Lorraine Martin Smothers is married to journalist Chris Wallace. He anchored Fox News Sunday for 18 years and announced his last show on December 12, 2021. He’s moving to CNN’s new streaming service, CNN+, in 2022.
Wallace and Smothers tied the knot in 1997. It was the second marriage for both of them. Wallace was married to first wife Elizabeth Farrell for more than 20 years and they had four children together.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Lorraine Smothers Has Published 3 Best-Selling Cookbooks
Lorraine Smothers has said she did not spend much time in the kitchen growing up, but her interest in cooking grew after becoming a mother. She told The Washington Post in a 2011 feature that she preferred to make her two children’s baby food with organic, seasonal ingredients.
After marrying Wallace in 1997, dinner became a larger event. (Wallace had four children from his first marriage.) Four of the children were between the ages of 9 and 12 when they first tied the knot. Smothers began a tradition of cooking soups.
Smothers published her first cookbook, Mr. Sunday’s Soups, in December 2010. The title was inspired by her husband’s schedule as the host of the Sunday morning program at Fox News. At the beginning of the book, Smothers explained that Wallace’s job, which began in 2003, upended their family schedule because he had to go to bed early on Saturday nights. “I was faced with a dilemma: how to feed both of my guys in a timely and nourishing manner, and how to bring our family together, even for a short time. The answer was soup … and I served a different one each week.”
Wallace explained in a 2011 segment (embedded above) that after waking up at 5 a.m. and hosting Fox News Sunday, he’d be starving by the time he would get home around 11:30 a.m. He said his “sweet Lorraine” would greet him with a “wonderful homemade soup bubbling on the stovetop.” Smothers’ son Remick, who was a freshman in high school that year, would roll out of bed around that time. Smothers wrote that sharing a soup on Sundays at lunchtime became the perfect time to get everyone together before Wallace took a nap and Remick ran off to his sports practices.
Smothers explained to the Washington Post she collaborated with food blogger Brigit Binns, who was instrumental in helping her formalize the recipes. The book, which took three months to write and features family photos, quickly became an Amazon bestseller. Smothers said she was “stunned” by the immediate success.
Smothers’ second book was published in 2012, Mr. Sunday’s Saturday Night Chicken. Mr. and Mrs. Sunday’s Suppers was published in 2015.
2. She Raised Horses While Married to First Husband Dick Smothers
The Smothers Brothers, Tom (L) and Dick pose at the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame 2003.
Lorraine’s first marriage was to comedian and musician Dick Smothers. He is best known for starring alongside his brother Tom on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS from 1967 to 1969.
They were introduced when one of Dick’s friends invited Lorraine backstage at a concert. They tied the knot in 1986. She was 27 and he was 47 at the time. They settled in her home state of Virginia.
Dick Smothers told the The Morning Call in a 1993 interview, “When I first saw Lorraine, I flashed on her and then pursued her. It’s easy enough for me to leave California because I’ve been on the road and in the air for 30 years. It wouldn’t be fair to put Lorraine in California where she had no friends, family or roots. It would be hard for her to live in California, surrounded by all those Californians.”
The couple raised show horses. Dick Smothers joked to the reporter, “In Virginia, it’s mandatory to be in love with a horse.”
3. Smothers & Wallace Have a Blended Family of 6 Children
(Getty)
Wallace wrote in the forward of his wife’s cookbook, Mr. Sunday’s Soups, about how their marriage blended a family that included six children. “I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say we created our version of the Brady Bunch around the kitchen table.”
Smothers’ oldest child is daughter Sarah. She was born in 1987, according to a search of online records. Smothers’ son Remick was likely born in 1989 (he was a freshman in high school as of 2003).
Wallace had four children from his first marriage. The oldest son, Peter, was born in 1975. He attended Harvard, like his father, but did not follow his footsteps into journalism. He works as a senior managing director at the Blackstone Group in New York City. According to his wedding announcement in 2004, Peter was set up on a blind date in 2000 with his wife, Jennifer Marie Breheny, by his grandfather, 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace. Breheny was an associate producer at 60 Minutes.
Wallace’s second child was daughter Megan. Wallace revealed in a 2018 interview that Megan calls him “Bom Bom” rather than “Dad” because “that is what her kids call me.”
Wallace’s two younger children, Andrew and Catherine, are twins. They were born in 1986. According to her Facebook page, Catherine attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and is now based in New York City. Her brother Andrew does not appear to have an online profile.
4. The Wallaces Own a Home In Washington, D.C. & An Estate Overlooking the Chesapeake Bay In Maryland
D.C. Office of Tax and RevenueChris Wallace and wife Lorraine Smothers live in Washington, D.C.
Chris and Lorraine Wallace are now empty-nesters, but they still own the large Washington, D.C., home they moved into after tying the knot in 1997. Property records for D.C. show Lorraine M. Wallace as the only listed owner for the property.
The home was originally built in 1929 and has nearly 5,000 square feet of living space on a 6,492-square-foot lot. Online records indicate the Wallaces purchased the 4-bedroom house for $1.1 million in 1997. The home’s current estimated value, when factoring in both the land and improvements to the home according to Redfin, is $3.9 million.
RedfinFox News anchor Chris Wallace and wife Lorraine Smothers are based in Washington, D.C.
The Wallaces also purchased a property in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2015. According to Town & Country magazine, the family uses the estate, which overlooks the Chesapeake Bay, as a gathering place for all of their children and grandchildren.
5. Smothers Grew Up in Virginia & Was Described as a ‘Washington Socialite’
Lorraine and Chris Wallace have been married since 1997. (Getty)
Lorraine Wallace told the Washington Post in 2011 she did not cook much growing up in Middleburg, Virginia. But she noted in her second cookbook, Mr. Sunday’s Saturday Night Chicken, that she developed a keen interest in cooking during the 1980s when she was in her 20s.
According to the bio included with the book, Smothers “started her own extensive garden–growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers. She developed an appreciation for organic ingredients and a deep love for cooking.”
The bio also said Smothers loved to ride horses. She competed “on the amateur showjumping circuit and won awards on her horse, Strait Man.”
It was during this time in her life that she met and married Dick Smothers. A Chicago Tribune article from 1986 referred to her as a “Washington socialite” but did not mention her horseback riding. The article did mention, however, that Dick Smothers’ first wife, Linda, died on the same day he married Lorraine after getting hit by a car a few days earlier.
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