Alex Carson
Of all the stars that rose to prominence during Hollywood’s Golden Age, there were few that got around more than Marlon Brando. The Godfather star was married three times over the course of his life and had nearly a dozen children, but that would only be the extent of his promiscuous behavior. In addition to his three wives, Marlon also took many other lovers during his life. Not only did he go after women, but he also went after men. All in all, the star put the average actor to shame when it came to the number of affairs he had. Join Facts Verse as we explore how Marlon Brando had more affairs (and children) than he could count.
Marlon Brando Led an Intriguing Love Life
In the past few years, the sordid tales of the late Marlon Brando’s sex life have increasingly fascinated the world. It has long since been known that the actor was a womanizer, and that he wasn’t above sleeping around. However, something that has only come into light within recent years is the fact that he pursued both men and women. Not only that, but some of the men that he pursued are just as notable as the famous actresses that he hooked up with! Although Marlon’s bisexuality was a secret during the period of career in which he was most famous, he opened up about it later in his life. Before his death, Marlon wasn’t afraid to let the true colors of his sexuality be known to the general public.
Marlon Brando rose to prominence at a time when Hollywood was going through a fairly significant transition. Though Marlon technically entered into the film industry during Hollywood’s Golden Age, his style of acting was more evocative of the encroaching New Hollywood. Marlon had a lighter touch, and many attributed this to the actor being more in touch with his feminine side. Alongside James Dean, Marlon was seen as an actor that helped popularize weakness and vulnerability in male characters, whereas the norm in Old Hollywood standards had been pure machismo.
Marlon Brando and James Dean are lumped together due to their place in history, but they were also said to have linked up romantically! James is one of several figures that Marlon was rumored to have had an affair with during his Hollywood heyday. If any of the pair’s fans had been privy to this at the time, it likely would’ve blown their minds irreparably. Thankfully, Marlon had a surefire way to ward off suspicious that he was anything but heterosexual. During the early part of the actor’s career, he married three different women.
Marlon Stayed Married Early in His Career
From 1957 to 1972, Marlon Brando always had a spouse by his side. However, it wasn’t always the same spouse. Over the course of this time period, Marlon married three different times. After divorcing from his third wife in 1972, Marlon remained single for the rest of his life. By this point, the actor was likely no longer afraid of keeping a façade of normalcy in his personal life due to the fact that the general public was becoming more accepting of outliers like himself. Marlon’s first spouse was a woman by the name of Anna Kashfi, who was an Indian actress. They married in 1957 and had one child together. That child was named Christian. Notably, Christian would later go to jail as an adult for the alleged murder of his half-sister’s boyfriend. Also, Christian will come up again in this video as a result of Marlon’s affairs.
Marlon Brando was already well on his way towards becoming one of the most notorious adulterers in modern history when he was married to his first wife. There are numerous affairs that the actor was known to have been involved in during this time, including a notable and long one with actress Rita Moreno. Eventually, Marlon’s infidelity caused his first marriage to dissolve. In 1959, just two years after trying the knot, him and Anna got a divorce.
After divorcing from his first wife, Marlon Brando didn’t wait very long before picking another one. Perhaps the actor was afraid that a gap in his marital status might bring about unwanted scrutiny from the tabloids. Marlon’s second wife was another actress, this time of Mexican descent. Marlon and Movita Castaneda married in 1960. Movita was seven years older than her new husband, whom she met on the set of the film Viva Zapata! Like Marlon’s first marriage this second one only lasted for around two years. However, it yielded two children instead of just one. Already, Marlon was one his way towards having an impressively large brood.
Marlon’s Third Wife Was His Last
The same year that Marlon Brando divorced from his second wife, he married his third and final wife. Marlon’s third and final wife was an actress by the name of Tarita Teriipaia. Whereas Movita has been several years older than him, Tarita was considerably younger. At the time that the two tied the knot in 1962, Marlon was 37 years old while Tarita was only 19. Not only did Marlon’s third and final marriage last longer than his previous two, but it also yielded more children than either of those ones did. Marlon and Tarita were married for a decade, until 1972, and had three kids.
