How Truman Capote Lost the Love of His 'Swans' (Women Behaving Badly)

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: "How Truman Capote Lost the Love of His 'Swans'"

Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Laurence Leamer, author of Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era
Air Date: August 16, 2024
Series: Women Behaving Badly

Overview

This episode explores Truman Capote's complex and ultimately self-destructive relationships with a group of Manhattan high society women he dubbed his "swans." These women—icons of wealth, elegance, and influence in mid-20th-century America—inspired both Capote's deep friendship and his most notorious literary betrayal through his unfinished novel Answered Prayers, parts of which were published in Esquire in 1975. Host Alison Stewart interviews Laurence Leamer, author of the book that inspired FX’s Emmy-nominated series Capote vs. The Swans, to discuss Capote’s motivations, the fallout from his revelations, and the cultural context of this glittering, insular world.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Capote and His Swans: Relationship Dynamics

• Who were the swans?

  • Leamer defines a "swan" as "beautiful, very rich, elegant… with her own sense of taste. She’s witty and irresistible, and there were very few women like that" (05:23).
  • Core swans: Babe Paley, Slim Keith, Lee Radziwill, CZ Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Harriman.

• Truman's favorite swan:

  • Babe Paley was Capote’s most beloved—“He just loved her… she told him everything. But he was just this merciless gossip” (05:55).

• Nature of the friendships:

  • Capote’s friendships with these women were intimate but transactional; he extracted secrets as currency among the elite (05:55).
  • While some, like Slim Keith, were cautious, Babe Paley “totally trusted him” (09:29).
  • The swans' friendships with each other were close but less intimate than with Capote (14:00).

The Allure and Rules of High Society

• Capote’s outsider status:

  • Capote grew up poor in the South and made his way into elite circles through charm, wit, and being “so charming… full of the latest gossip… irresistible as a guest” (09:14).
  • Host: “He saw himself as kind of an interloper… Did he ever become an insider?”
    • Leamer: “Not ultimately… He wasn’t one of them” (07:40).

• The function of beauty and marriage:

  • The swans' role was largely performative: “Their job was to be beautiful, that their job was to present a certain way… something that their husband had that was valuable. It was like a painting” (10:20).

• Divorce, affairs, and scandal:

  • Elite women could divorce and remarry with less stigma than average women (15:12–15:27).
  • Affairs were common among men but less acceptable for women (14:34).

Answered Prayers and Betrayal

• Capote’s intent and the fallout:

  • Capote envisioned Answered Prayers as “a masterpiece that was going to tell the story of the rich in mid-century America… like Edith Wharton for his generation” (07:40; 19:49).
  • Instead, his thinly veiled portrayals exposed private scandals—affairs, personal tragedies, and even murder allegations—causing public humiliation.

• Surprising naivete:

  • Capote was shocked by the backlash: “He didn’t really realize what he had done. He’d say these terrible stories about them and think they would just forgive him and go on, but that’s not the way the world works” (10:48).
  • Leamer: “You can never trust a writer… Whatever you’re saying, they’re listening to it and they’re going to use it. And that’s what he did” (11:12, 11:22).

• Resulting social exile:

  • “It just wasn’t the swans. Everybody started to turn on him. And that’s the way America works, right? You’re here, you’re a big deal, and suddenly for some reason, everybody turns on you” (20:31).
  • This rejection accelerated Capote’s spiral into addiction and creative block (21:57).

Capote’s Changing World and Legacy

• Era’s cultural shifts:

  • The 1960s–70s brought feminism and broader social change, but the swans “simply weren’t part of that… That whole world disappeared. That world was for one generation” (21:02, 21:27).
  • The series’ appeal endures in part because “people love dress. They love to look at it and they love to feel it and to be part of it” (21:51).

• Capote after In Cold Blood:

  • The success and trauma of writing In Cold Blood marked Capote’s pivot from outsider writer to celebrity.
  • The famous Black and White Ball—“the most fabulous party of the era”—symbolized the apex of his fame (19:00–19:34).

