The Hollywood legend has referred to his first wife as the love of his life, who had a deep impact on him before he became famous and even after their divorce.
Who was the love of Robert Redford’s life? What happened to his first wife?
Redford married his first wife in 1958 when he was 22. He met Lola Van Wagenen before becoming famous. Van Wagenen was a Mormon from Utah, a state that Redford had a strong connection with during his life and where he founded the Sundance Film Festival in 1978.
Lola Van Wagenen and Robert Redford wedding, September 21 1958. In Utah! pic.twitter.com/lJWAa7TGXy
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“Obviously, I don’t want to denigrate the person I married, there were a lot of good reasons [why we married young],” he said. “But I have to say it was to save my life. That’s what it felt like at the time.”
Redford and Van Wagenen stayed married for 27 years. They had three children together and had to suffer through the loss of their first child, who was born in 1959. Surviving Redford are his children Shauna Jean Redford and Amy Hart Redford. Their son David James Redford died from cancer in 2020 at the age of 58.
Robert Redford with first wife, Lola Van Wagenen, in the 1970s. pic.twitter.com/5tmreWBtP1
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In an interview with The Telegraph in 2001 Redford explained his family situation. “It was mutual and it was right to move on,” Redford told the reporter. “We still have great love, great affection, great friendship. It is wonderful, and I think we probably deserve credit for it because the kids are great, they came through it OK. I never wanted to be one of those divorced showbusiness casualties — so predictable! I wanted to prove that a marriage could last and prove the business wrong. But I couldn’t.”
The couple never publicly announced their divorce, but the separation came to light in 1982 when entertainment reporter Shirley Eder wrote that the couple “have been very much apart for a number of years.”
Van Wagenen went on to complete her Ph.D. in American history in 1995. She cofounded Clio Visualizing History, Inc. with Jeanne Houck, in an attempt to bring American history to a broader public audience.
Redford is also survived by seven grandchildren and his second wife Sibylle Szaggars, who he married in 2009.
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