For eternity, Robert Redford will always be one of the most attractive leading men on the big screen. Passing away in his sleep at the age of 89 at his ranch in Utah, the star of The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, alongside his inseparable friend Paul Newman, had a love life as happy as it was discreet and tragic. He was married twice and had famous romances, such as the one he had for seven years with actress Sonia Braga. Another of his well-known relationships was with Debra Winger.
While studying at university, Redford fell in love with Lola Van Wagenen, whom he married in 1958 in Las Vegas after returning from a long trip around the world that led them to live for a while in Mallorca and the Costa del Sol. The following year, their first child, Scott, was born, who sadly passed away two months later due to sudden infant death syndrome. He was 21 years old, and she was 20.
Rarely did the star speak about this event that marked his life, however, in 2017 he mentioned it to Esquire magazine: "Of course, it was traumatic, and how it plays out over time, I don't know. We had to deal with that. You have to move on. And we had other children who came. But something like that is never completely dismissed. It probably manifests itself in various small ways that you're not even aware of."
Fortunately, the marriage was filled with joy with the birth of Shauna in 1960, who graduated in art from university. She got married at her parents' home in Provo Canyon to Eric Schlosser in a ceremony conducted by a Supreme Court judge from the State of Utah and former mayor of Salt Lake City, Ted Wilson. They have two children, Mica and Conor.
Both the actor and his wife, a prominent American historian and activist, decided to distance themselves from the fake world of Hollywood, although they did not neglect their friendships. Among their closest friends were Paul Newman, who passed away in 2008, and Jane Fonda, with whom Redford starred in the classic Barefoot in the Park (1967). Their chemistry was so strong that, over time, it remained as intact as ever, as demonstrated during their joint appearance at the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival. At the last Cannes Film Festival, the legendary actress let slip that "Robert Redford had an issue with women. He doesn't like to kiss."
In 1962, Robert and Lola became parents again, this time to David James, who was later diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a disease affecting the liver and bile ducts for which he eventually received two liver transplants in 1993. He pursued university studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, earning a degree in film and creative writing and a master's in literature from Northwestern University, one of the country's most prestigious institutions where notable figures like Patricia Neal, Charlton Heston, and Cindy Crawford also studied.
Like his father, David was a staunch environmental advocate and, as such, directed and produced several documentaries. In 1988, he married his high school sweetheart, Kyle, with whom he had two children, Dylan and Lena. Unfortunately, the filmmaker passed away at the age of 58 in 2020 due to liver cancer while on the transplant list. This new loss deeply affected the Oscar-winning director for Ordinary People (1980).
The youngest child of Redford and Van Wagenen is Amy Hart, born in 1970. Like her siblings, Amy grew up between New York and Utah and later moved to San Francisco, where she studied theater at the city's State University. According to the New York Post, Amy was married to Scottish photographer Mark Mann from 2000 to 2004. In 2008, she married theater director Matt August just six weeks before the birth of their first child, Eden, in 2008. Several years later, she had twins.
After 27 years of marriage, Lola and Robert divorced in 1985. Despite the separation, and in one of his rare statements about his private life, the founder of the Sundance Film Festival remarked: "We still have a great love, a great affection, a great friendship. It's wonderful, and I think we probably deserve credit for it because the kids are great, they handled it well." Lola is currently 88 years old.
Against all odds, Robert Redford fell in love again in 1996 when he met German painter and activist Sibylle Szaggars at the Sundance Mountain Resort, where she had come to ski. On their first date, Sibylle was particularly nervous because she barely knew the actor's filmography, so a few days before, she rented some of his films just in case the topic came up.
Redford found it amusing and, far from being upset, decided to get to know this woman, who was two decades younger, better as he believed they were starting from the same point. They married in Hamburg in 2009 in a very private ceremony. A year earlier, the couple visited Barcelona to attend the Mobile World Congress, where they met the then Prince Felipe.
Both Redford and Szaggars share a passion for environmental activism. In 2015, she founded The Way of the Rain, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing, producing, and performing educational and artistic events designed to promote public awareness in support of Earth's protection.
Upon his death, the iconic actor leaves behind a fortune of 200 million dollars.