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Harrison Ford, now in his 80s, has been one of Hollywood’s most enduring leading men since he first blasted onto the big screen as Han Solo in 1977’s Star Wars. He cemented his matinee idol status as the whip-smart adventurer in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and went on to headline blockbuster franchises and acclaimed dramas alike, including Witness and Working Girl.
In recent years, Ford has continued to prove his staying power. He reprised his iconic role in 2023’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and earned widespread praise for his performances in the Apple TV+ series Shrinking and the Paramount+ Western drama 1923, expanding the Yellowstone universe. With decades of box office hits and critical acclaim behind him, Ford remains one of the industry’s most recognizable and respected stars.
It’s no wonder Harrison has had a string of high-profile relationships in Tinseltown, including three marriages. Harrison had two kids from each of his first two marriages, and when he wed his third wife Calista Flockhart, he became a dad to her adopted son. Find out all about his relationships below!
Mary Marquardt
Harrison and Mary Marquardt, who was born in 1945, wed in June 18, 1964 after meeting at the liberal arts college, Ripon College, in Ripon, Wisconsin. Mary graduated with a degree in Culinary Arts and had a career in the food industry while Harrison worked his way up in Hollywood. The couple welcomed their first son, Benjamin, on September 22, 1966. Their second child, Willard, was born on May 14, 1969. Benjamin would go on to follow in his mother’s footsteps as he became a renowned chef and restauranteur in Los Angeles, while Willard owns a boxing gym called Strong Sports Gym and his own fashion line, Ludwig Clothing Company. The pair eventually called it quits in 1979.
Decades later, the divorce gained renewed attention after Harrison’s Star Wars co-star, Carrie Fisher, alleged she and Harrison had an affair while filming the sci-fi blockbuster, during the time he was married to Mary. In her 2016 memoir The Princess Diarist, Carrie wrote of the three-month long tryst, which she claims happened while she was 19 and Harrison was 33. “I was so inexperienced, but I trusted something about him,” she said. “He was kind.” And in an interview with People around the time the book was published, Carrie revealed, “It was so intense. It was Han and Leia during the week, and Carrie and Harrison during the weekend.”
Harrison has opened up about his struggles balancing his marriage and career candidly in interviews. “Sometimes I think I have been a better actor than husband or father. I had to leave my family behind in order to make money for us to eat,” he’s said, per The Guardian.
Despite some of the difficult period of Mary and Harrison’s marriage, the actor’s ex-wife doesn’t seem to hold anything against him, and they still have a strong bond. “Harrison has been a true friend and a great love. He has stood by me quietly, asking for nothing in return, through my darkest days,” she said in an interview, per The Guardian.
Melissa Mathison
Melissa Mathison was born on June 3, 1950 in Los Angeles and became well known in Hollywood for writing the screenplays for 1979’s The Black Stallion and 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the latter of which garnered her a nomination for Best Original Screenplay. As a friend of Francis Ford Coppola, Melissa often visited the set of Apocalypse Now, where she met Harrison, per ABC. In 1983, the couple decided to make it official and married. In 1987, they welcomed son Malcolm and three years later a daughter named Georgia. In 2000, they tried a trial separation before officially filing for divorce in 2004, although it was reported they remained on good terms. “The couple is very friendly and everything is very amicable,” a spokesperson for Harrison told ABC at the time. In 2015, Melissa died at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer.
Harrison has spoken about using his life as inspiration for his roles on a few occasions, and he referenced ex-wives and a daughter as part of what made his Shrinking character relatable during a February 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve got five kids. This guy’s got a daughter he doesn’t see very often and an ex-wife. There are issues with his family — which are not the same issues I have with my family. But there are things we worked our way through, so I found an emotional reality to attend to,” he said.
While Harrison has been clear that he doesn’t always share the same problems with his characters, he did admit that sometimes there is difficulty balancing his work and his family life in a May 2023 interview with Esquire. “If I’d been less successful, I’d probably be a better parent,” he remarked.
Calista Flockhart
Born on November 11, 1964 in Illinois, Calista Flockhart took her talents to Tinseltown and had her big break in 1997 as the titular heroine in David E. Kelley’s television series Ally McBeal. Later in her career, she would star in Brothers & Sisters and Supergirl. During her appearance at the 2002 Golden Globes, Calista met Harrison and the two immediately hit it off. As Harrison was still in the midst of his divorce from Melissa, the pair would keep their relationship low key at first, eventually saying “I do” in 2010. Harrison would go on to adopt Calista’s son Liam, whom she adopted at birth in 2001. Although the adorable couple have a 22-year age gap, they are going stronger than ever. Perhaps it is their shared sense of humor that has kept the pair together for almost 2 decades! “Harrison and I laugh a lot, and humor is everything to me,” Calista told Closer Weekly in 2017.
Throughout their 15-year marriage, Harrison has admitted that one habit of his that Calista isn’t fond of is his cursing. When speaking about a Hollywood Reporter interview where many of his cuss words were printed, he admitted that she calls him out for swearing too much during the aforementioned Esquire interview. “My wife is still giving me s**t about that Hollywood Reporter thing, and I’m trying not to say that too much,” he said.
Aside from cursing, he also talked about how Calista pushes him to take care of his mental health in the Esquire piece. “I still get s**t about from my wife, like I don’t take mental health seriously. I do take mental health seriously,” he said. ” I accommodate all of the flaws that people go to psychiatrists to accommodate, because I accept my flaws. I accept my flaws and my failures—I don’t accept them, I own them. And certainly the more constant gardener is the better parent, and I’ve been out of town, up my own ass, for most of my life.”
