Highlights
- Kenny Rogers had a complicated love life, being married five times, and his marriage to Marianne Gordon ended in a $60 million divorce settlement.
- Gordon and Rogers met on a TV show and quickly got married.
- The divorce and financial settlement changed Rogers and Gordon's relationship forever.
Navigating married life under the glare of the spotlight can be quite the ordeal, and few have grasped this better than deceased country music star, Kenny Rogers. Married an astounding five times before his death, Rogers knew all too well the complexities that follow a Tinseltown union.
Of his four ex-wives, none is as prominent as Little Darlings star Marianne Gordon, with whom Rogers tied the knot in 1977. Despite carrying all the trappings of a picture-perfect couple, Gordon and Rogers unexpectedly ended their 16-year union in 1993. With a record-breaking $60 million settlement, the divorce siphoned away a massive chunk of Rogers’ net worth, but did it also cast a rift between him and Gordon?
When Did Kenny Rogers And Marianne Gordon Tie The Knot?
Despite his high-profile status, Kenny Rogers wasn't one to chase after celebrity romance. Surprisingly, out of his five ex-spouses, only one had already dipped her toes in the limelight before meeting him; Marianne Gordon.
The duo first crossed paths during Gordon's time on the long-running CBS variety show, Hee Haw. Still licking their wounds from previous divorces, Gordon and Rogers made an instant connection, tying the knot just months after their first meeting.
Then unfamed and broke, Rogers came to rely heavily on Gordon, who was always more than willing to offer her support. “She was a true blessing,” Rogers wrote of Gordon in his 2011 autobiography, ‘Luck or Something Like It.’
“At a time in my life that I didn’t have a penny to my name, along came a woman who did not seem to care about any of that. Marianne even ended up loaning me money for child support payments.”
The twosome went on to welcome one child together; a son they named Christopher Cody Rogers. “We were two people who had enjoyed making my career together and raising our young son, Christopher,” Rogers wrote of is 16-year marriage to Gordon in his memoir. “I enjoyed the years spent with her family, and I believe she enjoyed the time spent with mine.”
Kenny Rogers’ Divorce From Marianne Gordon Cost Him $60 Million
Kenny Rogers and his fourth wife, Marianne Gordon, enjoyed a fairly blissful marriage until the birth of their first and only child, Christopher. By then, Kenny Rogers' music career had truly taken off, which kept him away from the family for extended periods of time.
“Everything was fine until our son Christopher was born – but I wouldn’t want him to take any responsibility for this – because that’s when Marianne stopped touring with me and stayed home to take care of him,” Rogers admitted in a 2006 interview with Independent, “and then when I came home from touring or doing a tennis tournament, I found that our lifestyles were clashing. So one day we just said, ‘Life is short, we deserve to be happy, let’s find something else to do with our lives,’ and the marriage ended.”
It didn't exactly help matters that Rogers had begun experiencing the initial pangs of a midlife crisis. “I always felt his total focus was on me. If anyone wanted anything from him, he was looking me in the eye and said, ‘Whatever she wants to do,’” Gordon explained to Closer Weekly in the wake of Rogers’ passing.
“I think that when he turned 50, I didn’t have his full attention anymore, but it looked like he still wanted me here,” she continued. “His life was such an open book and after two years he felt this craving, this longing. He said he felt he was having a midlife crisis. He felt like his career was fading.”
When all was said and done, Rogers yet again found himself thrust into bachelorhood; this time with a $60 million dent in his net worth.
Did Kenny Rogers And Marianne Gordon Remain Friends After Their Divorce?
Given the enormity of the settlement, it's easy to assume that Rogers and Gordon were far from amicable post-divorce. However, as it turns out, Rogers didn't exactly mind parting with a chunk of his fortune for Gordon.
“Marianne really did deserve the 60 million,” he told the Independent in 2006, “because she is a great girl, and we had a perfect marriage for 15 years.”
Though devastated by the divorce, Gordon didn’t hold a grudge against Rogers either. “The end of a relationship like that can be devastating, but there were many fabulous memories,” she told Closer Weekly in 2020. “I like to think about those. We had a sweet child together, and he is 38 now.”
In fact, the Rosemary’s Baby star made sure to establish a strong rapport with Rogers' fifth and final wife, Wanda Miller. “Marianne has been absolutely wonderful to Wanda, very supportive,” Rogers admitted to Independent in 2006. “Ex-wives can make current wives miserable, but Marianne doesn’t do that. She sees I’m happy and that makes her happy.”
Despite their unexpected separation, the duo continued to watch out for one another, with Gordon even making sure to send Rogers greeting cards on his birthday. “She'll send me a birthday greeting card, or whatever,” Rogers revealed to Independent. “But nothing goes across my desk that Wanda doesn't know about. Because to me the definition of an affair is anything you can't tell your spouse about, even if it is only having coffee with someone else. If you can't tell, there is a hidden agenda. Also, if you don't tell, then they imagine the worst."
What's more, when Rogers passed away in 2020, Gordon was among the many who couldn't resist gushing about him. “I couldn’t say enough nice things about him and how special he was,” she told Closer Weekly. “So many people have called to remind me of the wonderful things Kenny did to help his friends and mine, including buying a car for a friend’s mother. He was such a kind, good person.”
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