Paul Newman had a long lasting marriage with Joanne Woodward, 50 years. However, according to himself, all through this marriage he carried guilt. The reason was he had been married earlier, had three children, and cheated on her with Joanne.
He was 24 and Jackie Witte was 19 when they met over their shard love of acting. They married in 1949. A manager at the time said that Paul was a good looking kid but in the acting front nothing special. When Jackie became pregnant with a soon to be son, Scott, it looked like Paul would have to enter the family business for a steady career. But the call of the stage was still strong. He enrolled in a class to obtain a master’s degree in theatre where he thought he could at least teach the subject.
He still went up for the odd role and was lucky enough to be accepted. While performing in a minor part he was spotted by an agent where he was told to move to New York and ‘’look me up.’’ Dropping his degree he did just that and luck soon kicked it. By now Jackie had given up her acting ambitions to care for their growing family.
His looks, his growing acting confidence were growing and producers were taking notice. During the run of a play, Picnic, he met Joanne, the female star’s understudy.
His growing success meant tensions at home. He liked to spend time with his buddies while Jackie felt trapped at home seeing little of her husband. All the while he was seeing more of Joanne, though no affair had started. In fact, a third child was conceived.
With the success of his movie, Somebody Up There Likes Me, things came to a head. Realising his love for Joanne he decided to leave Jackie.
Obviously Jackie was devastated, heartbroken and refused to grant a divorce. Paul moved in with Joanne and they became the new hot couple in the media. Jackie realised it was over and granted a divorce. At the time too, Joanne was pregnant with Paul’s child. Paul didn’t like to be reminded of his behaviour
‘I was probably too immature to make a success of my first marriage. What happened to us during that period is nobody’s business.’ He did, however, confess to one emotion. ‘Guilty as hell’ was how he described himself about his first marriage, adding: ‘And I’ll carry it with me for the rest of my life.’
While Paul and Joanne became cinema darlings Jackie slipped into obscurity. Nothing seems to be known about her following the divorce and it’s reported she died in 1994.
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