Tragic Details About Glenn Close

Glenn Close has had an incredibly long and illustrious career, but not all parts of her life have been rosy. From her early life in a cult to her multiple failed marriages, there have been several difficulties that the star has had to overcome. Even professionally, she has had setbacks — including both Hollywood commonalities and situations unique to her. All the while, Close has persevered and, not only that, but she has actually become cooler over time. How many women in their late 70s are out there twerking on live television, as Close did at the 2021 Oscars? The woman is living her best life despite any tragedies she has endured.

Close did not start her professional career until she was 27, which was rather late for actors of her generation. She began in the theater and did not even make her movie debut until age 35 (in "The World According to Garp"). During a time when most female actors saw work dry up by 40, Close defied the odds and became a huge movie star. Her long list of memorable big screen credits includes "Fatal Attraction," "Dangerous Liaisons," "Air Force One," and "101 Dalmatians." On television, Close memorably starred in the series "Damages," and has also appeared on "The Shield," "Tehran," and over a dozen television films. Here, we take a look underneath the glitz and the glamour to examine some of the lower lows in Close's life.

It has been widely reported that actor Rose McGowan grew up in a cult, and "One Tree Hill" star Bethany Joy Lenz wrote a book, "Dinner for Vampires," about her experiences in one as well, but for some reason, Glenn Close's similar experience has flown largely under the radar. For those paying attention, however, Close has been talking about her odd upbringing for years now. Close's parents joined the Moral Re-Armament religious group when she was 7, and the actor remained involved with MRA until adulthood.

Though MRA branded itself as a moral and spiritual movement, Close has described it as a "cult" and has said she has much trauma from those early years. "Everybody spouted the same things and there's a lot of rules, a lot of control," she said in the documentary series "The Me You Can't See" (via Entertainment Weekly). "Because of how we were raised, anything that you thought you would do for yourself was considered selfish."

Close's family was so invested that they even moved from the United States to Switzerland to be near the organization's headquarters. She even met her first husband in MRA and it was not until that marriage ended, when she was 22, that she broke free of the group. She then decided to get an education, enrolling at William & Mary, where she told Parade she "really kind of started being myself, coming alive." Close graduated in 1974 with a dual degree in theatre and anthropology.

There are plenty of ways that childhood trauma can manifest in adulthood; those hard early years have led to lifelong difficulty with romantic relationships for Glenn Close. "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," Close explained in the 2021 documentary series "The Me You Can't See" (via Entertainment Weekly).

It was in the Moral Re-Armament movement that Close actually met her first husband, musician Cabot Wade. Close once called this two-year wedlock "basically an arranged marriage" she was pressured into (via Parade). The pair divorced after two short years, and Close did not marry again for more than a decade when she walked down the aisle with businessman James Marlas in 1984. That marriage, too, lasted a very short time. Close and Marlas divorced in 1987, and that same year, Close entered into a relationship with producer John H. Starke.

Close and Starke parted ways in the early 1990s — not long after the 1988 birth of their daughter Annie — but Close gave love another shot when she married biotech entrepreneur David Shaw in 2006. This was the actor's longest partnership, as the couple was married up until 2015. In 2025, Close confessed on "The Drew Barrymore Show" that she had not even attempted to find a partner in the decade since divorce number three.

The party line has always been that "it is an honor just to get nominated," but anyone who has ever lost out on an award knows that it is nonetheless painful when you are passed over in favor of someone else. For Glenn Close, this has happened so many times that she has become recognized for it in the history books. As of 2021, Close holds the title for the most nominated actor to never win an Academy Award, tied only with the late Peter O'Toole. And yes, Close has a mantle full of other statuettes — including three Primetime Emmys, three Golden Globes, and three Tonys — but the industry has never let her snatch an Oscar. After eight nominations, it feels downright cruel.

On Goldderby.com, fans voted Close's loss for "Fatal Attraction" the most egregious but also labeled her 2019 loss for "The Wife" "insulting." While the world might see Close's unfortunate Oscar record as a tragedy, the star has retained (at least publicly) a sense of perspective about it all. "First of all, I don't think I'm a loser," she told the Associated Press in 2021, the year following her loss for "Hillbilly Elegy." "Who in that category is a loser? You're there, you're five people honored for the work that you've done by your peers. What's better than that?". Close's other nominations — and losses — were for "The World According to Garp," "The Big Chill," "The Natural," "Dangerous Liaisons," and "Alfred Nobbs."

Glenn Close has become a fierce advocate for mental health awareness, but her commitment to the cause has been informed by multiple family members' experiences. One particular incident was a turning point for Glenn, who has been credited with saving the life of her younger sister, Jessie Close. "I remember her kids were already loaded in her car, and she came up to me across the driveway and said, 'I need help. I can't stop thinking about killing myself,'" Glenn revealed to People. "For me, it was a shock." She ended up taking her sister to McLean Hospital in the Boston area, which is where Jessie received a Bipolar I diagnosis.

Jessie is but one of many members of the Close family who have experience with mental illness, in large part because of a lack of communication about these topics. A great uncle, Worrall, was prone to having manic phases where he would run around and ride horses in the nude, but people looked the other way. "No one ever talked about it," Glenn said in a different People interview. "I did know that my mother's half-brother had committed suicide and that her own mother was depressed. She was also depressed and took meds for it."

Inspired by Jessie's Bipolar diagnosis and Jessie's son Caleb Pick's schizoaffective disorder, Glenn co-founded the nonprofit Bring Change to Mind in 2010. The organization aims to end the stigma around mental illness that forces so many to suffer in silence and without support.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Though the "Me Too" movement brought an incredible amount of attention to sexual harassment in Hollywood (and far beyond), such horrific practices were an open secret in the industry for many years. And since more female actors than not have a story to tell, it is not at all surprising that Glenn Close has a few stories of her own. In particular, Close has discussed two upsetting auditions wherein she was treated inappropriately by the men in charge.

The first such audition was for "American Gigolo," which at the time had John Travolta attached to star. "There are about eight people sitting there, with Travolta in a bed. And I wanted to kill myself ... I had pages, I hadn't memorized it. And he didn't know his lines. And I didn't know what to do," Close recalled to Variety in 2021. "It was ... so horrible. It was so humiliating. And I realized now what the game was — I should have just tried to seduce him. It didn't matter what I said. It was like, 'What's the chemistry?' That was not a fun experience. And obviously, I didn't get the role."

In 2017, Close discussed another debasing audition in which she was touched inappropriately on the thigh by the actor with which she was reading a scene. In an interview with The Guardian, she called the instance "demeaning" and said that she felt it was planned. "I did feel there was a collusion between him and the director," she said.