Glenn Close, 78, has been one of the biggest names in Hollywood for the past four decades and… still counting. The actress skyrocketed to fame in the ’80s with the likes of Fatal Attraction. Since then, she’s been nominated for eight Academy Awards and sparkled on the big screen in Dangerous Liaisons, 101 Dalmatians and next year, the Hunger Games movie prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping. But over the years, the actress has made headlines just as much for her life off-screen.
From her three marriages and motherhood to living in a religious “cult” for 15 years, here’s a look at the star’s life that could make a captivating movie of its own.
She’s been married 3 times
On-screen, we’ve watched her romance the likes of Robert Redford, Kevin Kline and Jonathan Pryce. In her private life, the actress has been married three times. Glenn was only 22 years old when she first tied the knot to musician Cabot Wade in 1969. The pair were married for just two years before calling it quits in 1971. They first met through the Moral Re-Armament religious group, which Glenn’s parents became involved with when she was a child. “I think that was basically an arranged marriage, actually,” she told Parade.
Glenn’s second marriage was to businessman James Marlas. The couple got married in 1984. Their marriage only lasted a few years, though, with the pair parting ways in 1987. The actress tied the knot for the third time in her late ’50s. She was married to businessman David Shaw from 2006 to 2015. She has not remarried in the decade since.
When asked about whether marriage is important, she told The Guardian in 2017: “I think it is a positive evolutionary component that we are better with a partner. I think to have a partner that you can go through life with, creating a history with, that you can find comfort with, have children with – there is nothing better. This is an opinion I have come to very late in life, at an ironic moment, where I don’t have any of that. I don’t know if I will again. But I do think it’s a basic human need to be connected.”
She added at the time: “This is a good time in life. I do think, what would it be like to have a partner again? But it would have to be very different from what I had before. Then I have that great dream and wake up happy.”
She’s ‘happy’ being single
Glenn has remained single for a decade since her divorce from her third husband, David Shaw, in 2015. Appearing on Drew Barrymore’s talk show in January 2025, she said that while she’s “always up for anything” she is “very happy right now”. Confirming she wasn’t using any dating apps, the star added: “I’m not searching. Because I’m actually – I’m not a hugely comfortably social person, so I don’t leap to go to a party at all. So yeah, I’m okay.”
She’s close with her daughter
© Corbis via Getty ImagesGlenn has one child: daughter Annie Starke. The actress welcomed her only daughter, who is now 37 years old as of November 2025, with ex John Starke in 1988. Annie has followed in her famous mum’s footsteps as an actress, working on stage on Broadway and appearing in films such as We Don’t Belong Here, Father Figures, and notably in The Wife where she played a younger version of her mum’s character, Joan Castleman.
Glenn spoke about their mother-daughter bond in an interview with Glamour in 2022. “I’m a mother, so I’m proud of my daughter, most of all. I’m proud that she’s a fantastic human being. I’m proud that she’s fiercer than I am. She’s the person that I call probably the most to get her opinion about something, because she’ll have a perspective that I know I don’t have, and I need that perspective,” she told the outlet. “So she’s who I’m most, or what I am most, proud of.”
Glenn raised Annie out of the limelight as a single mum in Bedford, New York. Annie told People: “I had a profoundly normal childhood. I’m a little boring. I was a barefoot kid, outdoorsy, never had siblings, but I had cats and dogs, and really surrounded by nature. I credit my parents for keeping me grounded and keeping it normal. I still have my oldest friends since high school. It was a wonderful place to grow up.”
Glenn became a grandmother in February 2025 when Annie welcomed her first child, son Rory Westaway Albu with her husband Marc Albu. “Rory is the luckiest to call you his grandmother,” Annie gushed in a birthday post on social media for her mum in March. In another post for International Women’s Day, Annie revealed they called Glenn grandma “Gi”.
Glenn grew up in ‘basically a cult’ for 15 years
Glenn has spoken publicly in the past about growing up in what she called “basically a cult”. The actress was seven when her parents became involved with a religious organisation called the Moral Re-armament movement. She opened up about being in the group until she was 22 on an episode of the AppleTV+ series, The Me You Can’t See in 2021.
“I mean, it’s astounding that something that you went through at such an early stage in your life still has such a potential to be destructive. I think that’s childhood trauma,” she said. The actress continued: “Because of the devastation – emotional and psychological of the cult – I have not been successful in my relationships and finding a permanent partner and I’m sorry about that. I think it’s our natural state to be connected like that.”
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