Eddie Fisher's Five Wives and Four Children

Publish date: 2024-05-21

The singer was at one time the artist with more albums sold, more than the Beatles and Elvis together. However, that fame was overshadowed by the scandal in his love life.

Edwin Jack Fisher was born on August 10, 1928, in Philadelphia, one of the seven children of a Russian-Jewish immigrant couple. He began his career singing on his hometown radio at age 15, soon moving to New York as comedian Eddie Cantor's protégé, which helped Fisher become a star on radio and television.

Upon returning from the Army in 1953 after two years of service, he reached record sales with his songs, and was given his own 55-minute television show called “Coke Time”. Fame and fortune smiled at him and he was at his best.

Eddie Fisher. I Image: Wikimedia Commons.

DEBBIE REYNOLDS

On September 26, 1955, he married Debbie Reynolds, whose real name was Mary Frances Reynolds, a beautiful young girl raised in a religious family from Texas who moved to California. She won a beauty contest as a teenager, then began working as an actress and became a household name.

They were called “the American sweethearts”. This marriage sealed the fame of Fisher, who once said that it was too good to be true. It really was. After the birth of his first daughter, Carrie Frances on October 21, 1956, Fisher needed some space.

Debbie Reynolds. I Image: Getty Images.

The marriage began to crack. During Fisher's tour of England, Reynolds took her friend Jannelle and flew to London to meet with him. At the end of the presentations, the couple moved to France to meet friends Elizabeth Taylor and her husband, Mike Todd.

During this trip, Reynolds became pregnant with her son Todd, named in honor of Fisher's friendship with Taylor’s husband. However, the sudden and tragic death of Mike Todd in a plane crash in 1955 prompted Fisher to fly to the widow's side to comfort her.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

Only a month after being next to Elizabeth, Fisher informed Debbie his decision to leave her and stay with whom, until then, was her best friend since their days at fellow students of the MGM Studios acting school.

Reynolds, who had two small children at the time, was devastated. And Fisher's career suffered dramatically. Fisher and Taylor got married in Las Vegas on the same day, 3 ½ hours after he and Reynolds got divorced in 1959.

Elizabeth Taylor. I Image: Getty Images.

During the filming of “Cleopatra” in 1963, the scandal broke out again. This time the victim was Fisher. His wife Elizabeth had an affair with co-star Richard Burton and they didn't hide it. The press mocked Fisher, the betrayed husband.

After his divorce from Taylor, Fisher seemed to move away from love relationships to try to recover his career, but the damage was too much.

CONNIE STEVENS

During the two years of marriage, they had two children: Joely and Tricia Leigh who grew up to become actors. However, the couple divorced on June 12, 1969.

Connie Stevens. I Image: YouTube/ Celebrity Net Worth.

In one of the autobiographies that Fisher wrote, he referred to his first three marriages with words not flattering to his ex-wives. Regarding Reynolds, he said he didn't know her very well when they got married and that he was attending to her dependent, insecure and self-centered personality.

Neither did he say anything good about Taylor, referring to the years he was with her as a time full of children and pets as well as trips to emergency rooms. About Stevens, he admitted he had to "do what needs to be done" because she got pregnant.

TERRY RICHARD

At 47 and after a disastrous attempt to return to his career, Fisher married 21-year-old beauty queen Terry Richard. The marriage lasted only 10 months, from October 29, 1975, to April 1, 1976.

After this marriage and flash divorce, Fisher did not remarry in almost 20 years but when he did, it was a totally different marriage to those he had in the past.

Terry Richard and Eddie Fisher. I Image: YouTube/ The Online.

BETTY LIN

His fifth marriage, to Betty Lin, a Chinese businesswoman, lasted longer than any of his other marriages, and almost more than the sum of the previous four, from July 14, 1993 until Lin's death from lung cancer on April 15, 2001.

Tricia Leigh Fisher informed the press that her father died on September 22, 2010, at her home in Berkeley due to complications with hip surgery.

It silenced one of the most prodigious voices in America, which drove the teenagers crazy in the 50s and had more than 30 musical hits, selling millions of records.

At the time of his death, Eddie was 82 years old and was buried next to the ashes of his last and fifth wife, Betty Lin, at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, in Colma, California.