• Downfall:

  • “His most creative act in his last years was to pretend he was writing… he just couldn’t write anymore. Totally blocked for all kinds of reasons. Devastating thing to happen to a relatively young writer” (22:04–22:07).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the risks of gossip:

  • “He was just this merciless gossip… he would be close to your closest friend and you’d tell him secrets you don’t want anybody to know. And then he’d go to somebody else and tell that secret to them. …He was just this ugly kind of gossip. Great writer, but that was a negative part of him.” (05:55 – Laurence Leamer)

• Defining a swan:

  • “Of course she’s beautiful. She’s very rich. She’s elegant… She has her own sense of taste… She’s witty and irresistible.” (05:23 – Laurence Leamer)

• On social class and merit:

  • “He was a product of the meritocracy… If you’re a great writer, you don’t have to [have a] Ph.D. from Harvard. Right. And that’s what he was. He had this incredible talent.” (08:35 – Laurence Leamer)

• On chasing a social ideal:

  • “This society works by creating this illusion of this place. If we could only get there, we’d be happy. Well, guess what? That place doesn’t exist.” (13:12 – Laurence Leamer)

• Warning about writers:

  • “You can never trust a writer.” (11:12 – Laurence Leamer)
  • Stewart, laughing: “She said, present company excepted.” (11:18)

• On Capote’s party hosting:

  • “He was so charming. …Full of the latest gossip. …Irresistible as a guest.” (09:14 – Laurence Leamer)
  • On the Black and White Ball: “The most fabulous party of the era, where he invited all these celebrated people from all different fields of life, and he was the center of it.” (19:34)

• On the end of an era:

  • “That world was for one generation. I mean, women wouldn’t do that any longer… Nobody would do that anymore.” (21:27 – Laurence Leamer)

---

Important Segments & Timestamps

• [02:17] – Introduction of Capote, his “swans,” and the betrayal behind Answered Prayers
• [04:20] – Leamer on his research and difficulty during the pandemic
• [05:23] – What makes a “swan” in Capote’s eyes
• [05:55] – Capote’s close relationship with Babe Paley
• [06:32] – Capote’s small-town origins and social ascent
• [07:40] – Why Capote remained an outsider in elite circles
• [09:14] – Why socialites invited Capote to their dinner parties
• [10:29] – The swans' roles as decorative, valuable spouses
• [11:12] – Leamer on never trusting a writer
• [13:12] – Gilded cage: the idea that wealth doesn’t guarantee happiness
• [14:34] – Affairs and social double standards
• [15:27] – Attitudes toward divorce among elite vs. average women
• [17:12] – Capote and Babe’s shared sense of being outsiders
• [18:15] – How writing In Cold Blood changed Capote
• [19:34] – Capote’s Black and White Ball as pinnacle of his fame
• [20:31] – Social consequences after the Esquire excerpt
• [21:57] – Capote’s spiral into addiction after social exile
• [22:07] – Writer’s block and decline in Capote’s later years

---

Tone and Style

The conversation is affectionate but clear-eyed about Capote’s charisma and his destructive flaws. Leamer reflects with literary insight, humor, and honesty; Stewart keeps the interview lively, probing, and witty, including moments of playful self-reference as a writer herself.

---

For Further Listening

Listeners interested in the intersection of fame, betrayal, and social history in New York will find this episode rich in detail and context, illuminating the vulnerability beneath a dazzling era and its surviving legends.

---

Transcript

[A]

Our state has changed a lot in the last 140 years. We know because Multicare has been here guided by a single making our communities healthier. That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services, and expanding healthcare access to those who need it most. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn [e-mail] the Essential Pina Colada made with frozen pineapple chunks, fresh lime juice, white rum, coconut milk and a drizzle of honey chilled in a sleek tulip glass as you enjoy a taste of the tropics from your favorite lounge chair. The essential Staycation made possible by Vitamix Only the Essential if your small business is booming, you might say Cha Ching.

[B]

But you should say, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there and we'll.

[A]

Help your growing business. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. At rxbar, they believe in simple nutrition without the bs. That's why they said NO to artificial ingredients and yes to deliver intentional, transparent nutrition. Try their original 12 gram protein bar, the Nut Butter and Oat bar, or Minis RXBar, the proud sponsor of no BS. Use code RXBar on RXBar.com for 25% off, subject to full terms and conditions and to change. Valid until September 30, 2025, and may not be combined with other offers. See rxbar.com for full details and limitations.

