Personal Life
In 1965, Duke married her first husband, director Harry Falk, who was 13 years her senior. During their marriage, she was constantly having mood swings, a symptom of bipolar disorder, and like many bipolar sufferers, she self-medicated; she drank heavily, became anorexic, and overdosed on pills a number of times. The couple separated in 1969 and were divorced on March 3, 1970.
In early 1970, at the age of 23, Duke had an affair with 17-year old Desi Arnaz, Jr.. The couple's relationship became tabloid fodder, due in part to the vocal and public opposition of Arnaz's mother, Lucille Ball. By late spring, Duke and Arnaz had broken off their relationship, and she began dating actor John Astin, who was 16 years her senior. Around the same time, Duke developed an intimate relationship with rock promoter Michael Tell. In June 1970, in the midst of a manic phase, Duke learned she was pregnant. Unsure whether Arnaz or Astin was the father of her unborn child, Duke married Michael Tell on June 26, 1970 in order to "give (her child) a name". Their marriage lasted 13 days before ending in an annulment on July 9, 1970; Duke claimed the marriage was never consummated. Her son, actor Sean Astin, was born on February 25, 1971. Though Duke said in her 1987 autobiography that John Astin was Sean's biological father, she later stated that she had always believed that Desi Arnaz, Jr. was Sean's actual biological father. It turned out that neither statement was correct; in 1994, Sean Astin underwent biological testing to determine his paternity, and the results showed that Astin's father is actually Michael Tell.
Duke and John Astin were married in August 1972. Astin adopted Sean, and the couple had another son, actor Mackenzie, in 1973. Duke and Astin worked together extensively during their marriage, and she took his name professionally, becoming "Patty Duke Astin". The couple divorced in 1985.
Duke married her fourth husband, drill sergeant Michael Pearce, in 1986. The couple moved to Hayden, Idaho, and adopted a son, Kevin, who was born in 1988. Pearce became a firefighter. Since her marriage to Pearce, Duke occasionally uses the name "Anna Duke-Pearce" in her writings and other professional work.
Duke has three granddaughters by her son Sean: Actress Alexandra Astin (who played Elanor Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, opposite her father, who played Samwise Gamgee), Elizabeth Astin, and Isabella Astin.
Read more about this topic: Patty Duke
Famous quotes containing the words personal and/or life:
“Women’s childhood relationships with their fathers are important to them all their lives. Regardless of age or status, women who seem clearest about their goals and most satisfied with their lives and personal and family relationships usually remember that their fathers enjoyed them and were actively interested in their development.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)
“I do not mean to imply that the good old days were perfect. But the institutions and structure—the web—of society needed reform, not demolition. To have cut the institutional and community strands without replacing them with new ones proved to be a form of abuse to one generation and to the next. For so many Americans, the tragedy was not in dreaming that life could be better; the tragedy was that the dreaming ended.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)