Ray Liotta had three women who loved him more than anything in this world and who he loved
just as much.
His ex-wife, his daughter, and his fiancé.
You may know him for his menacing tough-guy roles, but he was much more than a muscle
man in real life.
He was a big family man and extremely sensitive, vulnerable, and generous.
And the women closest to him were some of the few who were lucky enough to see that
side of him.
Today, we’re going to be looking at some of the most meaningful relationships in the
actor’s life before he passed away.
Ray and his ex-wife Michelle Grace first crossed paths when she was married to another man.
The pair met at a baseball game where her former husband, Mark Grace, played for the
Chicago Cubs .
Just a few months after they met, Michelle filed for divorce from Mark.
After she split up from her ex, Grace was looking for an acting coach and she was asked
to do a rap video.
She called Ray and asked him whether she should do the video and he replied, “No, you should
probably have dinner with me.”
Smooth, Liotta.
Very smooth.
Their new relationship faced a lot of speculation as infidelity was in question.
The Goodfellas actor set the record straight during an interview, “She was married; and
we didn’t cheat.
We only started seeing each other after her and Mark were separated.”
After dating for about 4 years, Ray finally popped the big question outside a jewelry
shop.
The actor even cried when he proposed!
How sweet is that?
In 1997, the couple headed to Las Vegas to get married, and in typical Vegas fashion,
they were wed by an Elvis Preseley (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o92tq_WGjg 0:17) impersonator.
He was 40 years old when he got married for the first time and said, "I tend to do things
late.
It takes me a long time."
After a year of marriage, the couple welcomed their first and only child, daughter Karsen
Liotta (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTiXfYzalzk 1:15).
The actor couldn’t be prouder as a father as his only daughter followed in his footsteps.
When she was just two years old, she made her movie debut at this age in A Rumour of
Angels – a film produced by her mom.
No, you didn’t hear wrong, she was just 2!
Her most well-known role was as Anna (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KTi3kko1zo 0:08) Kate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HqsDz8KiFI
0:12) Wozniak (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oIV1aQyJYk 0:08) in the television series Shades of Blue
alongside her real-life dad as she played his on-screen daughter.
Umm, is
this the best father-daughter duo to have ever graced Hollywood with their presence?
We think, YES!
How did such a young girl manage in such a nerve-wracking industry?
Her dad, of course!
The advice that helps her get through every little bit of anxiety and hardship is remembering
what her dad told her.
“He taught me to do my homework, to always practice.
That’s how you get where you want to be, focus and practice.”
Ray loved his daughter more than anything else in the world, he spoke about his little
girl saying, “My whole life is about her.
She’ll come up and visit me on set.
I don’t like to go too long without seeing her.
Maybe a couple of weeks.
I just had a period of four months at home because I decided not to do a movie so I could
spend more time with her.
It was all about taking her to dance classes, playing with her.”
In 2004, Liotta and Michelle divorced after seven years together.
Their little Karsen was just 6 years old at the time.
As for why his marriage failed, he kept it blunt.
“It just didn’t work out.
I would love to be in a relationship with the right person.
That’s the key – the right person.”
But the exes managed to keep a healthy co-parenting relationship and friendship going after the
divorce.
The former couple even worked on the film, Take the Lead, together, 3 years after they
parted ways.
And more than 13 years after their split, they seemed to be closer than ever…
So close, in fact, that there was speculation that the pair were back together.
The former couple was seen jewelry shopping in Beverley Hills (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKHygvoTI_k
0:03), but how does that mean that they could have potentially been back together?
Well, they were walking the streets holding hands and looking at rings!
But as it turns out, they were probably just a pair of friendly exes.
Since the divorce, Liotta had nothing but great things to say about Grace.
"She's a great woman and thank God we're still friends.
She still stays over at the house, so Karsen can see us together.
You want to give her as much semblance of a family unit as you can when you're separated
or divorced."
A few years after their divorce, the Shades of Blue actor opened up about his dating life.
