Diane Ladd’s Relationships: All About the Actress’ Current and Former Spouses

Mar. 15, 2025

Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern; Ladd and Robert Charles Hunter.Photo:Bettman ; Tommaso Boddi/WireImage

Bettman ; Tommaso Boddi/WireImage

Diane Laddis the matriarch of one of Hollywood’smost famous families.

TheAliceactress and her first husband, actorBruce Dern, were married just shy of a decade in the 1960s and share a daughter, actressLaura Dern. The trio are the only father, mother and child to have each earned an Academy Award nomination for acting.

In 1992, Ladd and Laura became the first mother-daughter pair to earn Oscar nods in the same year — both for their performances inRambling Rose— and one of only two parent-child duos to be nominated for the same film. Ladd, Bruce and Laura are also the only family to have adjoining stars on theHollywood Walk of Fame.

“You know, some say ‘never meet your heroes,’ but I say if you’re really blessed, you get them as your parents,” Laura said whileaccepting her first Academy Awardin 2020. “I share this with my acting heroes, my legends, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern.”

While Ladd’s marriage to Bruce wasn’t the only time she said “I do,” it was the only time she wed a fellow actor. Her second husband was businessman William A. Shea Jr., to whom she was wed from 1969 to 1977. Ladd’s third trip down the aisle came on Feb. 14, 1999, when she wed former PepsiCo CEO Robert Charles Hunter.

Here is a look back at Diane Ladd’s relationship history.

Bruce Dern

Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd with daughter Laura Dern in the late 1960s.

Bruce Dern was a Chicago native with a talent for running, but afterfailing to qualify for the Olympicsin 1956, he pursued a career in acting. His early gigs included theater productions in Philadelphia and New York City, where he first crossed paths with a young actress named Diane Ladd.

Ladd and Dern met working on an off-Broadway production ofOrpheus Descending.The pair wed in 1960, just a few months after meeting.

“Bruce had already been married and divorced when he met me. He came to play Orpheus, and Orpheus descended,” Ladd joked totheLos Angeles Times. “I married Bruce when I was very, very young.”

They welcomed a daughter, Diane Elizabeth Dern, in November 1960. Eighteen-month-old Diane Elizabeth died in May 1962 in a drowning accident while in the care of a housekeeper.

Diane Ladd, Bruce Dern and Laura Dern in 2010.Barry King/FilmMagic

Barry King/FilmMagic

Ladd reflected on their split toParademagazine in 1992. “We suffered the tragedy of our daughter’s death together and thought another child would help us, but we were so bruised,” she told the outlet, according toDeseret News.

Though Ladd and Dern hardly spoke in the years following their divorce, it was their work that allowed the exes to become friends again. They reconnected in 1989 on the set ofWild at Heart, which starred Ladd and Laura, and later filmedMrs. Muncktogether.

In 2010, Ladd, Dern and Laura became the first family to have three adjoining stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,theL.A. Timesreported.

“As [Diane and I] both look back on it, we beat ourselves up a little bit and say, ‘What the hell was wrong with us that we just didn’t accept this and start this way right at the very beginning?’ ” Dern told PEOPLE in 2001 about his amicable relationship with Ladd. “But it took us a decade to get there.”

William A. Shea Jr.

Ladd married her second husband, William A. Shea Jr., in 1969 — the same year she and Dern divorced.

Shea was a businessman whose father, William A. Shea Sr., was the namesake of the New York Mets’ Shea Stadium,The New York Timesreported. They split in 1977.

Around that time, Ladd spoke toThe New York Timesabout her first two husbands and the end of those relationships.

“I married two men, Bruce and Bill, neither of which know how to show love, and I come from the South and from a man, my father, who gave me rocking‐chair love,” she said.

Ladd continued, “My people pass love around, and why I selected two men who needed someone to give love and didn’t know how to give it … I hope I won’t repeat that again.”

Robert Charles Hunter

Diane Ladd and Robert Charles Hunter in 2015.Nicholas Hunt/Getty

Nicholas Hunt/Getty

After her split from Shea, Ladd was still hopeful she would find love in the future, tellingThe New York Timesshe would “probably” tie the knot again. That moment came on Valentine’s Day 1999 when Ladd wed former PepsiCo CEORobert Charles Hunter, according totheL.A. Times.

Ladd and Hunter have made red carpet appearances together, including at the premiere of Netflix’sMarriage Story— which earned Laura aGolden Globeand her first Academy Award — and that ofJoy— which starred Ladd alongsideJennifer Lawrence.

Ladd has also shared posted with her husband on Instagram, captioning a family photo with Hunter with “my heart” and another calling him the “best date ever.” In 2021, Ladd shared that she and Hunter spent Thanksgivingwith their blended family— including Bruce Dern, their daughter Laura and their grandchildren,ElleryandJaya Harper.

source: people.com