Ted Danson is one of our favorite television and film actors of all time. He got his first big break playing the lead character Sam Malone on the hit NBC sitcom Cheers. He plays Jack Holden in the comedy films Three Men and A Baby and Three Men and a Little Lady.
Fans also might know him as Dr. John Becker on the CBS sitcom Becker which ran from 1998 to 2004. He then starred in another CBS offering, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, as D.B. Russell. You saw him in shows, HBO’s Larry David vehicle Curb Your Enthusiasm, and in the second season of FX’s Fargo.
But Danson’s most underrated role is the Michael in the NBC off-beat sitcom The Good Place, from 2016 to 2020. These days, he’s portraying the character Neil Bremer in NBC’s Mr. Mayor, which is the latest creation of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.
Throughout his prolific career, Danson has been nominated for a staggering 18 Primetime Emmy Awards. Of those nods, he ended up winning two. He has also been nominated for a grand total of 11 Golden Globes. Once again, he ended up winning three of those.
Danson also has one Screen Actors Guild Award and One American Comedy Award under his belt. In 2011, TV Guide ranked him 2nd on their list of the top 25 television stars.
It’s hard to believe that it comes close to crashing to a halt. Because of a short-lived affair that he involves in during the ’90s production of the film Made In America.
It’s hard to believe that it comes close to crashing to a halt. Because of a short-lived affair that he involves in during the ’90s production of the film Made In America. Even though his career recovers from that little hiccup, it ends up costing him his marriage and $30 million dollars. Not only that, but his reputation took a significant hit as well.
Not only that, but his reputation took a major hit as well.
Join Facts Verse as we take a look at Ted Danson’s Affair With Whoopi Goldberg. A fling that reportedly cost him a whole lot more than he was expecting.
Whoopi And Ted’s Whirlwind Affair
Over the years, there have been countless scandalous celebrity relationships that have made waves in the tabloids. But one of the most notorious affairs that still inspires discussion today is Ted Danson’s affair with Whoopi Goldberg.
In the early 90s, the rising stars strike up a romance, a controversy in the media, and Danson’s 1993 divorce. It is after dealing with court proceedings, cost him a lot more than he bargaining for.
Danson and Goldberg met in 1988 on the Arsenio Hall Show. After exchanging a few pleasantries and acquaints with each other, the two became close friends. They maintain a friendship for the next years. In 1992, their relationship becomes more romantic when they have an affair while on the set of Made in America.
It’s actually not all that uncommon for actors to get pretty cozy with each other when working on films together. They are often away from their families, far away in remote locations. Quite a few illicit romances have started in precisely this way.
Danson attracts by Goldberg, saying that he will happily ‘walk-in Whoopi’s shadow’ for the rest of his life. There is just one little problem.
At the time, Danson marries his second wife, Cassandra Coates. The two lovebirds did their best to keep their relationship under wraps. It didn’t elongate the media to see their fling, and Coats clues in on her husband’s infidelity. When the tabloids spilled the beans about Ted and Whoopi’s romance, they pretty much had a field day. The paparazzi end up capturing the two’s entire relationship timeline. Their budding courtship all the way to Danson’s high-profile divorce and he and Whoopi’s eventual breakup.
After 18 years of matrimony, Coates finally decided enough was enough and filed for divorce from Danson shortly after finding out about her husband’s romantic involvement with Goldberg.
The affair was obviously the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. Reportedly, the couple had already been going through some hard times, and there were numerous other factors that contributed to Danson and Coate’s relationship failing. But clearly, cheating is never something that contributes to a happy, healthy relationship.
Coates became paralyzed after having a stroke while giving birth to her and Danson’s first daughter Kate. Even though Danson faithfully remained by her side as she slowly but surely learned how to walk again, the trauma inflicted by that stroke apparently created a large rift between the two of them.
Danson told Closer that at the root of his and his ex-wife’s marital problems was a ‘massive lack of trust’. He further told the outlet that they found it very difficult to adjust to the fact that they were no longer the same people they were before Coates had her life-changing medical crisis.
So, by the time that Coates learned of her husband’s affair, she had already pretty much made up her mind about the trajectory of their marriage and used it as the jumping-off point to finally pull the cord on their marriage.
