John Wayne was a legendary icon and a genuine Hollywood star. His rugged look, manly demeanor,
and no-nonsense style create an archetype of the Western hero that has lasted for decades. And
his creative and business endeavors left him with quite a large estate when he eventually
passed away. However, despite the fact that he will spread out his estate over many people,
there was one rather large omission… his third and final wife. In this video,
we’ll take a look at that relationship, as well as his two previous wives. We’ll also take a
look at his children as well as some other people who received money in his will. So stick around,
as Facts Verse presents: John Wayne Excluded Her From His Will in Shocking Decision!
John’s First Wife When John was 19, he went on a date
with a girl named Carmen Saenz. While the date reportedly went fine, it had a very surprising
twist ending. Wayne met Carmen’s sister Josephine at some point in the evening and realized he was
more interested in her than Carmen. So he began dating Josephine instead. They were considered
an odd match at the time because he was 19 and was from a family with not a lot of money. Whereas she
was only 16, and came from family money. But they didn’t let that stop them,
and they got married on June 24th, 1933. The marriage lasted around 7 years without too many
issues but in 1940 things changed. Josephine discovered that John was having an affair with
actress Marlene Dietrich. He was filming a movie with Dietrich at the time, and the two
had begun a relationship while on set. Josephine was heartbroken, yet wanted to give the marriage
a second chance. She sought out counseling from a priest she knew, and he was able to provide some
help. Yet this turned out to not be enough, as the couple eventually separated and got a divorce.
John’s Second Wife John and Josephine’s divorce was
finalized on Dec 26, 1945. And if John was upset about their divorce, he certainly had a hard time
showing it. Because he married another woman in less than a month! After meeting and falling for a
woman named Esperanza Baur, John married her three weeks after this divorce was finalized. Esperanza
went by the nickname Chata, and Wayne and Chata got married at the Unity Presbyterian Church of
Long Beach. This was notable in particular because it’s the same church where Wayne’s
mother got remarried. Ward Bond, a fellow actor, served as John’s best man at the ceremony. Despite
the fact that it was a quick turnaround from his divorce to his second marriage,
Wayne was excited to have fallen in love again. At least, at first. Things between John and Chata
went sour pretty steadily. After going on a honeymoon, the pair returned to LA and bought
a house in Van Nuys. On Chata’s insistence, they set up an extra bedroom for her mother to live
in. This immediately caused a rift in John and Chata’s relationship. As one can imagine, it was
likely difficult to build a brand new marriage with someone else living in the same household.
Chata shared with John that she had an interest in joining him in the acting business. She wanted to
start auditioning for movies and hoped that John would help her with her career in Hollywood. But
John had other ideas. He preferred that she not have a career at all, and instead stay at home
and be a homemaker. In this era, women didn’t have many options for career paths, so Chata
was forced to stay at home, per John’s wishes. As such, she grew resentful and quickly developed a
drinking problem. Reportedly, Wayne grew more and more frustrated with the situation and confided
to Ward Bond that he was sick of Chata’s mother not only living with them but constantly speaking
only Spanish with Chata. He said that not only that, but Chata and her mom would commonly take
up their marital bed, forcing John to sleep on a living room couch. At one point, Wayne likened
their marriage to a science experiment gone wrong. The two finally got divorced in 1954. Chata told
her side of the story to the media after the divorce, referring to Wayne in the media as
abusive and addicted to alcohol. Wayne denied these accusations. Sadly, Chata didn’t live
too much longer after they divorced, passing away in 1961 from a heart attack.
