“Loretta had time to take stock of her life during her final days,” the family friend spilled. “She was proud of her tremendous accomplishments but kept some never-voiced secret sorrows she needed to unburden before joining her lost loved ones on the other side,” the friend added.
“Her forbidden love for Conway was the heaviest of them all.”
Teenage bride Loretta was married for 20 years to Oliver “Doo” Lynn when she met Twitty in 1968. Her husband’s boozing and skirt-chasing pushed her close to Twitty as they began recording a string of No 1. Duets including their classic Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man.
The pair became county music’s leading duo, and their chemistry led fans to think they were married — and they were close enough to be lovers.
“Conway gave Loretta a shoulder to cry on, even though he was married too,” said a friend.
Before her Oct 4. death at her Tennessee ranch, Loretta confessed “she and Conway deeply loved each other, and she was tempted to enter into an affair as payback for Doo’s cheating,” dished the pal.
In her final days, Loretta also admitted to being jealous of Dolly despite scoring 24 Np. 1 singles and three Grammy Awards.
“She saw Dolly striving for a career as an actress, crossing over from county to pop music,” the friend said. “Loretta wanted that, too, but her acting career began and ended with a TV guest role on The Love Boat.”
“And producers told Loretta her voice was too country for pop.”
Sources revealed Loretta’s biggest regret was ignoring her mom Clary’s chilling warning about buying her sprawling, 3,500-acre ranch with Doo in 1966.
“Clary told Loretta she and Doo should pack up the family and get out of there,” said a pal. “She got the feeling the grounds were haunted and told Loretta if she didn’t move, one of her children would drown there.”
Loretta’s oldest son, Jack, 34, drowned trying to cross the ranch’s river on horseback in 1984.
Loretta lost Doo in 1996 and her oldest daughter Betty Sue died in 2013 at the age of 64. Before her last breathe, Loretta admitted “she regretted not listening to her mother,” a friend dished. “She went to her death believing her home was cursed.”
