Robert Wagner Moved to Smaller Town after Wife's Death - At 93, Her Granddaughter Makes Him Happy at Home

• Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were married twice. They raised two children together until Wood died by drowning and other undetermined factors.
• Wagner fell in love again after Wood died. He married Jill St. John, who became a stepmother to his daughters. The two moved out of Beverly Hills and settled in Aspen.
• Wagner, who is grateful for his life, is now a grandfather and enjoys living in Aspen with St. John, whom he fell in love with. Wood's daughter Natasha praised Wagner for being a great father after her mother died.

Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were married twice. Their first marriage lasted from 1957 to 1962, and the Hollywood stars went on to remarry in 1972.

The couple's second marriage came to a tragic end when Wood died on November 29, 1981, a death that law enforcement officers initially ruled as accidental drowning.

Wagner and his wife lived a happy family life before her death. The pair settled down in a house in Beverly Hills where they possessed his and her Mercedes.

Wagner's and Wood's first marriage ended with no children, but in their second marriage, they welcomed their daughter Courtney Wagner in 1974.

The two raised Courtney, as well as Natasha Gregson Wagner, who was Wood's first child from her second marriage to British producer and theatre agent Richard Gregson.

After Wagner and Wood got married, the actress stopped her acting career to become a mom and a wife. She considered herself partially retired and said work no longer played the same role it used to in her life:

"If a woman decides to get married and have children, other parts of her life are just going to have to be put aside."

Wood started flipping houses with friends in Beverly Hills, typing, writing, and teaching, but her full focus went to being a mom and a wife.

Wagner's and Wood's happy marriage ended when the actress died. The actress and her husband had been spending the Thanksgiving weekend on their 60-foot yacht "Splendor."

Wood's death was ruled as an accidental drowning, but the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau reopened the case in 2011 when they said they had been contacted with new information.

The actress's sister, Lana Wood said, asked for the case to be reopened as she said her sister was afraid of water and couldn't have attempted to tie the dingy to the family yacht as was suggested as Wood's reason for falling and drowning.

"Splendor's" captain, Dennis Davern, was in the boat with Wagner and his wife; he said he heard the couple having an explosive fight. The captain even blamed Wagner for his wife's death.

In 2018, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau said Wagner was not a suspect in his wife's death but a person of interest. Wood's cause of death in her death certificate was also amended to read "drowning and other undetermined factors."

The cause of Wood's death and her final moments alive have remained a rehashed mystery in Hollywood and a topic of books and documentaries years later.

Robert Wagner Found Love Again and Moved to Aspen

After Wood's death, Wagner was left to take care of the couple's little girls. She found love in Jill St. John, and they moved from Beverly Hills to Aspen, Colorado, with the kids.

St. John and Wagner met as young actors at Fox Studios. They worked together and remained friendly. St. John had also met Wood as a young actor. After Wood died, St.John reached out to Wagner and sent him flowers.

Two months later, Wagner and St. John met at a party. The two had a common factor, as they had both lost spouses. After this meeting, they stayed in touch and began dating. The pair were married in 1990.

Natasha's baby's name was inspired by the movie "Inside Daisy Clover," which her mother starred in.

St. John, who never had any children, became a stepmother to Wood's daughter Natasha, Wagner's daughter Katie Wagner, and Wood's and Wagner's shared child Courtney. St John revealed in an interview that she got on well with all of Wagner's kids.

Wagner and St. John fell in love with Aspen, where they raised their kids. They bought a property in Aspen in 1995, and took three years to build a house there. The actor even said when his time comes, he would love to be buried in Aspen:

"When I wake up I realize that I am one of the most fortunate men in the world. First, I look over at Jill and then out across the Elk Mountains. Frequently I'll see elk, fox, and deer and feel so lucky to literally live in a forest."

St. John also said she fell in love with the nature in Aspen and the good cuisine. She added that it became easy for her to hike, bike, and fish.

Despite moving away from Beverly Hills, the couple said the kids have never forgotten the tragedy of Natalie's death. "It's very difficult for our family. We've had some very, very difficult moments," Wagner revealed.

Thirty-five years after her mother died, Natasha also opened up about how life was after Wood's death. She said when her step-father told her Wood had died, her whole world went black and white, and she couldn't hear anything. “I just remember it was the worst thing ever," she added.

Natasha was 11 when Wood died. She said she is grateful that she had two fathers who helped her through her mother's death and were deeply committed to raising her. Natasha also said her relationship with Wagner deepened because he had to become her father and mother.

Natasha said all these while sharing intimate details about her life with her mother in her memoir "More Than Love" and on the HBO documentary "Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind."

According to Natasha, when Wood died, heaviness and sadness surrounded her father, negative things that hadn't been there with him before her death. Natasha also said she had broken her silence to dismiss the speculations that her father had something to do with her mother's death:

"He regrets that she died. To me, what the culprit that night was the alcohol. Had that not been a factor, I think maybe things would have turned out a little differently, but I feel closure about that night."

Natasha added that she had made peace with the fact that she will never know the full details surrounding her mother's death, and she wished other people would do the same.

Robert Wagner's Life as Grandpa in His 90s

Wagner became a grandfather on May 30, 2012, when Natasha and her husband, Barry Watson, welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Clover Clementyne Watson.

Natasha's baby's name was inspired by the movie "Inside Daisy Clover," which her mother starred in. Natasha's husband has two other sons from his prior marriage to Tracy Hutson.

Wagner, 93, and St. John, 82, still live in Aspen, which has the things they love, such as skiing, horses, wildlife, rivers, and streams.

The actor revealed that looking outside in Aspen makes him feel like the luckiest man alive:

"Not just lucky. Blessed. I have a wonderful family and true friends. I never walked away from my own life like many people in show business do, and I've worked hard, but as I sit looking out over the valley in Aspen, I feel gratitude for my life…."

Wagner occasionally lets people into his happy life when he shares pictures on social media. In 2022, he shared a picture he had taken with his granddaughter, captioned, "How happy am I?" In the picture, the actor looked up at his granddaughter with a wide smile on his face.

In his most recent post, Wagner wished his granddaughter a happy birthday when she turned 11 and called her "incredible." "Grandma and Grandpa love you and hope all your wishes come true," he wrote in the picture's caption.

Wagner, who has enjoyed an acting career spanning 70 years, is grateful and happy for his life and family, including the love he shares with St. John and the time the home they created in Aspen.

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