Clint Eastwood Had ‘Addictive’ Affairs With ‘Many Other Women’ During First Marriage, New Book Claims
Filmmaker Shawn Levy has written a new biography about one of the most famous faces of all time: Clint Eastwood. Clint: The Man and The Movies uses historical interviews with the star and those who knew him to examine his past and personal life — and Levy’s research revealed that the Western icon had so many affairs during his 21-year first marriage to Maggie Johnson, he felt that they were “addictive.”
In the book, Levy quotes Eastwood on the topics. “His affairs, he later admitted to Richard Schickel, ‘just became … I don’t know … addictive … like you have to have another cigarette.'” Levy added, “There were many other women, some from the ranks of classmates, some encountered at the nightspots and jazz clubs that he frequented, some from among his neighbors at the apartment complex in Studio City, near Universal, to which he and Maggie had moved when he first went under contract to the studio.”
(L-R Graylen Eastwood, Stacy Poitras, Alison Eastwood, Scott Eastwood, Christina Sandera, Clint Eastwood, Maggie Johnson, Kyle Eastwood and Cynthia Ramirez) Kevin Winter/Getty Images
He continued, “The atmosphere of that small apartment building — which, naturally, was centered around a swimming pool — not only encouraged sexual adventures but facilitated them; several of Clint’s friends from Oakland, Seattle, and Fort Ord moved into the place or similar places nearby, meaning that there were always apartments readily available for a quick tryst — and buddies willing to help him cover his tracks.”
Over the years, Eastwood admitted that he did not want a marriage that chained him down, and praised Johnson for being accepting of his lifestyle, although it is unknown if she knew how many affairs there were. Eastwood fathered many children over the years and has eight children with six women, including two with Johnson.
Warner Bros./Everett Collection
The book also quoted Eastwood as saying, “‘Maggie and I have an understanding. I’m independent, a vagabond, and she accepts me as I am and doesn’t strangle me with female possessiveness.’ Speaking more broadly, he declared, ‘Maggie doesn’t chain me. The worst thing is owning people. I don’t want to be owned by anybody — maybe shared, but not lock, stock, and barrel.'”
After ending his first marriage, Eastwood went on to date Sondra Locke and Frances Fisher. He married Dina Ruiz in 1996; they divorced in 2014. Most recently, he was dating Christina Sandera until her death in 2023. Eastwood is now 95 years old.
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