The Truth About Rush Limbaugh's Ex-Wives
Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh died on Feb. 17, 2021. He was 70 years old at the time of his death.
As reported by The New York Times, Limbaugh's wife Kathryn Adams delivered the somber news via her late husband's radio show that garners more than 15 million listeners. "I know that I am most certainly not the Limbaugh that you tuned in to listen to today," she started as she explained that Limbaugh had died that morning as a result of his lung cancer diagnosis. She went on, per The Sun, "Rush will forever be the greatest of all time. Rush was an extraordinary man. A gentle giant. Brilliant, quick-witted, genuinely kind. Extremely generous. Passionate. Courageous. And the hardest working person I know. From today on, there will be a tremendous void in our lives, and on the radio."
Limbaugh and Adams tied the knot in 2010, complete with a million-dollar performance by famous performer Elton John. The pair first met in 2004 while Adams worked as an event planner and put together a charity golf tournament for Limbaugh, according to Fox News. At the time, Limbaugh was married to a previous wife. In fact, the controversial commentator had three ex-wives before Adams. Here's who those women were.
Rush Limbaugh's first divorce was extremely amicable
Political commentator Rush Limbaugh wed for the very first time on Sept. 24, 1977 to a secretary at a radio station by the name of Roxy Maxine McNeely.
As reported by The Seattle Times, the pair first met on a blind date and immediately hit it off. "He was lot of fun," Roxy recalls of their first get-together. "He could talk the entire evening away. He would draw you out, find out what your interests were and then start arguing with you," she remembered fondly about their early days together. Unfortunately, the marriage would not last. The couple called it quits in 1980. "We just sat down one day and decided our marriage was over. It was mutual, nothing ugly," she explained.
According to McNeely, she filed for divorce and the couple made a clean break from one another. "Rush and I just took each thing that we owned in the house and whoever had it originally took it. I think we left as friends," she recounted. All's well that ends well, we suppose?
Rush Limbaugh asked out his second wife... and her sister
A few years later, it appeared Rush Limbaugh was finally ready to give love a second chance.
Per The Seattle Times, Limbaugh met his second wife, Michelle Sixta, while he worked for the Kansas City Royals as a public relations executive. Unfortunately, this was not exactly a case of love at first sight. During an interview with The Sacramento Bee (via the Times), Sixta admitted that she wasn't too impressed with Limbaugh upon their first meeting. "I thought Rush was arrogant when I introduced myself to him," she recalled. "He heard I thought that and later came over to apologize... He'd clown around in the press box. You knew who he was," she added.
It's also reported that Michelle's sister, Suzy, accompanied the couple on their first date. Limbaugh first asked Suzy to accompany him to one of his speaking events but later changed his mind and asked if Michelle would come as well. Purportedly, by the end of the night, it was Suzy who ended up feeling like the third wheel.
The couple wed in 1983 but much like Limbaugh's first marriage, his second one didn't last either. Per The Sun, the couple officially divorced in 1990.
The third time was not the charm for Rush Limbaugh
Third time's the charm, right?! Wrong.
As reported by The Sun, Rush Limbaugh opted to marry a third time — this time to a fitness instructor by the name of Marta Fitzgerald in 1994. But how did they meet? According to the Palm Beach Daily News, it was Marta who reached out to Limbaugh first, sending him an email. Reportedly, she was still married at the time to a man by the name of Tom Fitzgerald, but she would later go on to divorce Tom in 1992. In 1994, she remarried to Limbaugh.
During their marriage, the aerobics instructor would go on to publish her very own magazine, Vent, in 1997. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald only produced three issues before the publication flopped, per the Daily News. As luck would have it, her marriage to Limbaugh also flopped. The couple divorced in 2004. In true Limbaugh fashion, the radio host took to his show to announce the news of the couple's split. The divorce announcement also came off the heels of Limbaugh revealing a prescription drug addiction. One month after his confession, he entered and completed a drug rehabilitation program.