Norman Mailer's Six Marriages

What Happened

Norman Mailer's personal life was as volatile as his prose. His first marriage to Beatrice Silverman (1944-1952) ended when his serial infidelities became intolerable. He married painter Adele Morales in 1954, and their marriage became the most notorious chapter in American literary domestic violence. On November 20, 1960, at a party intended to announce his mayoral candidacy, Mailer stabbed Morales twice with a penknife, piercing her cardiac sac. She nearly died.

Morales survived but refused to press charges, reportedly telling police she had fallen on glass. Mailer pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of third-degree assault and received a suspended sentence. He and Morales divorced in 1962. Mailer married Lady Jeanne Campbell the same year, but that marriage lasted barely twelve months before Campbell discovered his affair with actress Beverly Bentley.

Bentley became wife number four in 1963, producing two sons before their divorce in 1969. His fifth marriage to jazz singer Carol Stevens lasted a single day in 1980 -- a legal maneuver to legitimize their daughter Maggie. He married Norris Church the following month, and she remained his wife until his death in 2007, enduring his affairs and drinking throughout their twenty-seven-year marriage.

Mailer's divorce history illustrates how domestic violence and serial infidelity create cascading legal and financial consequences. His third wife's divorce proceedings were described as among the longest and most expensive in Illinois history. Each successive marriage carried the baggage of previous failures, and the stabbing of Adele Morales cast a permanent shadow over his legacy.

Legal Breakdown: Domestic violence, serial divorce, and the legal consequences of abusive behavior

What This Means for Your Divorce