed everyone. People loved her beauty, personality, and talent. She was also known for her crass sense of humor, often fond of telling dirty jokes and cussing (which she got away with at high-society parties in America by pretending she didn't know what the bad words meant in English).

In 1929, when Kahlo was 22 and Rivera 42, the two were married in the Coyocán courthouse, though Kahlo’s mother did not attend the wedding because she hoped her daughter could find a more attractive, conventional match. Kahlo officially retained her own name, and the newlyweds moved into a stylish house in Mexico City shared by some other communists. Later that same year, Kahlo became pregnant, though she had an abortion because her damaged body could not handle the pregnancy without putting her own life at risk. Her repeated inability to have children was a source of pain for Kahlo, who expressed this frustration in her paintings through the major themes of childbirth, blood and fertility.