Marlon Brando never married again after his third and final divorce, but that doesn’t mean that he never had another significant partner. After breaking things off with Tarita, Marlon went on to have a notable domestic partnership with a woman by the name of Maria Cristina Ruiz. Maria started out as the star’s maid before eventually becoming his lover in 1988. The pair’s relationship lasted for 14 years, and they also had three children together. For those keeping track, this brings the total number of Marlon’s kids up to nine. However, during Marlon’s relationship to Maria, the star also adopted a few of her kids from previous relationships. Because of this, Marlon’s kid total is generally said to be 11.
Now that we’ve gotten Marlon Brando’s legitimate relationships out of the way, let’s take a closer look at his numerous affairs. Some of the most notable women that Marlon was rumored to have had affairs with during his time include former First Lady Jackie Kennedy and the later starlet Marilyn Monroe. Marlon was rumored to have had an affair with Jackie Kennedy in the time that she was rebounding from the tragic loss of her husband. The pair allegedly only spent a couple of nights together before Jackie herself called it off. Less is known about Marlon’s possible affair with Marilyn. The two were certainly friends, and Marlon was even said to have been one of the last people that spoke to the actress before she died. Though some have their doubts, most historians agree that the friendship started out when the two of them began dating in 1955. If they did date, then it wasn’t for very long! Rumors suggest that they only slept together one single time.
Marilyn Had More Affairs Than He Could Count
Other notable women that Marlon had affairs with include Jackie Collins, Shelley Winters, and Heidi Fleiss. Writer Jackie Collins claimed that she had an affair with a 29-year-old Marlon when she was only 15 years old. This affair was complicated due to the fact that Marlon was also romantically involved for a time with Jackie’s even-more-famous sister Joan! Shelley Winters claimed that her and Marlon had a friends-with-benefits relationship, and she also claimed that Marlon made her feel a way that she had only ever felt before while watching Elvis Presley perform on stage. Finally, Marlon hooked up with Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss later on in his life. Their affair occurred just before Heidi was infamously incarcerated for running her Tinseltown brothel. Though Marlon was far from being in peak shape during these years, Heidi still claimed he was a great lover. She also claimed he ate grapes while they made love.
The biggest affair that Marlon Brando had during his life was with actress Rita Moreno. The affair lasted for around eight years, and it left permanent mental scars on the actress when Marlon allegedly forced her to have an abortion. As far as his affairs with men, there were several notable male figures that Marlon has been romantically linked to. In addition to the aforementioned James Dean, Marlon has also been linked to Richard Pryor and writer James Baldwin. The revelation that Marlon may have had an affair with Richard Pryor came from an interview with Quincy Jones in 2018.
According to legend, Marlon considered male lovers like James Dean and Richard Pryor as mere toys. However, there were men that the actor had more serious feelings for. One such man would appear to be James Baldwin. Some people have their doubts about whether or not Marlon and James ever hooked up, but they were certainly two men that had a lot of respect for each other. Towards the end of his life, Marlon said that knowing James was one of the greatest pleasures that he had ever experienced.
Who Was the Love of Marlon’s Life?
Marlon had a profound love for James Baldwin, but the person that is often considered to be the true love of the actor’s life is Jill Banner. Jill was an actress that Marlon had a relationship with during the 70s. During the relationship, Jill became tired of her husbands philandering ways and decided that she was going to get revenge by sleeping with his son. This is how Christian comes back into the story. Jill beat her lover at his own game, and this is perhaps a big part of why she left such a lasting impact on him. At the end of his life, Marlon reminisced that he had hooked up with more people than he could count, suggesting that the many affairs that we are aware of are only the tip of the iceberg.
According to Marlon Brando himself, he had too many affairs for him to be considered a happy and healthy person. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Marlon Brando was rumored to have had extramarital affairs with some of Hollywood’s leading men and women, and that he also allegedly hooked up with former First Lady Jackie Kennedy? Comment down below!
