Loni Anderson, best known for playing Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’, died at 79, days before her birthday on August 5.
Anderson died at a Los Angeles hospital following a “prolonged” illness, said her longtime publicist, Cheryl J. Kagan. “We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” Anderson’s family said in a statement.
Her work in ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ earned her two Emmy Award nods and three Golden Globe nominations.
However, apart from her professional achievements, Loni Anderson was in the media spotlight due to her much publicized marriage to and then divorce from Burt Reynolds, the actor known for movies like ‘Navajo Joe’.
Here’s how they met, and what went wrong between Loni Anderson and Burt Reynolds.
Loni Anderson-Burt Reynolds relationship, marriage details
Anderson and Reynolds reportedly first met on The Merv Griffin Show in 1981. The two reportedly began dating in 1982, and their movie ‘Stroker Ace’ came out in 1983.
They married five years after that. Burt gave Loni a 7-carat ring, which he’d designed, Los Angeles Times reported. They got married in Florida, and had 65 guests in attendance. The marriage was, as per People magazine, about their “love and respect for each other.”
Reynolds and Anderson ended up divorcing in 1994, but the very ugly affair would take another 22 years to be completely settled.
Loni Anderson-Burt Reynolds divorce details
Reynolds fired the first shots during the divorce process, sharing that the two had not had sex in years.
Speaking to ‘Good Morning America: Evening Edition’, he said “I don’t see how she can be in total shock when you have not … if your husband has not touched you in the biblical sense … in almost three years. How can you be surprised?”
Shortly after the split, Reynolds also accused Anderson of cheating on him and said he’d caught her too. He said that he too had an affair, but that was only after he was convinced Anderson was cheating on him.
The actor went on to suggest sodium pentathol could prove who’d cheated first, only if Anderson took him up on the challenge. He also accused her of being an underemployed actor, and having a ‘lousy self esteem’. She was also accused of being a bad mother to their son, Quinton.
Reportedly, his divorce cost him over $2 million, and he paid around $47,000 a month in divorce-related expenses.
Anderson, meanwhile, told SFGate in 1995, “I said to everybody, ‘Don’t get sucked into this, or it will become a circus. Burt wants to make a war — let him be in it all by himself. Someday, I will talk”.
She said she didn’t understand the reason for the split and that Burt not only threw her out of the house but also humiliated her with his accusations about her mothering.
Loni Anderson also accused Burt Reynolds of physically abusing her multiple times, which she blamed on his drug use. She also noted that they hadn’t spoken since the split and was worried about her ex-husband’s ‘erratic behavior’, so much so, that Anderson insisted a nanny be present when their son went to visit his father. One time, Reynolds threw a chair at the regular nanny, Anderson alleged, and someone else had to cover for her.
Burt Reynolds also ended up declaring bankruptcy before paying Anderson the full amount she was owed. In September 2015, the matter was put to rest after auctions, rehab stints, and IRS interventions.
Reynolds wrote a $154,520 check that put the matter to rest. Speaking to People a few months later, he said “I should have known that you don’t marry an actress. That was a really dumb move on my part.”
