Willie Nelson is sharing details of his infidelity, which destroyed three of his marriages and left his fourth wife skeptical of his "wandering ways."
In his new book, "Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band," the 87-year-old country music legend opens up about his love life, which saw him married to Martha Matthews from 1952-1962, Shirley Collie from 1963-1971, Connie Koepke from 1971 to 1988, and Annie D’Angelo, whom he wed in 1991.
Nelson's second wife busted him after he received a hospital bill of a baby girl. The "On the Road Again" singer tried to downplay it to his then-wife, Collie, but it later emerged that he had fathered a child with Koepke, who was his girlfriend at the time.
"I tried to play it off as no big deal. I told her that I had to go to the hospital for something minor," Nelson wrote in his memoir, per Page Six. "Shirley wasn’t buying that for one simple reason. The bill said the charges were for the birth of a baby girl, Paula Carlene, born to a Mrs. Connie Nelson."
The crooner had no choice but to tell Collie the truth.
"Couldn’t lie. Was caught flat-footed," he wrote. "Had to get the words out of my mouth. 'Connie’s my girlfriend and Paula’s our daughter.'"
The couple divorced and Nelson married Koepke, but things soured when he cheated on her too.
"I still hadn’t reformed. I messed up another marriage. My wandering ways were too much for any woman to put up with," he admitted.
While married to Koepke, the singer and actor met his current wife, D’Angelo, who worked as a makeup artist for the film "Stagecoach," which starred Nelson.
"My love for Annie was all-consuming, but winning her over wasn’t easy. She had to be sure my marriage [to Koepke] was over and that I was truly free," he recalled. In the end things worked out for the two, who have been married for 34 years. Nelson called it "the smartest thing I ever did."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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