He had a serious relationship following the divorce, but it didn’t feel as equal as
he would have liked.
He had a few more dates over the next couple of years but nothing really took.
It was either going to happen, or it wasn’t, but he was hoping that it would.
"Probably someone who is not as career-orientated, who is more about the relationship.
I talk to my friends, and they all seem to get relationships that aren't right.
You kind of want someone who is not at your beck and call but loves the idea of being
in a relationship and what those entail.
Being there for you."
And in 2020, it seems he found just that in the arms of Jacy Nittolo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTiXfYzalzk
0:29).
Unlike Ray, she worked and lived outside the spotlight.
She is a former hairstylist and a mother of four, who she lists as Dax (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4olYsYLYTo4
0:08), Chazz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-saoHwuStM 0:06), Jade (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtyrR5CoPTM
0:10), and Joey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tot3mMcPqYs 0:04) in her Instagram bio.
She also listed Liotta’s daughter, Karsen, suggesting she and her stepdaughter have a
loving relationship.
Nittolo had quite a rough life up until she met the actor.
In 1985, her father, Stewart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HVuMgMbxLE 0:09) Woodman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzThJKQkq4w
0:00), was thrown in jail for hiring assassins to kill his parents, Gerald (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gc6q454GRY
0:08) and Vera (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFNiWcHtBzc 0:33) Woodman.
In October 2014, almost three decades later, her father died in prison.
Also, in 2000, Jacy’s brother was involved in a fatal accident that left him with severe
brain damage.
She then went through a difficult divorce in 2017.
She finally caught a break, and got another shot at love and happiness when she met Ray.
This couple has a meet-cute like no other.
The Field of Dreams star revealed that his daughter was actually responsible for setting
him up with Jacy.
Aww, that’s sweet!
Karsen was at a party thrown by Nittolo’s son Chazz when she met his mom and decided
to play matchmaker.
“She said, ‘I want you to go out with my dad, I think you’d be perfect for my
dad,'” Ray recalled.
Karsen then told Jacy who her dad was, and she responded, “Wait a second, though, isn’t
he like, in his 60s?
I’m in my 40s.
I also don’t want anything to do with an actor.”
But her words fell short when she met Ray.
At the beginning of 2020, the couple made their red-carpet debut.
Although the early stages of their relationship happened during the onset of the COVID-19,
Liotta later said that the lockdowns actually helped strengthen their romance.
"Luckily, I had met somebody, and it brought us really, really close, to the point now
where I'm engaged.
I've heard that there's a lot of people whose relationship didn't work out because they
were with each other so much.
But she's just great."
Good for them!
Ten months after their red-carpet debut, the Goodfellas star announced their engagement
on Christmas Day in 2020.
“Christmas wishes do come true!
I asked the love of my life to marry me and thank God she said yes!”
Ray had no idea that marrying the love of his life would never happen.
Unfortunately, their happily ever after was cut short when Ray Liotta unexpectedly passed
away.
At age 67, he died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz0rEGjMvWk
0:12), where he was working on his latest film, Dangerous Waters.
Although the cause of death has not been reported, there seems to be nothing suspicious about
it.
His passing left a hole in the hearts of not only his fans and the Hollywood community
who lost a silver screen legend, but also in the hearts of his ex-wife, his daughter,
and his fiancé.
Jacy said about his passing, “My life these past couple of years have been nothing but
truly magical.
Ray and I share a deep love that I will cherish in my heart forever.
We laughed daily and we were inseparable.
The chemistry was wild in the best way.
He was everything in the world to me and we couldn’t get enough of each other.
The kind of real love that one dreams of.
He was the most beautiful person inside and out that I’ve ever known… and even that
is an understatement.”
Ray passed away knowing that he was loved and cherished.
He also left behind three women who knew how deeply he loved and appreciated them.
The family will obviously be grieving for a long time but so will we.
He left a hole in Hollywood that can never be filled.
Although this is not the happiest ending, we know that time heals, and it will also
bring peace to those who need it.