Clint Eastwood's ‘addictive' affairs during first marriage exposed in new biography: ‘I was going to do as I pleased'

New York Post

16 hours ago

Clint Eastwood openly committed adultery during his marriage to Maggie Johnson, a new biography claims.
In 'Clint: The Man and The Movies,' biographer Shawn Levy wrote about the 95-year-old actor's alleged affairs that he had while he was wed to Johnson from 1953 to 1984.
'By many accounts, including his own, he more or less comported himself as if he were a bachelor,' Levy wrote of Eastwood, according to People.
10 Clint Eastwood attends the 20th Annual AFI Awards in January 2020.
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10 Clint Eastwood with his first wife, Maggie Johnson, in 1960.
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Johnson, according to Levy, was fully aware of her husband's infidelities at the time.
'One thing Mag had to learn about me was that I was going to do as I pleased,' Eastwood told Photoplay in 1963, per Levy. 'She had to accept that, because if she didn't, we wouldn't be married.'
The 'Rahwide' star was also reportedly quoted by Levy as saying, 'I'm independent, a vagabond, and [Johnson] accepts me as I am and doesn't strangle me with female possessiveness.'
10 Maggie Johnson and Clint Eastwood in 1956.
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10 Maggie Johnson and Clint Eastwood at their home in Los Angeles in 1956.
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Levy also wrote that in Richard Schickel's 1997 book, 'Clint Eastwood: A Biography,' Eastwood admitted that his affairs ''just became… I don't know… addictive… like you have to have another cigarette.'
'Clint: The Man and The Movies' further alleged that the Oscar winner picked up women in his acting classes, on studio lots where he worked and at the apartment complex he shared with Johnson.
10 'Clint: The Man and the Movies.'
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The Post has reached out to Eastwood's rep for comment.
During Eastwood and Johnson's marriage, they welcomed two children: son Kyle, 57, and daughter Alison, 53.
The couple called it quits as Eastwood was years into his alleged affair with actress Sondra Locke, whom he cast in his 1975 film 'The Outlaw Josey Wales.'
10 Sondra Locke and Clint Eastwood at the Pierre Hotel in New York City on June 14, 1982.
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In her 1979 autobiography, Locke claimed that Eastwood told her 'there was no real relationship left' between him and Johnson,' according to People.
After Locke and Eastwood split in 1989, she reportedly alleged in her book that she had two abortions and a tubal ligation since the director told her he didn't want more kids. (Eastwood denied Locke's claims).
10 Maggie Johnson and Clint Eastwood shopping for scuba diving equipment in 1960.
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10 Clint Eastwood with Sondra Locke at the Wesleyan Cinema Archives gala in 1988.
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Eastwood also had an alleged affair with stuntwoman Roxanne Tunis during his marriage to Johnson. Their relationship reportedly last 14 years, during which Tunis gave birth to their daughter Kimber, 61.
The 'Hang 'Em High' actor's second marriage was to news reporter Dina Ruiz from 1996 to 2014. They share daughter Morgan.
10 Clint Eastwood and Dina Eastwood at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2011.
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10 Roxanne Tunis, Kimber Eastwood and her son, Clinton Gaddie in 1997.
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The famed actor is also dad to son Scott and daughter Kathryn with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves and daughter Francesca with British actress Frances Fisher. His oldest child, Laurie, was born in 1954 and was reportedly placed for adoption without his knowledge, per People. They reconnected years later.
Most recently, Eastwood was in a ten-year relationship with Christina Sandera until she died of a heart attack at age 61 in July 2024.
'Christina was a lovely, caring woman, and I will miss her very much,' Eastwood said in a statement after Sandera's death.
The pair, who met at a restaurant in California, mostly kept their relationship out of the spotlight. They walked their last red carpet together in 2019.