At the height of his success, Burt Reynolds was one of the most popular movie stars in
the world.
However, this all came crashing down for the actor around the time of his divorce from
television actress Loni Anderson.
The divorce came at a low point in Burt's career, and he subsequently had to file for
bankruptcy.
Allegations of abuse have tainted the actor’s legacy, though he was able to put aside his
differences with Loni before his 2018 death after achieving a career renaissance in the
late 1990s.
Although Burt and Loni set aside their differences, she remains open about her dissatisfaction
with their marriage.
Join Facts Verse as Loni Anderson confesses secrets behind Burt Reynolds's divorce.
When Burt Reynolds was in college, he had aspirations of becoming a professional football
player.
It appeared that the future star might have the skills to do it, but he ended up suffering
a number of tragic injuries that inevitably prevented him from pursuing his dreams.
Left without the pastime of his favorite sport to keep him busy during his college years,
Burt turned to acting in his college’s drama department.
After acting for a while, Burt realized that he was good enough at it that it might make
a promising career.
Burt made a bid for Hollywood stardom, and it eventually proved successful.
At the height of the actor’s success, he was one of the most popular movie stars in
the entire world.
Burt used this clout to date a variety of Hollywood starlets, though he was only married
two times over the course of his life.
Burt’s first spouse had been a woman by the name of Judy Carne, whom he married in
1963 and divorced in 1965.
After divorcing his first wife and finding stardom in Hollywood, Burt didn't marry again
until over two decades later.
He dated around in Hollywood for a number of years, and many thought that the star would
never find an actress worthy of pinning him down.
However, that all changed when Burt starred alongside television actress Loni Anderson
in the 1983 film Stroker Ace.
Loni had gained success via her tenure on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, and her role
in Stroker Ace was an attempt to break into film.
Though it wouldn’t prove successful, it would prove the start of a relationship that
would later blossom into marriage.
Loni had performed on the series WKRP in Cincinnati for five years as the titular radio station’s
lovable secretary.
Audiences and critics alike adored the actress, and she was nominated for three Golden Globe
Awards over the course of the series.
Loni’s success on the series garnered her the role starring alongside Burt Reynolds
in Stroker Ace, and it’s not hard to see how the actress made an impression on him!
1983’s Stroker Ace followed the exploits of its titular character, a NASCAR driver
played by Burt Reynolds.
Loni Anderson played the character’s love interest.
Though the film isn’t too widely remembered, the resulting relationship between Burt and
Loni certainly made an impact on the tabloids!
The two dated for a number of years before eventually trying the knot in 1988.
Their marriage was incredibly elaborate, and attendees had to be flown in by helicopter.
It took place in Florida and was given its own article in People magazine.
It seemed to the public that Burt and Loni were living the dream, but this dream was
soon going to turn into a nightmare for the both of them.
Soon into their marriage, Burt and Loni decided to adopt a son.
While the adopted child was meant to bring the pair together, other things were tearing
them apart.
One of the biggest concerns that Burt had with Loni during their marriage seems to have
been her exuberant spending habits.
Burt had reportedly given his spouse a credit card with a spending limit of nearly $50,000,
which Loni spent in less than an hour.
There were also numerous rumors of infidelity on the part of both spouses, something that
didn’t come as much of a surprise to the public given the pair’s romantic histories.
The tabloids documented all of these troubles, and the public enjoyed watching the former
power couple become fodder for increasingly dramatic gossip.
Into the 1990s, it was clear that the marriage between Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson wasn't
going to last.
The pair divorced in 1994, after which point Burt could be seen and heard all over the
media spouting vitriol about his former spouse.
Loni refused to retaliate, saying she didn't want to stoop to her former husband's level.
However, she eventually came forward with some shocking stories of abuse she claimed
to have suffered at Burt’s hands over the course of the marriage.
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At the time that Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson had met, Burt was one of the biggest movie
stars in the world.
By the time of their 1994 divorce, neither star was anywhere near the celebrity that
they had once been.
In fact, their relationship was arguably their only remaining source of notoriety, as the
vicious rumors that Burt began spreading about his former wife became the only thing that
the public was interested in hearing from either party.
Burt ended up filing for bankruptcy after the divorce, so it’s not hard to see why
he saw fit to continually bring up the fact that his marriage to Loni Anderson had cost
him so much money.
Burt derided his former wife for being overly materialistic, claiming she couldn’t be
seen wearing the same outfit more than once.
Loni refused to retaliate at first to Burt’s attacks in the media before eventually changing
her mind.
Although Loni had made a pact with herself not to stoop to her former husband’s level
by eviscerating him verbally in the media, she eventually decided that she had no choice.
When she finally started bringing to light her own side of the story, the tales she had
to tell proved much more damning than Burt’s tales of a materialistic wife that spent too
much money.
According to Loni, Burt was physically abusive to her numerous times during their marriage,
with him constantly telling her that no one would believe her over him due to the fact
that he was the more famous of the two spouses.
Burt claimed that the marriage fell apart because Loni had refused to be intimate with
him for three years.
He also shared a tale that his mother had told him that marrying Loni was a bad idea
during the marriage ceremony.
If this story was true, Burt arguably should’ve listened to her!
However, if Loni’s stories are true, Burt deserved the damage to his reputation and
career that came alongside his divorce.
While Burt Reynolds had sunk to rock bottom in the years after his divorce from Loni Anderson,
he ended up being given a second chance when he was cast in the 1997 film Boogie Nights.
The film was a 1970s period piece from then-burgeoning filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson and featured
Burt Reynolds as a pornographic film director falling out of fortune after a successful
career, much like Burt himself.
The public had a hard time reconciling Burt’s rejuvenated stardom with Loni’s allegations
that he had been physically abusive to her during their marriage.
However, it appears that both the public and Loni herself agreed to forgive Burt by the
time of his 2018 death.
The two were reported to have made up to the point that they were able to sit down and
have dinner together in the years before Burt died.
Loni always maintained that Burt had been physically abusive towards her during their
marriage, but she also always maintained that Burt had always been a loving father.
It appears that the beloved star was a complicated man!
Princess Diana was competing for tabloid fodder for Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson around
the time of their divorce, with the couple winning out much of the headline space during
the most heated moments of their separation.
Because of this, Princess Diana was said to have sent Burt Reynolds a card thanking him
for keeping her name out of the tabloids for the time being.
Burt owed money to Loni from the divorce until just a year before his 2018 death.
The actor had a hard time keeping up with the hefty payments due to his sporadic work
later on in life but was eventually able to give her everything that the courts said that
he owed her.
Burt Reynolds died of a heart attack, and he was 82 years old at the time.
While Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson may have found peace before the end of Burt’s
life, Burt always claimed that the two were never meant to be together.
According to Burt, the only true love of his life was actress Sally Fields.
Burt met Sally while the two were filming Smokey and the Bandit together.
They developed a romantic relationship, but it eventually fell apart due to Burt’s substance
abuse.
Burt’s substance abuse also continued throughout his marriage to Loni Anderson, playing a part
in his poor behavior.
Soon after Burt Reynolds’ death, Sally Fields published a memoir by the name of In Pieces.
According to Sally, she was glad that Burt was dead by the time of the memoir’s publishing
due to the things it said about him.
Although Burt Reynolds was once one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, allegations of
abuse from former wife Loni Anderson continue to taint his legacy several years after his
2018 death.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Burt Reynolds was said to have beaten
former wife Loni Anderson multiple times during their marriage, or did you think that he was
too lovable of a star?
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