[B]

Listener Supported WNYC Studios.

[A]

You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Truman Capote will be known forever for his classic works In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's. But what he really wanted to be most known for was a novel that he never finished, a novel in which he betrayed his closest friends. The novel was titled Answered Prayers, and the subjects were thinly veiled portrayals of the Manhattan high society women Truman called his his swans. Women like Babe Paley, wife of CBS founder Bill Paley Lee Radiswell, sister of Jackie Kennedy and fashion icon and socialite Slim Keith. Truman Capote befriended these women, stayed in their massive estates, hung out on their yachts, delighted at their dinner parties. But when Esquire published an excerpt of that novel in 1975, the swans were less than thrilled to have their dirty laundry aired in public by someone they thought was their friend. The story recounted an affair Babe Paley's husband had with the New York governor's wife, portrayed Slim Keith as a bitter divorcee who had lost her husband to another woman and even claimed that Ann Woodward murdered her husband. The fallout from the story was swift and seems to have caught Truman by surprise. Most of the swans cut him out of their lives and therefore out of the Manhattan social scene. In the final years of his life, Truman descended into addiction. He never finished the novel that cost him some of his longest friendships. All of this is recounted in the book Capote's A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and A Swan Song for an Era by Lawrence Lamer. The book was adapted into the FX series Capote vs. The Swans, which earned 10 Emmy nominations. Lawrence joined me to discuss the book as part of our series Women Behaving Badly, our tongue in cheek title for a look at unruly women throughout New York history. I began our conversation by asking Lawrence what his research process was like.

[B]

It was very difficult because it was during the pandemic, and the New York Public Library was closed, which had the Capote papers. The Library of Congress was closed. I couldn't get the Pamela Herman's papers there. Other things were there. I wanted to go to Italy to talk to Marella Agnelli's family there. I couldn't go there. So I wrote it basically based on research I could get, books I could get, and Internet research. That was it. That's the dirty truth.

[A]

How are you able to sort through what was fact, what was gossip, and what was pure fiction?

[B]

Because I'm very careful about that. I have to get. I want two sources, or I want to be sure something's exaggerated. I'm not going to. I'm not going to use it. But if somebody says something, sometimes you don't know if it's true. They can say it, but they have the right to say that and to record what they said.

[A]

Let's talk about defining a swan. What made a swan a swan in Truman Capote's eyes?

[B]

Well, a swan is not. Look, she's beautiful. Of course she's beautiful. She's very rich. She's elegant. She has a unique sense of taste. Yes, she has these incredibly expensive designer clothes, but she has her own sense of taste. She makes them her own. And she's witty and irresistible, and there were very few women like that then. And now, I'm afraid of all the swans.

[A]

Who would you say was Truman's favorite?

[B]

Babe Paley.

[A]

Yeah. Why Babe Paley?

[B]

He just. He just loved her. He said he was one of the first ones she met. He was just so close to her, and she told him everything. And he. I mean, but he was just this merciless gossip. If you would talk to him, Allison, he would. He'd be speak closer to your closest friend and you tell me secrets you don't want anybody to know. And then you'd go to your somebody else and tell that secret to them. Get secrets from them and tell them to somebody else. He was just this ugly kind of gossip. He great writer, but that was a negative part of him.

[A]

Well, let's talk about his beginnings, Truman Capote's beginnings. He's not someone who came from wealth. What were his early years? Life?

[B]

Well, he was brought up in a small town in Alabama and before that in New Orleans. His mother was socially ambitious. She came to New York and she met this accountant and married him. But. And Truman had only a high school education. Imagine. And he wrote his first book, a bestseller when he was 23 years old.

[A]

So there he is. Man's high school education. Yet he fit in with the ultra wealthy. How did he do that?

[B]

He just had this ingratiating manner. Fact is that he was a gay man in a time when you could be arrested for being gay. Right. And he was, he was openly gay. And he just had this charm and this ability to entertain people. But what he knew was he was invited to all these elite dinner parties. But he knew if he wasn't entertaining, if he didn't amuse these people, he would be gone. That was the reality of that world. He wasn't one of them.

[A]

Yes. He saw himself as kind of an interloper maybe into this high society world. Did he ever, ever become an insider himself?

