After starring in the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, Raquel Welch became one of the most well-known actresses of the 1960s before passing very tragically at age 82. Because of the movie’s success, she went on to star in major motion pictures including 1969’s 100 Rifles and 1967’s Bedazzled. She also became a global sex icon thanks to her appearance as a seductive cavewoman in the 1966 film One Million Years B.C., which included her memorably donning a doeskin bikini. She was recognised with a Golden Globe in 1975 for playing Constance de Bonacieux in the comedy/musical The Three Musketeers.
Although Raquel had a successful career, her personal life wasn’t as fortunate. Raquel was married four times: from 1959 to 1964 to James Welch; from 1967 to 1972 to Patrick Curtis; from 1980 to 1990 to André Weinfeld, her longest marriage; and from 1999 to 2004 to Richard Palmer.
The legendary actress explained her lack of enduring love to Piers Morgan on his Life Stories show in 2015 by saying, “I’m too set in my ways.” I’m content because I like what I do, I truly like who I am, and I’m quite successful at it. I’m not required to have a man.
James Westley Welch
James and Raquel were high school sweethearts. In her 2010 memoir Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, the actress recalled being so in love with “Jim”, as she called him, that she became wildly distracted from her studies. “I was always elated to see him and would chatter away nonsensically, out of sheer excitement. He, on the other hand, hardly said a thing! If he had, I might have discovered how little we had in common . . . but my schoolgirl crush on Jim lulled me into believing that he was the man of my dreams,” she recalled, per ABC News. “And in some ways, he was. And yet, I realized years later that I was needy and that it caused me to project certain qualities onto Jim that he didn’t have.”
Shortly after graduating from high school, the couple were married in Las Vegas against the objections of Raquel’s father. She said that by getting married to Jim, she was acting selfishly and essentially going against her father’s wishes. What I didn’t foresee was how a string of events would intertwine and significantly disrupt my life. Jim and I had just moved in together and were adjusting to married life’s realities: I was contacting my mother ten times a day for recipes and advice on cleaning supplies, and he was hunting for a job.
She also disclosed that the accident that led to her first pregnancy had wrecked her professional aspirations. “The majority of my inner circle was surprised to see my plans deviate so drastically. But deep inside my feminine spirit, I still believed that we were meant to be, she said of her innocent love. “I would have to experience severe sickness in order to change my mind. This was something I had to finish. And, happily, we were blessed with two beautiful, healthy kids. Damon Welch, the son of Raquel and Jim, was born in 1959. Their daughter, Latanne “Tahnee” Welch, was born in 1961.
Patrick Curtis
Before she became well-known, Raquel got married to Hollywood producer Patrick Curtis. Together, they worked on the 1965 film A Swingin’ Summer, and two years later, they were married at City Hall in Paris. Their divorce in 1972 made it Raquel’s shortest union. In Nov. 2022, Patrick passed away at the age of 83.
André Weinfeld
The second director to win Raquel’s affection is André Weinfeld. In 1980, the couple was hitched, and they were together for ten years. In a 2015 interview, André exclaimed to Closer Weekly, “We had a very wonderful marriage. He continued, “Today, three months is considered long for Hollywood marriages. He added that the reason their marriage failed was because he remained in New York after the Trouble in Paradise actress relocated back to Los Angeles.
Richie Palmer
When Richard Palmer was profiled by the New York Post in 2000, he owned four restaurants in Southern California that served New York-style pizza and had a fifth on the way. The publication claims that the New Yorker and his Hollywood starlet first connected at a party in 1996. Three years later, they made their wedding entrance. He boasted, “My wife is a living legend. “At the fights, I have amazing seats. You travel wherever you like. It’s fantastic Sadly, his benefits ceased after their 2004 divorce.
In their 2015 interview, Raquel admitted to Piers Morgan that the reason her marriages didn’t last was because of her fame. They appreciate the overall attraction and the dance that we perform, she continued, “but they don’t really like the fact that when we go anywhere together, I become the person that’s focused on.”
Raquel stated she loved each and every one of her husbands, no matter how the marriages may have begun or ended. “I truly felt a connection to everyone of those men. I thought I was really in love and that we might have a wonderful life together at the time, but it wasn’t meant to be,” she said. She also gave Piers the reassurance that she is “happy” to be unmarried. She thought, “I feel like I’ve lived a very great, beautiful life.” “I’m not really sure what’s coming up. I’m not really bothered by it.
