Margot Kidder - Personal Life

Personal Life

In the past, Kidder dated former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, director Brian De Palma, and actor/comedian Richard Pryor. She has been married and divorced three times: American novelist Thomas McGuane, with whom she had her only child, daughter Maggie (born October 28, 1976); actor John Heard and to French film director Philippe de Broca. None of the marriages lasted longer than a year. Since her divorce from De Broca, she has said that she prefers the companionship of her dogs. She has two grandchildren, Mazie and Charlie Kirn, from her daughter's marriage to the novelist Walter Kirn.

Kidder actively supported Jesse Jackson's bid for the Democratic nomination in 1984.

In the early 1990s, during the first Gulf War, Kidder was criticized for remarks she had made that questioned the war.

As of November 2009, Kidder was the Montana State Coordinator for Progressive Democrats of America. The organization's website carried her article "Ax Max", in which Max Baucus, Montana's moderate Democratic Senator, was the target of criticism.

Kidder was involved in a serious car crash in 1990, after which she was unable to work for two years, causing her serious financial problems.

Kidder has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which led to a widely-publicized manic episode in 1996. She disappeared for four days, having become a street person. She was found in a back yard by a homeowner and was taken by Los Angeles police to a medical centre in a distressed state, the caps on her teeth having fallen out. She was later placed in psychiatric care. This was later parodied in "Mr. Saturday Knight", a 2001 episode of the TV series Family Guy.

In 2007, Kidder said that she had not had a manic episode in 11 years thanks to Abram Hoffer and his Natural Medicine.

On August 23, 2011, Kidder, Tantoo Cardinal, and dozens of others were arrested while protesting against the proposed extension of the Keystone Pipeline.