Getty Raquel Welch with husbands four, Richard Palmer, and three, Andre Weinfeld.
The actress Raquel Welch was married four times before her death at the age of 82, but none of the marriages lasted.
According to TMZ, Welch, who leaves behind a daughter and a son, died of a “brief illness” on February 15, 2023. The illness was not disclosed.
Welch was not married at the time of her death. According to the Sun, her husbands were James Welch, Patrick Curtis, Andre Weinfeld, and Richard Palmer. All of the marriages ended in divorce, The Sun reported.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Raquel Welch Had 2 Children With Husband James Welch, Her High School Sweetheart
According to the San Diego Union Tribune, James Welch, her first husband, was Welch’s high school sweetheart.
They had two children together – her son Damon Welch and daughter Tahnee Welch – by the time she was 21, the newspaper reported.
According to ABC News, in 1958, she married Welch while attending San Diego State College.
They separated and Welch moved to Los Angeles with the children to be an actress, according to The Tribune, which reported that it only took her three years to become a star.
2. Patrick Curtis Was the 2nd Husband of Raquel Welch
GettyActor Raquel Welch and husband Patrick Curtis leave the City Hall of Paris following their marriage on February 14, 1967.
According to WFMZ, Welch’s second husband, Patrick Curtis, was a producer. You can see another photo of him here.
According to ABC News, Curtis was Welch’s agent. He “devised a plan to turn Welch into a sex symbol,” ABC News reported.
He advised her to keep the surname Welch to “avoid typecasting as a Latina actress, he advised Welch to keep her ex-husband’s last name,” ABC reported.
3. Andre Weinfeld Was Raquel Welch’s 3rd Husband
GettyRaquel Welch and her husband, French director André Weinfeld, during their wedding in California in 1981.
In 2015, Weinfeld, a French filmmaker, discussed his marriage to Welch with Closer Weekly.
“We had a very happy marriage,” Weinfeld told Closer, which reported that they married in 1980 and were dubbed “Beauty and the Beast” in the media. They were married 10 years before divorcing, according to Closer.
Weinfeld said distance came between them, adding to Closer, “She moved back to La La Land and I stayed in New York [City] and Paris.” He added to Closer, “She promised me she would sail into the sunset, and I can see she hasn’t. She married after me,” but joked that he was the “sex symbol” in the marriage.
According to Closer, Weinfeld declared himself the “champion” for remaining married to Welch the longest.
4. Richard Palmer, Who Owns Pizza Restaurants, Was Raquel Welch’s Final Husband
GettyRaquel Welch and Richard Palmer in 2002.
In 2003, the Globe and Mail reported that Welch was separating from Palmer, her fourth and final husband, whom she married in 1999.
According to that news site, Palmer was the “owner of Mulberry Street Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills and Richie’s Neighborhood Pizza stores.” The pair said in a statement that “no third party was involved,” Globe and Mail reported.
Tampa Bay Times reported that Welch and Palmer were married “in a small, private ceremony at her Beverly Hills” home in California after dating for two years.
According to The New York Post, Palmer and Welch “met at a party in 1996.”
“My wife is a living legend,” Palmer told The Post. “I get great seats at the fights. You go wherever you want to go. It’s great.”
5. Raquel Welch Said She Was Happy Being on Her Own, Declaring, ‘I’m Too Set in My Ways’
GettyRaquel Welch died on February 15, 2023.
According to The Sun, she told Piers Morgan, “I’m too set in my ways. I like what I do, I actually enjoy being me and I make a very good living at it and I’m happy. I don’t have to have a man.” The Sun reported that Welch said her celebrity and the attention she received contributed to her marriages failing.
According to her IMDb profile, Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago, Illinois, and she exploded into sex symbol status with the poster showing her wearing a prehistoric bikini for the 1966 film “One Million Years B.C.” Over the years, she starred in movies, television movies and series, and on infomercials, according to IMDb.
Celebrity Net Worth estimates her net worth at $40 million.
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