Death Divided the Stars Too Soon: Stars Who Widowed in Their 20s, 30s and 40s

Fate did not grant these famous personalities and their husbands the chance to face old age together.

Model Anna Nicole Smith was widowed at just 28, but that doesn’t mean it was a surprise. The fact is that in 1994, Anna married 90-year-old millionaire J. Howard Marshall II, whom she met at a strip club where she worked part-time. The tycoon died of natural causes of old age in 1995.

US President Joe Biden was widowed at the age of 30. His wife, Neilia Hunter, to whom he had been married for six years, died in a car accident in 1972, along with the couple’s one-year-old daughter, Naomi. Their two sons, Bo and Hunter, survived the crash. Biden married his second wife, Jill Jacobs, in 1975. They are still together today and have a daughter, Ashley.

Actor Henry Fonda was widowed at the age of 45. His second wife, Frances Ford Seymour, committed suicide in 1950. After 13 years of marriage, Fonda filed for divorce and ended up in a mental hospital. On her 42nd birthday, the woman took her own life. She is survived by a daughter from a previous marriage, as well as the children of Henry, Peter and Jane Fonda. Fonda himself then married three more times.

Singer Courtney Love was widowed at age 30 when her second husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, committed suicide in 1994. Only two years have passed since their wedding. Since then, Courtney has not remarried.

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Actor Pierce Brosnan was widowed at the age of 38. His wife Cassandra Harris died of ovarian cancer in 1991. They were married for 17 years and had one son together. Pierce also adopted two of her children from a previous marriage, Charlotte and Christopher, after their biological father died in 1986. Sadly, Charlotte repeated her mother’s tragic fate and also died of ovarian cancer in 2013 at the age of 41.

Brosnan married Keely Shaye Smith in 2001 and the couple have two sons.

Movie star Elizabeth Taylor was widowed at the age of 26. Her third husband, Mike Todd, died in a plane crash a year after their wedding. Elizabeth was supposed to fly with him, but she stayed home because of a cold.

Actress Lauren Bacall was widowed at the age of 33. Her husband of 12 years, Humphrey Bogart, died of cancer in 1957 at the age of 57. The couple had two children, Stephen and Leslie Bogart. After her husband’s death, Lauren remarried. Actor Jason Robards became her chosen one, but the marriage was short-lived – from 1961 to 1969. They had a son, Sam.

Roman Polanski was widowed at the age of 36 and this is one of the scariest stories ever. His second wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by members of the infamous Manson cult in 1969 right at her home. Four of her friends died with her. Tate, 26, was 8.5 months pregnant. Polanski married actress Emmanuelle Seigner in 1989. The couple has two children.

Also read: You don’t have to be afraid of getting old – Jane Fonda’s apt quote will convince you of that

The former first lady of the United States seemed to have a bad fate hanging over her – she was widowed twice. In November 1963, at the age of 46, her husband, US President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Jackie herself was 34 years old at the time. The tragedy occurred just a few months after the death of their newborn son Patrick. In 1968, Jacqueline married billionaire Aristotle Onassis, but in 1975 she was widowed for the second time. Onassis died of respiratory failure at the age of 69.

Hollywood star Jean Harlow was widowed at the age of 21. She lived with her husband, MGM studio producer Paul Burn, for only two months. In 1932, a man committed suicide at the age of 42. The actress herself survived her husband by only five years. She died suddenly in 1937 at the age of 26 from kidney disease.