Willie Nelson is more than willing to admit that he hasn't always been the perfect husband.
The country music legend who recently celebrated his 89th birthday has written several books
that have given his fans a remarkably forthcoming inside-look into his often-tumultuous love
life.
In those writings, Willie hasn't felt the need to sugarcoat his past.
One of the most significant admissions he's made in his memoirs has been about his struggle
to remain faithful to his wives over the years.
And as you can probably expect, his wives haven't taken too kindly to his cheating ways.
But then again, that kind of drama is the perfect source material when writing a country
tune – so it probably hasn't been a total loss.
Willie's currently on his fourth marriage.
He married his first wife, Martha Matthews back in 1952.
That marriage lasted a decade before ending in divorce.
It was later revealed that Matthews had been psychically abusive to Nelson throughout their
marriage.
We'll touch on that in a bit more detail in just a bit.
Nelson’s next marriage was to country music and rockabilly singer Shirley Collie, whom
he exchanged vows with in 1963.
A little under eight years later, they also separated and divorced.
In 1971, just months after his divorce from Collie was finalized, Nelson married Connie
Koepke.
That union lasted for 17 years before ending in divorce in 1988.
In 1991, Nelson married his current wife, Annie D'Angelo, whom he's been with ever since.
In this video, we’ll be taking a look at some of the most dramatic and almost unbelievable
chapters of Willie Nelson’s turbulent personal life.
If this wasn’t Willie Nelson we’re talking about, some of the stories we’re about to
relay would sound like utter fabrications.
But then again, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard some wild stories from Nelson’s
life.
Willie Says He Gave His First Wife A Good Reason To "Wallop' Him
Songwriting and performing are two of Willie Nelson's biggest strengths.
Unfortunately, faithfulness is something that he could say the same about.
After marrying his first young bride Martha Mathews in 1952, Nelson quickly discovered
that cheating wasn’t something that she was going to put up with.
He had met her after being discharged from the Air force due to some back injuries that
he had sustained.
She was just 16, and he was 19 when they walked down the aisle.
Their union proved to be volatile right out of the gate.
Nelson pursued his career in music full-time and this led to Matthews feeling underappreciated
and neglected.
The couple constantly argued, tussled, and drank heavily.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this was a recipe for disaster.
One night after Mathew’s discovered that he had been running around with other women,
Mathews tied Nelson up with their kid’s jump ropes while he was sleeping and proceeded
to beat him with a broomstick.
Nelson claims that he never laid a hand on her, but that didn't mean that she didn't
have a reason to 'wallop' him.
He freely admits that fidelity was never something that could be considered one of his strong
points.
Remaining faithful got especially difficult after Willie got a taste of success fame.
Matthews also freely admits that she indeed beat Nelson, although she has stated that
most of their problems stemmed from the fact that neither of them was mature enough at
that time to be married – let alone have kids.
Mathews and Nelson had three children together; Susie, Lana, and Willie Hugh Jr.
Sadly, the latter took his own life on Christmas Day in 1991.
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Willie Claims That Cheating On His Wives Didn’t Mean He Didn’t Love Them
A year after divorcing Martha Mathews in 1962, Willie Nelson said "I do" for the second time
to a yodeling country singer named Shirley Collie.
If his first marriage was a rough one, his second one showed just how bad things could
get.
Nelson and Collie's relationship came to an abrupt end in 1969 after Shirley discovered
that Nelson had a daughter with another woman.
She found out after finding a medical bill in their home issued by a hospital in Houston.
Willie initially tried to pass it off as being his.
He lied through his teeth and claimed that he had gone to the hospital for something
relatively benign, but Collie wasn't so easily fooled.
The bill explicitly stated that the charges were for the birth of a baby girl, and the
last time she checked, Willie didn't have a uterus.
Shirley demanded to know who this 'Connie Nelson' woman was that was listed on the bill.
After being backed into a corner, Willie was forced to admit that Connie Koepke, aka Connie
Nelson, was his girlfriend and that the baby in question was their daughter Paula.
Needless to say, Nelson and Collie’s marriage ended in divorce in 1971.
Years later, in his memoir, Me and Sister Bobbie Nelson wrote that he hated hurting
Collie.
He went on to say that cheating on her didn't mean that he didn't love her.
But regardless of what feelings he might have still had for her, after finding out about
his unfaithfulness, Nelson claims that Collie reacted just about the same way as his first
wife did when she caught him cheating.
In his book The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, Nelson said that
Shirley tied his "drunk ass" to the bed frame with a clothesline and woke him up by beating
him with a mop handle.
Willie Ended Up Marrying Connie Koepke – And Cheated On Her As Well
Willie and Connie started seeing each other sometime around 1964, which was only about
a year after he married Shirley.
After Nelson and Collie’s divorce had been finalized in 1971, he and Koepke decided to
tie the knot.
At the time of their marriage, their daughter Paula was about two years old.
The couple went on to have another daughter whom they named Amy.
The Nelson family then moved back to Willie’s home state of Texas.
Once again, Nelson's eyes began to wander.
Pretty soon, he met and fell in love with a makeup artist named Annie Marie D'Angelo
while on the set of the 1986 film Stagecoach, in which he starred alongside Kris Kristofferson,
Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash.
In Me and Sister Bobbie, Nelson wrote that he had never met a woman before like D'Angelo.
Even so, he expressed some regret for messing up yet another marriage.
Nelson went on to say how in his eyes, there's no such thing as a 'former wife'.
His view is that once a wife is in someone's life, she never really leaves.
Nelson followed up that sentiment by once again expressing how much regret he felt for
hurting Connie, Martha, and Shirley.
Even so, the way he talks about things makes it seem like he had no real choice in the
matter – almost as if he has no control over his heart and actions.
In 1988, Nelson and Kopeke got divorced.
A little under three years later in 1991, he and D’Angelo got married.
Willie’s Fourth Marriage Seems To Have Stuck
Nelson's love for Annie was, as he once put it, all-consuming, but winning her over wasn't
easy.
She wanted to make sure that his previous marriage was truly over and that he was going
to be faithful to her.
With a track record like Willie's, you can't blame D'Angelo for being cautious.
But there really did seem to be something special about this marriage.
Nelson's previous relationships had all been full of drama and strife, but he and Annie
seemed to get along like two peas in a pod.
They connected in all the right ways.
For one thing, their politics were aligned, which led to them working together on various
activism projects for progressive causes.
She also didn't care that Willie was a celebrity.
Nelson has also described D’Angelo as being ‘smart as a whip’ and having the ability
to light up a room with her radiating energy.
Nelson and his fourth wife have been together now for more than 30 years.
They've also had two children together; Jacob Micah and Lukas.
The latter has followed in his father's footsteps by forming a country-rock group based out
of California called Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.
Willie and Annie seem to be going strong.
For the first time in his life, Nelson has managed to keep a marriage going without complicating
things by seeking out the company of other women.
Willie says that marrying D'Angelo is the smartest thing he's ever done.
Even though his seven children have different mothers, Nelson maintains a close relationship
with his family.
Nelson told People in 2020 that during the ongoing pandemic, he had been spending a great
deal of quality time with his loved ones over at his 700-acre property, Luck Ranch, in Spicewood,
Texas.
Willie Nelson clearly hasn't always been very good at staying faithful in his marriages,
but it's looking like the fourth time is the charm.
Did you know that Willie Nelson’s first wife once tied him up to his bed and beat
him on a broomstick after finding out about his cheating
ways?
And did you know that Willie has seven children – all of whom except one who has sadly passed
away – he’s still close to?
Share your thoughts on Willie Nelson’s storied love life in the comments section below.
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