What Happened To Harrison Ford's Wife After His Carrie Fisher Cheating Scandal?

Summary

• Mary Marquardt pursued a successful culinary career after divorcing Harrison Ford.
• Her son, Ben Ford, has also found success in the culinary world.
• Despite their divorce, Ford and Marquardt have remained close friends, with Ford providing support during Marquardt's battle with Multiple Sclerosis.

Harrison Ford is one of the most recognizable actors on the planet, and has been since the moment Star Wars was released in 1977. He's continued to dazzle audiences with his charm and his high-profile marriage to Calista Flockhart, but the Oscar nominee lived a completely different lifestyle prior to his breakout performance.

Ford was married to Mary Marquardt for over a decade, but differing goals, and Ford's affair with his Star Wars co-star, Carrie Fisher, led to a divorce in 1979. Marquardt has continued to find success in her own career, but she has also had to contend with personal setbacks and issues that have raised concerns about her well-being.

Mary Marquardt Divorced Harrison Ford Despite Him Ending His Affair With Carrie Fisher

Mary Marquardt and Harrison Ford have known each other for most of their lives. They met while they were both attending Illinois' Ripon College, and got married in 1964. Ford decided to drop out to pursue an acting career, and Marquardt supported him, relocating to Hollywood and raising their two sons, Ben and Willard, while dabbling in the culinary arts.

Mary Marquardt and Harrison Ford remained a couple during the 1970s, but the latter's various affairs proved to be too much to contend with. Ford and Carrie Fisher had a three-month affair during the making of Star Wars, and the latter even admitted that she'd hoped Ford would leave his family to start a relationship with her.

Fisher recounted her feelings in the 2016 autobiography The Princess Diarist:

"It was a three-month one-night stand. A tiny part of me felt like I'd won the man lottery and here I was both counting and spending the money. Even if it was for a short while. That was way more than enough."

While Marquardt never acknowledged the Fisher affair publicly, she and Ford finalized their divorce in 1979, a year and a half after the affair ended. Fisher was forthright about the details of her time with Ford, but her brother, Todd Fisher, claimed that the actress was later regretful about making it known to the public.

Todd Fisher elaborated on his sister's feelings in the memoir My Girls: A Lifetime with Carrie and Debbie:

“What Harrison and everyone else may not know is that Carrie went to mom right after the book became such a big deal and said, 'You were right, I shouldn’t have told that story.' For what it’s worth, Harrison, she really did regret telling the story of that affair."

Carrie Fisher died in 2016. Harrison Ford has only addressed the affair one time, in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone. He simply said that Fisher's decision to make it public knowledge was "strange for him."

Mary Marquardt Was Diagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis After The Divorce

Mary Marquardt went on to forge a successful career as a chef after divorcing Harrison Ford.

She took control over a filling station in Culver City, California that was owned by her ex, and would raise her son, Ben Ford, to pursue his passion for cooking as well. Marquardt dated a man named Bob Becker, according to a 2014 Daily Mail interview with her son.

"I had a wonderful stepfather in Bob Becker, who was a director of shows like Dallas and Knots Landing and loved to cook," Ben recalled. "I feel like I got the best of it, it was a good situation."

Sadly, Marquardt's cooking career was cut short when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in the 1980s. This forced Marquardt's sons Ben and Willard to take care of her, but she told the National Inquirer that Harrison Ford had also gone out of his way to provide aid:

"These days, you hear so many awful stories about people. But Harrison has always been there for me whether the world has known it or not. I shall always love him for what he has done. He and I will forever be family. I realize how much love and support he has given me and continues to give me."

At the time of Marquardt and Ford's divorce, media outlets speculated that the former had caught Ford in bed with another woman, with the most obvious culprit being Ford's second wife, Melissa Mathison. Marquardt has never spoken ill of Ford, however, and has never publicly addressed these theories.

In fact, Marquardt remains grateful to the actor for helping her through her illness:

"Harrison and I just grew apart. But we remained great friends through the years. He bought me this house and has been incredibly supportive through my illness. We are family, and he has stuck by me through thick and thin."

Mary Marquardt Still Considers Harrison Ford To Be A Close Friend

Harrison Ford has voiced regret over the way his first marriage ended. He told The Guardian that he considered his divorce from Mary Marquardt to be his biggest regret, and chalked it up to his desire to forge a Hollywood career. "Sometimes I think I have been a better actor than husband or father," he explained. "I had to leave my family behind in order to make money for us to eat."

Despite being divorced for over five decades, Ford and Marquardt have remained close friends. They have continued to be supportive of their sons, and Ford continues to provide financial and personal assistance to assist Marquardt with her MS diagnosis. Marquardt elaborated on this dynamic during the same 2008 Guardian profile:

"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."

This prolonged friendship has meant a lot to Ben Ford. He told Daily Mail that he had a hard time acclimating to their divorce as a child, but grew to appreciate both Marquardt and Ford more as he got older:

"Food is more of a nurturing force in my mother's house than in my father's. My mum is a very special person.... She has MS and it's progressive. She and my father are still friends. That she was able to stay friends for her children says how special she is."

There were claims that Mary Marquardt died in 2018, according to MEAWW, but the former chef continues to fight and remains a vital presence in the lives of both her sons and her ex-husband.