Tragic Details About CNN Founder Ted Turner

This article includes mention of suicide.

Ted Turner is a legendary media mogul, environmentalist, and philanthropist, and he's led quite the life. Ted's full name is Robert Edward Turner III; he was named after his father who went by Ed. Ted was born in 1938 in Ohio, and during his career in broadcasting, he founded TBS, CNN, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, and the Cartoon Network. He's never been the richest man in the world, but he was once worth $10 billion, and he gave $1 billion of that to the United Nations in 1997.

Ted owned the Atlanta Braves, and he was on the winning America's Cup crew in 1977. He's one of the biggest landowners in the U.S with two million acres to his name. When asked about his success, he said it can be summed up by a simple motto, "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise" (via Forbes).

But with all of that success, he's had his share of hardship. He has faced tragedy within his family life from a young age, and he's suffered from some serious health problems as he's gotten older.

Ted Turner had a hard childhood. In his 2008 autobiography "Call Me Ted," he wrote about some of the addictions his father Ed Turner faced, including with alcohol. "My dad was a volatile man with a quick temper," Ted wrote. "When he drank his temper got worse, and when I acted up, he'd spank me."

Ted had a little sister, Mary Jean Turner, who was born in 1941. A few months after Mary Jean was born, the U.S. entered WWII after the attack on Pearl Harbor and Ed joined the U.S. Navy. His sister and mother joined him for basic training, but Ted was left to stay at an Ohio boarding school. He wrote in his autobiography that some of his adult insecurities tied back to being separated from his family at such a young, vulnerable age: "I don't like to be isolated from other people and I also don't like to feel fenced in."

Another major milestone in Ted's life was when Mary Jean was diagnosed with lupus at the age of 12 and  suffered major brain damage as a result. She died at the age of 17. When asked about his sister's death in 2008, he revealed that he can't recall a lot. "Your brain has a way of overcoming it by blocking it out, because you can't just sit around," Ted said (per ABC News). He also said that his sister's death made him lose his faith in God.

Ted Tuner's complicated relationship with his father, Robert "Ed" Turner, continued into adulthood.. Ed had a career in billboard advertising, and Ted worked for his father when he was younger. However, when Ted decided to study classics at Brown University, Ed wasn't happy — and that's putting it mildly. He wrote his son a letter that read in part: "My Dear Son, I am appalled, even horrified that you have adopted classics as a major. As a matter of fact, I almost puked on the way home today ... I think you are rapidly becoming a jackass, and the sooner you get out of that filthy atmosphere, the better it will suit me" (per CNN).

Ted got kicked out of Brown after three years for living with his girlfriend. He then went back to working for his father. In 1963, he had to take over the company at the age of 24 after Ed died by suicide. In his book "Call Me Ted," Ted wrote about his father's fear of potentially losing his billboard business or overwhelming debt; Ted tied this fear in with his father being unable to afford to go to college as he and his family had planned when the Great Depression hit. That may have contributed to his father's mindset that led to his suicide.

During an interview on "CBS Sunday Morning" in 2018, Ted was asked about his father's death when Ed was 53. Ted talked about what was in the note that his father had left for him. "He said he was sorry. ... He felt like he was in over his head, but he wasn't" (via "CBS Sunday Morning").

Ted Turner said that he would never consider suicide for himself because, having lived through the pain of his father's death, he knew the pain it would cause his children or grandchildren . However, he did become deeply depressed after his 10 year marriage to Jane Fonda came to an end (which ended in Fonda being awarded a lot of money in the settlement. Fonda was Turner's third wife. He had three children with his first wife and two children with his second wife. Turner has talked about how he wasn't always the most present father. "I was working so hard, I really didn't have as much time for my family or my children as I would have liked to have. I did the best I could and the time we did spend together was quality time," he said (as reported by ABC News).

His separation from Fonda came at the same time that he got a reduced role at Time Warner when it merged with AOL. Fonda spoke to The New Yorker in 2001 about some of the personal and professional hardships that Turner was facing around that time: "I say this with all the love in the world. ... He has been severely, hauntingly traumatized. He always thinks something is about to be pulled out from him. He has no belief in permanency and stability. It's one reason why I'm not with him."

In 2018, Ted Turner confirmed that he'd been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disease with symptoms similar to both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. It was the same disease that Robin Williams was diagnosed with following his autopsy and that had negatively impacted William's final year of life. There are treatments available, but there is no cure at this time. Turner said that the condition had left him feeling "tired. Exhausted. That's the main symptoms, and, forgetfulness" (via CBS News).

In January 2025, 86-year-old Turner was hospitalized for pneumonia, and then moved to a rehab facility. A Turner Enterprises representative told CNN that Turner "is doing well in rehab." Pneumonia can be a dangerous complication for those with Lewy body dementia. Turner's daughter spoke about her father's condition in 2022, and she was able to see a silver lining to his condition. "Ted's disease is not in vain because he has made it one of his priorities to help so many others that have this disease and may not even know it" (as reported by CNN).