Harrison Ford has been an A-list actor since the late 1970’s. He’s starred in two of the biggest film franchises of all time – Star Wars and Indiana Jones – and has made many memorable movies beyond those. But sadly, his personal life has not always reflected the upwards trajectory of his career. Join Facts Verse, as Harrison Ford Finally Breaks His Silence on His Regretful Affairs.
Harrison’s First Wife, Mary Marquardt
Harrison met his first wife, Mary Marquardt, when they both attended Ripon College in Wisconsin. Harrison had not intended to study acting in school. But he suffered from intense shyness, and it was suggested to him that taking some acting classes might help him overcome this trait. So he took some drama classes, and quickly fell in love with the craft. At school, he landed a part in The Threepenny Opera by Brecht. Mary Marquardt just so happened to have also gotten a part in the production, and the two formed an immediate connection. The two were married in June of 1964. As tends to be the case with the early stages of an acting career, Harrison had trouble landing jobs in the early years of his career. As such, Mary was forced to support them though her work. She had left the pursuit of an acting career behind at college, and was more interested in the culinary arts. She worked as a chef after they got married, and was able to bring in decent money. Though Harrison also took on freelance carpentry jobs to help pay the bills. As Harrison auditioned for parts and she worked, Mary also gave birth to their two sons, Benjamin and Willard.
Mary’s Support and Harrison’s Success
Mary was not only financially supportive of Harrisons’ dreams of becoming a movie star, but she was also emotionally supportive. She encouraged him to follow his passion, and was apparently the catalyst of a trip he took to Los Angeles where he attempting to land a gig in radio voiceover. While he didn’t get that particular gig, he did manage to land a “new talent” contract with Columbia Pictures. The gig paid $150 a week.
While he started off small, we all are aware of how big Harrison became. And his big break came in the form of his legendary role of Han Solo in Star Wars. And for a little while, all was good with his marriage and his family. However, as is often the case, his fame and good fortune turned into a negative on his marriage. The couple began to grow further apart as Harrison got more and more famous and successful. And by the time their 15th wedding anniversary arrived, they had decided it was time o end the marriage.
Harrison’s Infidelity
It wasn’t simply the strain that fame and fortune can put on a marriage that did Mary and Harrison in. Instead, it was Harrison’s infidelity. Or, perhaps things had been headed downhill for a while, and his infidelity sealed their fate. Regardless, when the couple filed for divorce, there was speculation that it contained information about Harrison’s infidelity. Even before the divorce, there had been rumors in Los Angeles and stories in the tabloids about Harrison having affairs in Hollywood. And after his divorce to Mary, those rumors and stories only increased. They finalized the divorce in 1979, and stories of Harrison’s unfaithfulness abounded. There were even very specific stories about Mary catching Harrison in bed with another women, though it wasn’t made clear who the other woman was. Some assumed it was Melissa Mathison, a screenwriter and TV personality whom Harrison later married. But 30 years later, the truth came out about who it actually was…
Carrie Fisher’s Revelation
Before she died, Carrie Fisher penned a memoir called, “The Princess Diarist.” In it, she told a story from when she was filming Star Wars. She was a naïve 19-year-old at the time, and was getting her bearings in Hollywood and in life. One night after filming, the crew was drinking together in a dingy bar near their shooting location. Fisher revealed that she was never a big drinker, on account of the fact that alcohol made her get blackout drunk intensely quickly. But that night, the crew of all men decided they’d pump her full of booze and see what happened. As she grew more drunk, they were about to bring her to another, unknown location. Harrison Ford stepped in, sensing that the men had evil intent. He insisted he give her a ride back to her hotel. And while this seems like a classic tale of chivalrous behavior, it didn’t end that way. The two reportedly got into Harrison’s car, and proceeded to start making out. Harrison was married with two kids at the time. So his infidelity wasn’t actually chivalrous. Fisher went on to say that she ended up having a three month affair with Harrison. And that she was in fact the women Mary had caught him with in bed!
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Harrison’s Reaction To Fisher’s Memoir
Carrie Fisher released her memoir in November of 2016, and tragically passed away a month later. So naturally the press was eager to find out about Harrison’s reaction to the book, and his emotional state after losing a long time friend and one time romantic partner. Harrison was characteristically tight lipped about it. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he did admit the revelation from Fisher’s book was strange to him. But he mostly declined to talk to the publication about their affair, or about her book. He cited the fact that Fisher had just recently died as the reason. He didn’t feel it was appropriate to comment their affair. He did reveal however, that Fisher had told him about the book and its contents beforehand, but that he didn’t know specifics of what she planned to write. Only that she was writing about the days of filming Star Wars. So it’s likely Harrison had a sense that Fisher would bring up the affair. For her part, as she was doing press for the book, Fisher talked about coming to Harrison before the book was released and offering to show it to him, and allow him to cut out anything he found objectionable. But in that same Rolling Stone interview, Harrison claimed he hadn’t read the book. So perhaps he had the opportunity to keep their affair quiet, but never followed through on the offer to read it before it was published!
Harrison And Melissa Mathison
Harrison’s next wife was Melissa Mathison. The two had originally met in 1976 on the set of Apocalypse Now. Harrison had a small part, and Melissa was a production assistant. But the pair didn’t start dating until years later. After Harrison’s 1979 divorce from Mary Marquardt, he began dating Melissa in 1982. They got married the next year, and remained so for the next 20 years. They both began to experience career success early on in their marriage, with Harrison taking his to the next level with the Indiana Jones movies as well as more Star Wars films, and Mathison getting an Oscar nomination for her screenplay of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. And despite Mathison never quite reaching that level of career success again, their marriage seemed to be a good one for many years.
Their Divorce
Melissa and Harrison’s marriage went well for nearly 20 years before things eventually soured. Only this time, it doesn’t appear that the split was because of Harrison’s infidelities. Regardless of the reasons, the couple first tried to separate before divorcing, hoping that some time off would rekindle things. But this strategy ultimately didn’t work and they eventually filed for divorce. The tricky part of this process, however, was the fact that they hadn’t signed a prenuptial agreement before they tied the not back in the day. And obviously Harrison had grown incredibly wealthy from his years of being an A-list actor. Their divorce proceedings and settlement were contentious and took several years to iron out. After three long years of back and forth, they apparently reached a number – $85 million to be precise – that Harrison would owe to Melissa. According to Forbes Magazine, Melissa was also given future earnings in sales from The Fugitive and Indiana Jones movies, because Harrison had done those during the course of their marriage. Though to be fair, it wasn’t a giant hit on Ford’s overall finances, as he’s rumored to be worth somewhere in the range of $300 million. The couple had two kids together, named Malcom and Georgia. Sadly, Melissa died in 2015 from neuroendocrine cancer. She was 65.
Harrison and Calista
Harrison has now spent the last 20 years with actress Calista Flockhart. The two met at the 2002 Golden Globe awards. It’s been reported that Calista intentionally spilled a drink on Harrison, in an effort to start up a conversation. And it certainly worked. The couple began dating, and got married in 2010. They have both raised Flockhart’s son, Liam, whom Flockhart adopted the year before meeting Harrison. The couple have been living a happy and fairly private life, at least in terms of Hollywood couples. But they seem to be going as strong as ever, despite Ford being 22 years older than Flockhart. We certainly wish them years of happiness!
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