Jackie Witte: What happened to Paul Newman's ex-wife, Is she still alive?

Jackie Witte is the ex-wife of Paul Newman. Jackie Witte’s ex-husband Newman was an American actor, film director, race car driver, and entrepreneur. Newman was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Jackie Witte: Bio Summary

Who is Jackie Witte, Paul Newman’s ex-wife

Paul Newman’s first wife was Jackie Witte. She was born in the month of September 1929. From 1949 through 1958, the couple was married for nine years. Their nine years of marriage were blessed with three children. They are Scott Newman, Susan Kendall Newman, and Stephanie Newman. Jackie and Paul divorced before he became very famous.

Paul Newman’s ex-wife Jackie has been described as a tall, dark-eyed blonde woman. She, like her future husband, was an ambitious performer in the years following World War II. How did the two former love birds meet and started their relationship? Jackie was only 19 years old when she met Navy veteran Newman, who was 24 at the time.

She hadn’t even finished college at the time. They met while doing summer stage work in 1949 when they were both living in a small town.

Within a few months, Paul and Jackie got married on December 27, 1949. They got married in a beautiful ceremony in the presence of their friends, family, and loved ones after they moved to work at a Woodstock theatre company in Illinois. 

There have been numerous ideas proposed as to what prompted the two former love birds, Paul Newman and Jackie Witte to marry so rapidly. Pregnancy is a frequent guess, however, their first child was born many years after their marriage. It is widely considered that they were simply two young individuals with similar objectives who were madly in love.

As said earlier, Paul and Jackie had three children. In 1959, the couple had their first child together, a son called Scott Newman. Like his father, Scott was also an actor, Scott, He appeared in films including Breakheart Pass, The Towering Inferno, and the 1977 film Fraternity Row. Sadly his life was cut short in November 1978 when he died from a substance overdose. His father started the Scott Newman Center for drug abuse prevention in memory of his son.

When Jackie Witte became pregnant with their first child, Scott, it appeared that her husband might have to give up acting. Her father-in-law died at the same time, requiring them to relocate to Cleveland to help run the family business.

New York was only a short distance away at the time. Jackie Witte, whose acting career had been halted, would travel to the city by train in search of work as a model. She did, however, finally become a full-time model.

She fell pregnant with her second child, however, just as her husband chose to leave Yale University, where he was pursuing a master’s degree in drama.

Newman had resolved to give himself one more year of acting before calling it quits. But having Newman away all the time was difficult for Jackie Witte, especially since she was expecting their second child.

ALSO, READ; Stephanie Newman: Facts about Paul Newman’s daughter

In 1951, Paul and Jackie had their second child, Stephanie Newman, and two years later their third and final child together, Susan Kendall Newman. Susan just like her father and late brother is also into the entertainment industry. Susan is a documentary filmmaker and philanthropist and has Broadway and screen credits, including a starring role as one of four Beatles fans in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), and also a small role opposite her father in Slap Shot. She also received an Emmy nomination as co-producer of his telefilm, The Shadow Box.

Paul Newman and Jackie Witte’s divorce

Things turned sour with their marriage when her husband finally landed a leading role in the movie Picnic, alongside Joanne Woodward. Meanwhile, Jackie Witte’s husband had been in Manhattan for days and nights, schmoozing, partying, hunting for work, and acting. Along with this, Newman was drawn to his co-star, a beautiful 22-year-old Southern beauty.

Jackie Witte became concerned as Paul became increasingly absent from her life, and for good reason. Her spouse was spending the majority of his time with another woman, Joanne Woodward. Nonetheless, they remained married and appeared to be content, at least on the surface.

When Paul finally acknowledged to Jackie Witte that he was in love with another woman, Witte didn’t let go easily. She felt she had a right to her husband’s flourishing career and their family.

As his relationship with Joanne Woodward became more and more public, he eventually worked up the courage to ask Jackie Witte for a divorce.

Jackie refused to sign the divorce papers despite the constant humiliation in the public eye. It wasn’t until new developments compelled her to make a decision. The news that Joanne was pregnant with Newman’s child was the final straw in Jackie’s resistance to their separation.

Their divorce was finalized, and the rest, as they say, is history. Jackie Witte remained one of Newman’s most enigmatic characters. Newman may be regarded as one of Hollywood’s most devoted celebrity husbands to Joanne Woodward, but this was established at the expense of another woman’s betrayal.

When confronted, Newman was always cautious around questions regarding his first marriage to Jackie Witte. When forced, he’d often say, “I was probably too immature to make a success of my first marriage” or “What happened to us during that period is nobody’s business.”

Eventually, he did confess to being “guilty as hell” and confessed that, “I’ll carry it with me for the rest of my life.”

Did Jackie Witte ever remarry, where is she now?

Did Jackie Witte ever remarry? Who did she marry? Much is not known about whether Jackie ever fell in love again. she went out of the limelight after the divorce and much was not heard from her again.

Is Jackie Witte Paul Newman’s first wife still alive?

According to myheritage, Jackie Witte Paul Newman’s first wife is still not alive. Witt died in 1994, at age 64. The cause of her death has not been revealed as well as the place of death. jackie Witte’s obituary has not been posted online.

HBO Max’s The Last Movie Stars

A six-part documentary series essentially serves as a complete biography of  Jakie’s ex-husband, Paul Newman, and his wife, Joanne Woodward- Titled – ‘The Last Movie Stars’ on HBO Max. The HBO Max’s documentary did not only focus on the good parts of their 5-decade-long personal as well as professional partnership (until Paul passed away in 2008 ) but also delves into the bad and the ugly. Therefore, the fact they’d gotten involved while he was already married to Jackie Witte also plays a significant role in this original which premiered on  Jul 21, 2022.

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