John Wayne’s iconic career did not stop him from fulfilling fatherly duties. The actor welcomed his youngest son at 56, and knowing that he would not be around for long, Wayne formed a strong bond with the boy.

John Wayne was a staple in the film industry for many years. On-screen, he often acted shy around women, and in reality, he did not portray the look of a playboy. However, the actor lived differently from what many would have expected.

Wayne was always webbed in controversies involving women and alcohol. Also, he was an incorrigible philanderer who, despite being married, had affairs with different women.

The “The Quiet Man” star was married to three different women but never found any of them satisfying enough. His first wife was Josephine Saenz, a society girl from Pasadena.

Saenz grew weary of her husband’s company and her time on set with him. Their marriage was not perfect either, as Wayne was a serial cheat.

He had a three-year-long affair with co-star Marlene Dietrich, a German, and they never concealed the relationship. The actor later confessed that his most exciting sexual experience was with his German mistress.

Not long after the split from his wife of twelve years, Wayne married Esperanza Baur Diaz Ceballos, against the advice of his close friends. She was deemed as actor Ray Milland’s “port of call” when he entered Mexico, and her mother had a history with brothels.

Somehow, the couple carried on for a few years. They shared a passionate intimacy, and Ceballos did not object to her husband’s regular drinking habits.

Eventually, the relationship worsened; she became an alcoholic and frowned on her husband’s alleged affair with Gail Rusell, leading them to argue ceaselessly. At one point, she threatened to shoot him.

Pilar Pallete, his third wife, was the child of a Peruvian senator, and she found it challenging adjusting to the Hollywood lifestyle. There was also a twenty-one-year age gap between them; still, she said “I do” to the Hollywood celebrity in 1954 in Kona, Hawaii.

Unfortunately, like her predecessors, she also dealt with Wayne’s infidelity. He had met Maureen O’Hara before their marriage, and they continued their affair for years.

Like the first, it was no secret; the lovers planned to meet on his yacht. A close source revealed that Wayne was truly in love with her but could not marry her because she was tough (he thought it would be impossible to control her).

Palette, who welcomed three kids with Wayne, separated from the actor in 1973, a few years before his death, she moved out of their home. But the couple never divorced.