Was Ted Turner Married? Breaking Down His Relationship With Jane Fonda & More
Ted Turner, who founded Turner Broadcasting System and CNN, died at the age of 87 on May 6, his company confirmed. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN,” CNN’s CEO said in a statement. “Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”
While Turner was not married at the time of his death, he had three wives over the course of his life, including a high-profile relationship with Jane Fonda.
Scroll down for everything we know about his relationship history and more.
Who was Ted Turner married to?
Turner’s first wife was Judy Nuye. They were married from 1960 to 1964. He then married Jane Shirley Smith in 1965, and they were together until their 1988 divorce.
Turner and Fonda tied the knot in 1991. Their relationship began after Turner found out that Fonda’s marriage to Tom Hayden was ending (they split in December 1988 and divorced in 1990). Per The Hollywood Reporter, Turner, who had met Fonda “years earlier” and “admired” her, called the actress up, but was rejected because she wasn’t ready to date yet. She urged him to call her in six months, and he obliged, ultimately leading to their 1991 wedding.
The former couple was married for nine years before separating in 2000. Fonda filed for divorce in 2001.
Turner never remarried after the divorce from Fonda, but revealed in 2012 that he had four girlfriends. He told THR that each woman got about a week of his time per month. One of the girlfriends was confirmed to be Elizabeth Dewberry, but Turner did not disclose the identities of the other three.
Why did Ted Turner and Jane Fonda divorce?
When Turner and Fonda first broke up, he attributed her conversion to Christianity as the reason for the divorce. He later clarified in his memoir that he was more upset that Fonda didn’t talk to him about her conversion before making the decision.
Turner also noted that he and Fonda spent a lot of time apart and had “trouble communicating” because of it.
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Meanwhile, Fonda shared her side of the story in her own memoir, explaining that she didn’t tell Turner she was converting to Christianity “because by then I didn’t feel we were on the same team.” She added, “I also knew that if I had discussed with him my need for spirituality, he would have either asked me to choose between him and it or bullied me out of it.”
Fonda also accused Turner of cheating on her a month into their marriage and said his alleged infidelities continued throughout their relationship.
While the details of Turner and Fonda’s divorce settlement were not publicly revealed, it’s been reported that he paid her $40 million, according to THR.
Were Ted Turner and Jane Fonda still friends?
Yes, Turner and Fonda maintained a friendly, amicable relationship after their divorce. She referred to him as her “favorite ex-husband” a year after the split, and admitted in 2008, “I still have a very good relationship [with him].” In Turner’s 2012 THR interview, he shared that he and Fonda still communicated about once a month.
In November 2025, less than six months before Turner’s death, Fonda attended an event in honor of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential, a charity she and Turner cofounded when they were together. She gave a speech at the event and attributed the success of the organization to Turner.
“It was a very challenging time in Georgia. Had I not been with Ted, this was something, had he not stood by me with his love and support, we never would have survived,” she said, per People. “Ted’s not here, but he is here in my heart, and I know he is here in a lot of our hearts.”
Did Ted Turner have kids?
Yes, Turner was a father to five children: Rhett, Laura, Jennie, Teddy, and Beau. The kids are from his first two marriages. He and Fonda did not have any children together.
