Meet Ted Turner's 3 Wives: Jane Fonda Called CNN Founder 'Her Favorite' Ex
Ted Turner was married three times before his death at age 87.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” CNN Worldwide chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said in a statement, confirming the media mogul’s death on May 6, 2026. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN.”
Thompson continued, “Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”
Turner is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The visionary, who founded CNN in 1980, battled Lewy body dementia before his death. (His cause of death has not been publicly revealed at the time of publication.)
“It’s a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s. It’s similar to that, but not nearly as bad,” Turner said of his diagnosis during a September 2018 interview on CBS Sunday Morning, referring to the progressive brain disorder. “Alzheimer’s is fatal. Thank goodness I don’t have that. But I also have got … let’s … I can’t remember the name of it.”
Scroll down to learn more about Turner’s past marriages:
Julia Gale Nye
Turner and his first wife, Julia Gale Nye, exchanged vows in 1960. The pair welcomed children Laura and Robert Edward “Teddy” Turner IV before divorcing in 1964.
Jane Shirley Smith
The media mogul and Jane Shirley Smith said “I do” in 1965. The couple were married for more than two decades before calling it quits in 1988. Turner and Smith were parents to children Rhett, Reed Beauregard “Beau” and Jennie.
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda tied the knot with Turner in 1991. The twosome were married for 10 years before their split in 2001. Fonda and Turner remained friends following their separation, with the legendary actress calling the CNN founder her “favorite ex-husband.”
“The mergers are going to be bad for workers, a lot of people are going to lose their jobs,” Fonda told Variety in March 2026, discussing the possibility of film studio mergers. “We’re going to have higher prices. We’re going to have political control over what we do. … The Secretary of Defense said, ‘CNN can’t come soon enough to be under the control of Paramount.’ Because we know [Donald] Trump wants to hurt.”
She quipped, “I mean, I slept with the guy who created [CNN]. I have a personal stake in it.”
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