[B]

Not ultimately because you know his Atlanta takes three generations to become a real gentleman or a lady to have this, this behavior integral to you. And it wasn't integral to him, but he was a writer and writers get their best revenge. And the best revenge was going to be this book, Answered Prayers, which is going to be a masterpiece that was going to tell the story of the rich in mid century America.

[A]

Yeah. You write about this group that they were an elitist group of people. You write how people like CZ guests really believed that their wealth was the result of God's will and that they were, they were better than her language. They were better than poor people.

[B]

She was unique in that way. She was the worst in that respect. Such an incredible snob.

[A]

Did shoot. Did Truman share the belief in any way?

[B]

No, because he probably thought. But he was a product of the meritocracy in one of the fields that, you know, if you're a great writer, you don't have to Ph.D. from Harvard. Right. And that's what he was. He had this incredible Talent.

[A]

I'm speaking with Lawrence Lamer, author of the book Capote's A True Story of Love, Betrayal and a Swan Song for era. It was the inspiration for the Emmy nominated series Feud, Capote versus the Swans. We're speaking with Lawrence as part of our series, Women Behaving Badly. Tongue in cheek. Why would you invite Truman to your dinner parties on your vacation?

[B]

Because he was so. He was so charming. Because he was full of the latest gossip. He had stories nobody else knew. He was irresistible as a. As a guest.

[A]

Do you think these women viewed him as a real friend?

[B]

Yes. Yes, in a way. In the way that gay men often befriend sort of socially elite women. Okay. There's a natural affinity there. And that was the kind of friendship it had. And some of them trusted him more than others. I mean, Slim Keith knew not to tell him certain things because she knew what he was like. She knew. She knew what he would do with what she told him. But Babe totally trusted him. Her husband was a philanderer. She. She. She was creating this illusion for herself. Imagine when she was 17. She was in an automobile accident. Her face had to be redone. She lost her teeth. She wore false teeth that she put on every morning when she got up. She was indifferent, stuck in a different bedroom from her husband. And he wouldn't even see her until she was totally made up.

[A]

You write about that, that their job was to be beautiful, that their job was to present a certain way.

[B]

Yes. To show that their husband. This was something that their husband had that was valuable. It was like a painting they could have put on the wall.

[A]

When you think about Truman, what the definition of friendship was to Truman Capote, what was it? Did he consider himself a good friend?

[B]

I think he did. Until he betrayed them. And he didn't really realize what he had done. He'd say these terrible stories about them and think that they would just forgive him and go on, but that's not the way the world works.

[A]

Do you think. Do you really think that he was gathering all this material on all of these people and there. There wouldn't be a reaction from these people once it came out?

[B]

Because he had that writers. You can never trust a writer.

[A]

She said, present company accepted.

[B]

But anyway, anyway, because they're just. Whatever you're saying, they're listening to it and they're going to use it. And that's what he did.

[A]

How did the women's husbands respond to Truman being so very present in their lives?

[B]

He was great. He was gay. They didn't have to worry about him sleeping with their wives. A perfect, perfect person to have around your wife.

[A]

Were any of them friends with him as well?

[B]

Yeah. Well, William F. Paley really liked him and liked being around him more than any of the others.

[A]

They often thought when he came. When he came aboard, that it was actually Truman who was coming aboard. Truman the president? Not Truman Capote?

[B]

No. When they first met.

[A]

Tell us that story.

[B]

The Paleys are going to Jamaica in their private plane and another guest and he said, do you. Do you mind if I bring along Truman? And of course, Pele thought, that's. That's the former President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. And so when Truman arrives on the. This little tiny guy with this scarf that goes down to his ankles and gets on. William F. Couldn't believe this and was upset.

[A]

What changed his mind about having him there?

[B]

Because just how charming he was. There was nobody like him. I mean, that world is totally gone. There aren't dinner parties like that anymore.

[A]

My guest is Lawrence Lamer, author of the book Capote's A True Story of Love, Betrayal and A Swan Song for an Era. It's the inspiration for the Emmy nominated series, Capote vs. The Swans. In reading your book, it seems that some of these women were unhappy with their lives, despite all the money in the world. What did Truman Capote observe about this gilded cage, these golden handcuffs that the women felt trapped in?

