‘Amicable’ Split With Businessman Stein : Liz Taylor Cancels Her 8th Trip Down the Aisle

Elizabeth Taylor has canceled her eighth trip to the altar, breaking off her engagement to businessman Dennis Stein in an “amicable” split, a spokeswoman for the actress said today.

“It happened a week ago. It’s very amicable and very friendly,” the spokeswoman, Chen Sam, said. She declined to give a reason for the split.

Taylor, 52, no longer wears the sapphire and diamond engagement ring Stein gave her when she accepted his marriage proposal in mid-December after a whirlwind two-month courtship, Sam said.

It is the second time in six months that the actress has broken off an engagement, last time to Mexican lawyer Max Luna.

Sam said that there is no other man in Taylor’s life at the moment and that Taylor and Stein last talked on the phone Sunday night, discussing the one-year anniversary of Taylor’s release from the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., for drug and alcohol addiction.

In an interview with the New York Times, the actress talked about overcoming her addictions at the center, saying, “All kinds of people go there, including street junkies. It’s the great leveler.”

“Not being a drunk is the only way I’m going to stay alive,” she added.

During the interview she read from her diary, written during her stay at the center, which said, “It’s probably the first time since I was 9 that no one wants to exploit me.”