Inside the complex life of Ted Turner and his massive net worth

Ted was born into a wealthy family in Ohio in 1938, and his father owned a successful billboard advertising company. After attending Brown University, Ted returned home to join the family business before taking it over when his father passed away.

He then bought his first TV station in 1970 in Atlanta and turned it into a profitable station. He pioneered the use of a new communications satellite before founding CNN in 1980, which was the first 24-hour cable news channel in history. 

Ted went on to create the Cartoon Network, TNT and Turner Classic Movies, and remains one of the pioneers of the modern-day media landscape. 

Ted was passionate about the environment and wildlife conservation, and dedicated much of his life and fortune to these causes. In 1997, he made a $1 billion pledge to the UN, which he later called “the best investment I’ve ever made”. 

The father of five also donated to educational causes over the years, including to Brown University, The Citadel and Tennessee schools. His daughter, Laura, shared with Elysian magazine that Ted made it his mission to spread the word about conservation. 

“My dad was seeing these big gaps and opportunities. He used his media platforms to educate others, to make them understand how amazing nature is,” she said.

“He wanted to connect their hearts with the idea of preserving our wildlife. He also wanted to show the world what happens when you do not take care of our planet.”

Ted was married three times throughout his life. He tied the knot with his first wife, Julia Gale Nye, in 1960, and together they welcomed Laura and Robert “Teddy” Edward IV, yet split shortly thereafter.

He then married Jane Shirley Smith in 1964, and they became parents to Beau, Rhett and Jennie. Ted and Jane split in 1988, and he went on to marry Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda in 1991. 

The couple were married for 10 years, and he later told Piers Morgan in 2012 that Jane was “probably” the love of his life. 

“When you love somebody, and you really love them, you never stop loving them,” Ted said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s good.” Jane shared a similar sentiment, telling Piers, “I had a great time for 10 years. I am just so happy that I got to spend 10 years with him.” 

Jane shared a touching social media tribute to her ex-husband after his passing on Wednesday, writing: “He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate, and I’ve never been the same.” 

“He had a big life, a brilliant mind and a soaring sense of humor. He could also take care of me. That was new as well. To be needed and cared for simultaneously is transformative. Ted Turner helped me believe in myself,” she continued. 

“Rest in Peace, dearest Ted. You are loved, and you will be remembered.”

Ted instilled a strong sense of environmentalism in each of his five kids, and also taught them to be humble and hardworking, despite his billionaire status. 

Laura followed her father into the world of environmentalism and conservation, and has launched several initiatives over the years, like Mothers & Others For Clean Air and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. 

“I think a natural evolution for me was to be concerned with what was happening to our environment…My dad showed me that by taking action, and putting your passion to work, you can actually solve problems,” she told Elysian magazine. 

Teddy shared many of his father’s passions and worked at CNN for several years before becoming the president and skipper of Challenge America, Ltd. He then switched to school teaching in 2009 and made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2013. 

Rhett founded a film production company, Red Sky Productions, and released a photography book, Conserving America’s Wildlands, in 2022, which featured pictures of several of his father’s properties that highlighted Ted’s stewardship and conservation efforts. 

Beau serves on several boards and foundations for wildlife and environmental protection, while Jennie worked at CNN for several years before serving as executive producer and host of the PBS series EcoSense for Living. 

Ted is also survived by 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. 

Ted’s net worth sat at $2.5 billion when he died, according to Forbes. While he lost $8 billion in the disastrous Time Warner merger with America Online in 2002, he also gave much of his wealth away to charity. 

“I don’t measure success in numbers, but I consider my contributions of more than $1.3 billion to various causes over the years to be one of my proudest accomplishments,” he wrote in 2010. 

Over the years, he donated a third of his fortune to charity. He was also the second-largest individual landowner in North America, having bought up around two million acres of land in eight states. 

He intended to manage the land in “an economically sustainable and ecologically sensitive manner while promoting the conservation of native species,” as per the Turner Enterprises website. 

Ted announced his diagnosis of Lewy body dementia in 2018, revealing that the disease left him constantly exhausted. “That’s the main symptoms, and forgetfulness,” he said on CBS’s Sunday Morning.

“It’s a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s. It’s similar to that. But not nearly as bad. Alzheimer’s is fatal,” he added. Lewy body dementia is the second most common form of progressive dementia behind Alzheimer’s. 

Symptoms can include cognitive changes, visual hallucinations, tremors and sleep issues. Ted was also hospitalized with pneumonia in 2025 and recovered at a rehabilitation center.