John’s Third Wife The trials and tribulations of his marriages
to both Josephine and Chata were not enough to discourage John from the institution itself. In
fact, just as he had done before, Wayne wasted no time after his second divorce before falling
in love with and marrying yet another woman. John met Pilar Pallete and married her in late 1954,
while the ink on his divorce from Chata was still drying. But reportedly, their marriage
was a happy one to begin with and didn’t suffer from the relatively immediate tumult that his
first two marriages had. John was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer in 1964. Sadly,
he had to have his left lung removed, as well as four of his ribs. This illness no doubt put
a strain on their marriage, though they managed to stick it out through John’s illness and subsequent
recovery. However, by the time the 1970’s rolled around, the two were having issues. As he’d done
with Chata, John reacted by devoting more and more time to his work, and being on set
rather than by being home with his family. By 1973, the pair were official separated.
John and His Children John had a complex and
often tumultuous relationship with his children. Throughout his life,
Wayne had a total of seven children from three different marriages and various relationships.
While he was admired for his on-screen presence and larger-than-life persona, his role as a father
was marked by both moments of closeness and periods of distance. Wayne's first marriage to
Josephine Alicia Saenz, produced four children: Michael, Mary Antonia, Patrick, and Melinda. He
didn’t have additional children when married to Chata, though that seems reasonable given
how quickly that marriage fell apart. But he got started back up in the child rearing world with
Pilar, and had three kids with her: Aissa, John Ethan, and Marisa. John’s relationship with his
7 kids suffered from the tumult of his various marriages and divorces, and also from his schedule
as an actor. He often found himself on location for long stretches of time, and couldn’t be there
to help raise them. And at the same time, he made efforts to continue to show love and support to
his kids as best he could. Overall, John Wayne's relationship with his children was a mix of love,
support, and at times, distance. He provided them with opportunities and guidance,
particularly in their pursuit of acting careers. However, the demands of his
profession and the complexities of his personal life sometimes created challenges in maintaining
consistent connections with his children. Despite the ups and downs, Wayne's children
have continued to honor their father's legacy. Many of them have pursued careers
in the entertainment industry, with some finding success in acting and other creative endeavors.
John’s Will According the Associated Press,
John’s estate at the time of his death was valued at about $6.85 million. This was split up into
$100,000 in income, as well as $5.75 million of personal property. Plus he had $1 million
in real estate property. John had an odd system for deciding how much money his kids each got. In
his will he stipulated that they each got $5000, multiplied by the number of years old they were
when John passed, minus 21 years. For example, Michael Wayne, who was John’s oldest child, was
44 when John died. So 44 minus 21 is 23, giving Michael 23 X $5000 or $155,000. He also took
care of his first wife, who received monthly payments of $3000. Chata was no longer around,
so she wasn’t in the will. Wayne also left some money to his longtime assistant Mary St.
John. She received $10,000. And he gave $30K to his secretary, Pat Stacy, with whom he’d
allegedly had an affair. One interesting note is that while John’s oldest daughter, Rony,
was a part of the will, there was a separate section that expressly prohibited her husband,
Don La Cava, from getting any money. It even went on to say that he wasn’t allowed
to collect Tony’s share of the money after she died. But it was never explained why
there was so much animosity between the two. So the big question that many people had was,
“Why was Pilar excluded from the will?” Well, for starters, they had a pretty acrimonious ending to
their marriage. John began getting sick again in the early 1970’s, which is right when she
decided to separate from him. So he was forced to go it alone as his health deteriorated. And
despite his rough and rugged exterior and persona in films, he was still just a man
struggling to stay healthy. So he likely felt resentment towards her for this. Oddly enough,
the two never got divorced. She continued to wear the 15-carat engagement ring John had gotten her
long after his death. And yet he felt that she shouldn’t be included in his will. This was no
doubt in part because of the animosity he felt for her after the break up. But Wayne’s lawyer
also let it be known that the two had already had a separation agreement years before his death.
That likely included some monetary exchange. So it’s likely that while Pilar wasn’t in the will,
and didn’t inherit any of his estate, she had been paid at least some money in the separation.
Now it’s time to hear from you. Are you surprised that John Wayne didn’t include his third wife
in his will, despite still technically being married to her when he died? Let
us know in the comments section below!