Coates would receive a big payout during that nasty divorce. When all was said and done, she got to walk away not only with the couple’s two kids but also an eye-watering $30 million in the divorce settlement – making it one of the costlier celebrity divorces in history.
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Rumors Spread That Ted And Whoopi Were Planning A Wedding
Pretty much as soon as the news broke that Danson and Coates were getting divorced, rumors started flying that Ted and Whoopi were planning to get married. But these rumors were squashed when it was reported that Danson had dumped Goldberg under pressure from his parents.
While some relationships run of steam faster than others, it was reportedly outside pressure from Danson’s own family that brought about the end of he and Whoopi’s romance. It’s speculated that Ted’s parents saw their son’s relationship with the Sister Act actresses as merely a symptom of some kind of mid-life crisis – and apparently, Ted eventually agreed with them!
Ted later told the media that he ‘went nuts’, hurt his children, and hurt his wife. But he added that he was doing the best that he could do at that time.
Ted Danson’s Controversial Blackface Stunt
Danson and Goldberg weren’t afraid of pushing boundaries when they were together – even if that meant making people quite angry. This was precisely what happened the time that Danson showed up at a roast for Whoopi at the New York Friar’s Club wearing blackface while making a ton of highly offensive jokes.
Whoopi, however, defended Danson, stating that she even wrote some of his routine herself. She even said that It took a lot of courage for Ted to come out in blackface in front of 3,000 people, adding that she didn’t care if people didn’t like it because she did.
A few people in attendance at that event that found Danson’s antics to be in poor taste were then-Mayor of New York David Dinkins, as well as Shari Belafonte, Anita Baker, and Montel Williams. Danson reportedly made quite a few unsavory remarks about his sex life with Whoopi and even used the n-word more than a dozen times. Montel Williams walked out in the middle of the set and later compared the event to a ‘meeting of Klan’.
Mayor Dinkins said that he felt embarrassed for Whoopi as well as for the audience.
Revisiting the topic years later in 2019, however, Goldberg doesn’t seem to have changed her mind about the events that transpired that evening. In fact, she said that her only regret was that none of her comedian friends were in attendance. Among those that she wishes could have been there that night were Billy Crystal and Robin Williams.
Ted Danson’s Third Marriage With Mary Steenburgen
On November 5, 1993, Danson and Goldberg put out a statement confirming that they had ended their short-lived relationship. A year later, however, Ted met actress Mary Steenburgen on a five-hour canoe ride while filming what would be the blockbuster flop 1994 film Pontiac Film.
Ted and Mary had both already been through rocky romances before, and they had all but given up on love, but when they met each other paddling down California’s Big River, sparks flew. Mary had been a huge fan of Cheers, and watching that program reportedly lifted her spirits when she was going through her own tumultuous divorce from actor Malcolm McDowell.
After a brief courtship, Denson and Steenburgen got married on October 7, 1995. Danson became stepfather to Mary’s two children, Lilly and Charlie, whom she had in her previous marriage.
Steenburgen told Closer that she and Ted do occasionally clash, and she further admitted that she sometimes gets jealous whenever someone that recognizes him from TV flirts with him at the bar. But overall, she says that Ted is nothing short of a loving husband. When such things happen, he apparently is always very quick to inform his fans that he is happily married. What makes their marriage such a strong one is the fact that they share a tremendous amount of trust in each other.
After 26 years of marriage, Ted and Mary are still happily married – and their faith in each other has never faltered.
These days, Danson says that family is the most important thing in his life. Even though his work in show business often requires him to travel, he says that he much prefers being at home with his three granddaughters.
When asked if he has any regrets, Danson says that he wouldn’t go back and change anything. Even though he freely admits that he has made some cringe-worthy mistakes in the past, he also knows that everything that he has been through has led him to the happy, satisfying life he has today.
At 73, he says that he finally realizes that it’s okay to be imperfect – and he’s perfectly okay with that.
Did you already know about Ted Danson’s infamous affair with Whoopi Goldberg? And, what’s your favorite role that Ted Danson has done in the 46 years that he’s been in the entertainment industry? Let us know in the comments section down below.
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