Helen Reddy - Personal Life and Recent Years

Personal Life and Recent Years

Reddy, who gave what she announced as her farewell performance with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 2002, stated in 2008 that "she will never again perform before an audience", specifying "It's not going to happen. I've moved on", and that "her voice has deepened to a lower key, and she's not even sure she could sing hits such as 'Delta Dawn'." "I have very wide-ranging interests," she said in a recent interview. "So, singing 'Leave Me Alone' 43 times per song lost its charm a long time ago." But she could not stay silent forever. On July 12, 2012, Reddy returned to the musical stage at Croce's Jazz Bar in San Diego and for a benefit concert for the arts at St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City, outside of Los Angeles, where the opening act was the high school jazz band and the award winning Valiant Voices show choir. Helen Reddy also sang a duet ("You're Just In Love") with senior choir member Rosalind Smith. She decided to return to performing after being buoyed by the warm reception she recently got when she sang at her sister's birthday party.

But do not expect to hear all of the old chart makers during her performances.

"One of the reasons that I'm coming back to singing is because I'm not doing the greatest hits," Reddy explained. "I'm doing the songs that I always loved. So many are album cuts that never got any airplay, and they're gorgeous songs."

Reddy became a naturalized American citizen in 1974, subsequently availing herself of the opportunity to maintain dual American/Australian citizenship when said opportunity was made available. She has been married and divorced three times, and has two children. Her husbands and children:

• Kenneth Weate (1961–1966), Child: Traci (b. 1963)
• Jeff Wald (25 May 1966 – January 1983). Child: Jordan (b. 1972). She converted to Judaism before marrying Wald.
• Milton Ruth (29 June 1983 – 1995)

Helen was married at age 20 to Kenneth Claude Weate, a considerably older musician and family friend, who she says she wed to defy her parents who wished her to follow them into show business; the couple separated not long after the birth of their daughter, Traci, who became Traci Wald after her adoption by Reddy's second husband Jeff Wald. In a 1975 People interview Reddy admitted her relationship with then husband and manager Jeff Wald was volatile with the couple having "huge, healthy fights" but that she owed her success – she was then the world's most successful female vocalist for two years running – to Wald: "He runs it all. Naturally when the moment of performance comes I have to deliver — but everything else is him. It's not my career; it's our career." By 2 January 1981, Reddy and Wald had separated, with Wald moving into a Beverly Hills rehab facility to treat an eight-year addiction to cocaine. Reddy subsequently filed for divorce, yet withdrew her petition the day after filing it, stating: "After thirteen years of marriage, a separation of one month is too short to make a decision." In 1982, after finding evidence of Wald's continued substance abuse, Reddy again separated from him and initiated divorce proceedings, which this time went through in January 1983. In June 1983 Reddy married Milton Ruth, a drummer in her band; the couple divorced in 1995.

Active in community affairs, Reddy served as the state of California's Parks and Recreation Commissioner for three years. In 2002, she retired from performing and moved from her longtime residence in Santa Monica, California back to her native Australia, living first on Norfolk Island, before taking up residence in Sydney. There, she was a practising clinical hypnotherapist, and Patron of the Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists. In April 2008, Reddy was reported to be living "simply and frugally off song royalties, pension funds, and social security... a 13th-floor apartment with a 180-degree view of Sydney Harbour." Her apartment had been recently appraised, causing Reddy concern over its future affordability; however, the New York-based landlord learned his tenant's identity and wrote her: "I had no idea it was the Helen Reddy who was living in my unit. Because of what you have done for millions of women all over the world, I will not sell or raise your rent. I hope you'll be very happy living there for years to come."

Reddy published an autobiography, The Woman I Am, and appeared on the Today show in 2006. She was also added to the ARIA Hall Of Fame, with a tribute performance by Vanessa Amorosi of "I Am Woman" at the ceremony. Reddy suffers from Addison's disease, a failure of the adrenal glands, which requires constant treatment.

She has a featured role in a crime film, The Perfect Host, starring David Hyde-Pierce, released in theaters on July 1, 2011.