[B]

Well, one of the great pleasures in life is learning that someone who's richer and better looking than you are is unhappy. So that's one of the pleasures of reading this book, that these people had everything and they were unhappy. And what I've learned, not just from this, but from my entire life and 20 books I've written, is don't be jealous of anybody. You don't have any reason to be jealous. And this society works by creating this illusion of this place. If we could only get there, we'd be happy. Well, guess what? That place doesn't exist.

[A]

Were the swans. Did they have friendships with each other? Real friendships?

[B]

Yeah. Yes, they did. They were close to each other. They weren't jealous of each other.

[A]

Were they as close with one another as they were with Truman? Or was it a different. A different vibe?

[B]

Actually, it was a different vibe.

[A]

Explain.

[B]

Well. Well, Truman. Truman created the illusion with each one that he was their closest friend. With these women, they were just, you know, they would go out to lunch. There were ladies at lunch. They enjoyed each other's company, but it wasn't with that degree of intimacy. Most of Them.

[A]

You know, to be honest, though, it wasn't just men who had the affairs. Many of the women had affairs outside of their marriage. Was it accepted for women to have affairs as it was for their husbands?

[B]

Not of that era, no way.

[A]

So why do they do it?

[B]

I guess because they enjoy it. But most of them, I'm trying to think. I mean, Pamela Herriman had. And she would have been a grand courtesan in the Renaissance. She just went from man to man, wealthy man to wealthy man. But she was not married when she was doing. She didn't do that when she was married. And I don't think most of them. I'm going down, I'm looking at the list and thinking, but most of them, Tim Keith had an affair and divorced her husband, but most of them didn't.

[A]

Reading through the book, it struck me how they remarried and got divorced and remarried and got divorced. How were attitudes towards divorce different for elite women versus the average woman?

[B]

No, I came from a little town, upstate New York. A divorced woman was a scarlet woman. You didn't want her in your house. She was afraid she'd take over your husband. Right. So this. These elite women had. It's a totally different world. But the thing we have to realize is they were celebrated. There were these columns that were immensely popular where they told the stories of these women and the way they dress. I and believe in. I'm 82 years old in 1962. I worked for the Wacheer Iowa Patriot Chronicle in Iowa. And the young men in high school wore white T shirts and jeans. And they wanted to join their. They want to become farmers like their father. The young women, they went to Sioux City to JCPenney's and they bought these versions of the kind of clothes the swans wore. And they came home and they wore those clothing. And you knew looking at them that there were going to be a lot of unhappy marriages.

[A]

Babe Paley is the first person that you profile in the book. And it seemed like Truman Capote and Babe had a special relationship. And yet it was Babe that truly, really ended up betraying the most in this novel. Why do you think it was Babe's marriage that Truman decided to go after?

[B]

I don't think he.

[A]

You don't think he meant to.

[B]

I don't think he thought that way. I think this is the best story. He just took the best stories. He didn't care who they were. He was going to tell their stories. And he could have fictionalized these things a little bit so it wasn't so obvious. But he didn't want to do that.

[A]

He seemed like he felt like they had something in common, Babe and Truman. What would. What would Truman say? Did he have in common with Babe?

[B]

Well, they were both outsiders in a way. Despite everything that people loved Babe. And she would walk into a. Into. Into La Cote Basque, and she knew that she was a presence. She would look neither right nor left because she knew everybody was looking at her. But she still always felt an outsider.

[A]

It seems clear, we've said it clearly, that he was an unrepentant gossip. He just was. Did that reputation ever get him in trouble before the short story?

[B]

Not really, because that was. That was what that was. Got him entree into these homes, to these parties, that he was such a gossip. People wanted to hear his latest gossip. And it's really strange because, you know, great writers often like some measure of gossip, but not like this. I mean, he just was just. It was a terrible indulgence.

[A]

It was also really personal. It was also really personal.

[B]

Yeah. Well, he was. In some ways, he was a nasty person.

[A]

One thing that came through in the book is how much the experience of writing In Cold Blood changed Truman. How is he a different person after following that case for so many years?

