Personal Life
She was married to Gene Dickinson, a former football player, from 1952 to 1960.
Dickinson married Burt Bacharach in 1965. They remained a married couple for 15 years, though late in the marriage they had a period of separation where each dated other people. Following the birth of their daughter in 1966, Dickinson temporarily put her career on hold, although she did appear in the occasional picture, such as the western The Last Challenge (1967) with Glenn Ford and the comedy Some Kind of Nut (1969).
Their daughter, Lea Nikki, known as Nikki, arrived a year after they were married. Born three months prematurely, Nikki suffered from chronic health problems, including visual impairment. She was later diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. Burt penned the song Nikki for their fragile young daughter. Angie declined many roles to focus on caring for their daughter. Nikki's parents eventually placed her at the Wilson Center, a psychiatric residential treatment facility for adolescents located in Faribault, Minnesota. Nikki remained there for nine years. Later, Nikki studied geology at California Lutheran University, but her poor eyesight prevented her from pursuing a career in that field.
On January 4, 2007, Nikki committed suicide in her apartment in the Ventura suburb of Thousand Oaks. She was forty. In a joint statement, Dickinson and Bacharach said, "She quietly and peacefully committed suicide to escape the ravages to her brain brought on by Asperger's . . . . She loved kitties, earthquakes, glacial calving, meteor showers, science, blue skies and sunsets, and Tahiti. She was one of the most beautiful creatures created on this earth, and she is now in the white light, at peace."
Read more about this topic: Angie Dickinson
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