How Many Times Did Johnny Carson Get Married?

Johnny Carson was a host and Television icon that many loved for his work on "The Tonight Show." For over 30 years, he was broadcast onto screens worldwide and provided nightly tuck-ins for millions of people.

However, despite how public his job was, he was a very private person who kept the details of his personal life mostly to himself. Once in a while, he mentioned his family and wives, but it was usually surface information.

This made many of his viewers and fans curious to know more about the iconic host. How many women did he marry? Who were these women, and how many kids did he have?

Well, we have got all the answers for his curious fans. Read on to find out all there is to know about Carson's marital relationships and family.

In 1948, when Carson was in his early 20s, he married Jody Wolcott, his first wife. Despite the love they had for each other, they had a difficult marriage that was very volatile. Both parties cheated several times, and this led to their initial separation in 1959.

Eventually, they couldn't go on with the marriage and divorced in Mexico on May 25, 1963. This was Carson's second-longest marriage. They had three kids during their decade-long relationship named Christopher Carson, Cory Carson, and Richard Carson. Unfortunately, in 1991, Richard died in a ghastly car accident.

Carson's marriage to Wolcott was the only one that he had children from of his four marriages. After they divorced, Wolcott remarried a man named Donald Buckley in 1970. Unfortunately, they also ended up getting divorced.

Months after his divorce from Wolcott, Carson married Joanne Copeland. According to a report by TV Guide, she was a model and stewardess for Pan American World Airways, who Carson started dating in 1960, back when he was still married to Wolcott and was the host of the game show "Who Do You Trust?"

They got married in 1963, the year after Carson became the host of The Tonight Show, and nine years later, in 1972, they were divorced. It was a messy divorce that came after a tough and lengthy legal battle. In the end, Copeland walked away from Carson with almost half a million dollars in settlement and yearly alimony payments.

During and after her marriage to Carson, Copeland never had any children but did remarry. She married Richard Rever and later divorced him. On May 8, 2015, the Los Angeles Times reported that Copeland died in her home at 83.

In 1972, the same year he and Copeland got divorced, Carson secretly married Joanna Holland. Despite efforts by Carson's lawyer to get the couple to sign a prenuptial agreement and Holland's willingness, Carson refused because he believed he loved her and they would be together forever.

Holland was a model who worked with many of the top designers in America. She was also the Vice president of a fashion line by Michaele Vollbracht, and the president of an NGO called Share Happily And Reap Endlessly (SHARE).

Unfortunately, time proved Carson wrong, and in 1983, he filed for a divorce. Their breakup made headlines as many of Carson's fans and celebrity friends began to tease him about it being his third divorce in a row.

After two years, they finally settled, and Holland received $20 million in cash. After this, Carson stayed single but continued to take a few women on dates, such as actress Sally Field.

His fourth, final, and longest marriage was to Alexis Maas. Carson and Maas met and soon started dating, despite the backlash by the public because of their age difference (26 years). Eventually, in 1987, they married in Malibu, California, in a small ceremony attended by some of their friends and family.

The two had a lavish lifestyle, with expensive trips to many countries and expensive mansions that high-class interior designers tastefully furnished. They never had a child during the 18 years they were together before Carson's death in 2005, but from photos and interviews, the couple seemed very happy together.

After Carson's death, Maas and his two surviving sons, Christopher and Cory, inherited his over $300 million estates. She never remarried after his death and currently lives a very private life.