[B]

Well, first of all, look, you can't be a great writer unless you're emotionally involved with what you're doing. And to go out to Kansas and tell the story of these two murders in this world, that he could have gone Tibet. Tibet wouldn't have been more exotic than Kansas. But he went there and he befriended one of the murderers. May have had an affair with him, but he. He totally got involved with him. And any writer, when you finish a book, you get depressed, but it was so much more. Plus the fame that came with it, all the money. It just was beyond measure what he had.

[A]

Yeah. Explain the level of fame that Truman Capote experienced after the publication of In Cold Blood.

[B]

Well, the greatest example of this is his party, the Black and white ball that he had in 1966 at the Plaza Hotel, which actually this January, for the premiere of the series, that. That ball was replicated. Replicated. So that was the most fabulous party of the era, where he invited all these celebrated people from all different fields of life, and he was the center of it.

[A]

You know, as you said, Truman didn't really think the stories were going to add up to that much. So what did he want for the goal of the novel when he wanted to achieve what he wanted to achieve with answered prayers?

[B]

He wanted a great. He wanted to Be like Edith Wharton, who to me is just this incomparable writer about the rich. And some people thought, oh, you can't write a great book about the rich. Why not? You can write a book about anybody if you do it right. And that's what he was going to do. It was going to be a masterpiece, and he could have done it. Now, what I would have done, if I were his friend, I'd say, truman, you can't do this. You got a writer's block. What you gotta do is you gotta go back and you gotta tell the story of your failure to write this book. That will be a great book.

[A]

What were the consequences once the book. Once the Esquire article came out? What were the consequences of having the swans cut you out socially in New York?

[B]

Because it just wasn't the swans. Everybody started to turn on it. And that's the way America works, right? You're here, you're a big deal, and suddenly for some, everybody turns on you. It happens again and again.

[A]

Aside from Truman's. Truman. Truman's helping the swans to see their own problems. The 60s and the 70s were a time of immense change in American culture. It was the birth of the feminist movement. How did the swans navigate the change?

[B]

They simply weren't part of that. The only one, Gloria Guinness, wrote a column for. For Harper's Bazaar, which dealt with the themes of the change in women. She. She was quite brilliant, and she could. She could. She wanted to write a novel. She could have done many things, but her husband didn't want her to do it.

[A]

Well, did the stat. Did their status change? Did their cachet changed in the 70s?

[B]

Well, that. That whole world disappeared. That. That world was for one generation. I mean, women wouldn't do that any longer. You know, just considered self indulgent and kind of worthless. Nobody would do that anymore. But still, the dress. I mean, when the series. The series was so successful, in part because people love dress. They love to look at it and they love to feel it and to be part of it.

[A]

How did the Swan social rejection of Truman Capote contribute to his downward spiral?

[B]

Well, that was the crucial thing. He began to drink and take drugs and totally dissipated himself.

[A]

How did it affect his career?

[B]

Well, he couldn't write. He. His most creative act in his last years was to pretend he was writing. His longtime lover, John Dunphy, said that children would be in his. In the bedroom, leaving through movie magazines. And he's on the phone telling. Telling people he's writing his book. He was. He just couldn't write anymore. He was totally blocked for all kinds of reasons. Devastating thing to happen to a relatively young writer.

[A]

That was my conversation with Lawrence Lamer, author of the book Capote's A True Story of Love, Betrayal and A Swan Song for an Era. It was the inspiration for the FX series Capote vs. The Swans, which has earned 10 Emmy nominations this year. Coming up next hour, we'll hear about more infamous women from New York City history, like Polly Bodine, who became known as the Witch of New York after being accused of the murder of her sister in law and baby niece. Plus, we'll hear about the Gilded Age divorce trial that captured the attention of the public in the wake of the Civil War. That's all after a quick break. This is Oliver.

[B]

They say if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.

[A]

At Amica Insurance, we know what matters.

[B]

Most to you and we work even.

[A]

Harder to protect it together. As a mutual insurance company, we're built.

[B]

For our customers and prioritize your needs. Amica empathy is our best policy. Visit amica.com and get a quote today. Suffering from dry, tired, irritated eyes? Don't let dry eyes win. Use Sustain Pro. It hydrates, restores and protects dry eyes for up to 12 hours. Sustain Pro Triple Action Dry Eye Relief.