John Wayne once asked a friend, Louis Johnson, why he seemed to have so much trouble with his relationships. “Louis, I can get along with everybody,” he said via “John Wayne: American.” “Why the hell can’t I get along with women?” John Wayne’s wives would likely have answered that he cheated on them, for starters. Wayne had three failed marriages. His first, to Josephine Saenz, lasted from 1933 to 1945 and produced four children. Throughout this time, Wayne had a long-running affair with fellow Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich, among others.
Wayne’s second marriage, to Mexican actress Esperanza Bauer, was even stormier. He was still married to his first wife when they got together. The couple’s union lasted from 1946 to 1954. They fought often, and in 1947, Bauer, believing Wayne was having an affair with a co-star, drunkenly shot at him with a pistol, but missed. He met his third wife, Pilar Palette — 21 years his junior — when they were both still married. They wed in 1954 and had three children. Wayne allegedly had an affair with actress Maureen O’Hara during his third marriage, and while he and Palette never officially divorced, they separated in 1973. The Duke then moved in with his former secretary, Pat Stacy. Wayne may be best remembered for his many triumphs during his long Hollywood career, but he experienced nearly as many failures as well.
