Paul Newman Didn't Hold Back On The Repercussions Of His Joanne Woodward Affair: 'Brutal'

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One of the essential aspects of Paul Newman's life was his marriage to Joanne Woodward, which lasted for 50 years before his death in 2008. It's true that they had a loving marriage, but the couple also endured one of the most scandalous love affairs in Hollywood history. The pair met while working on a Broadway play in 1953, and sparks eventually flew between the two actors. "We left a trail of lust all over the place. Hotels and public parks and Hertz Rent-A-Cars," Newman described in recordings from the '80s, via People.

These recordings were unearthed and included in a posthumous memoir, "Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of An Ordinary Man," in October 2022. "I went from being not much of a sexual threat to something else entirely," the "Cool Hand Luke" star recalled. While these incendiary meetings were taking place there was one major issue: Newman was married to another woman.

"The Sting" star was still married to his first wife, Jackie Witte, when he first started pursuing Woodward in the early '50s. He married Witte in 1949, and the couple had three children together, but that didn't stop Newman from shacking up with Woodward. Looking back, Newman was fairly candid about how he chose Woodward over his first wife and kids, saying, "... There was also the most incredible, unforgivable brutality in that. Brutal in my detachment from my family. There was no signal given to Jackie, no chance for her to regroup."

A year after his death, the book "Paul Newman: A Life" was released, and author Shawn Levy wrote that Newman admitted to feeling "guilty as hell" for the way he left Witte (via Country Living). "And I'll carry it with me for the rest of my life," he added. That book also claimed Newman had an affair while married to his second wife.

Paul Newman owned up to cheating on his first wife with Joanne Woodward before they tied the knot in 1958, but he reportedly cheated on her, as well. In the 2009 book "Paul Newman: A Life," Hollywood journalist Nancy Bacon claimed that she had a torrid affair with Newman when he was filming "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" in 1969 — which would have been 11 years into his marriage with Woodward. "It was the worst-kept secret in Hollywood," Bacon told the book's author, Shawn Levy (via the Irish Independent).

Bacon added that folks in the know would make a joke referencing Newman's famous line — "I have steak at home, so why should I go out for a hamburger?" — about why he never cheated on Woodward. "Referring to his old remark, they'd say: 'Paul may not go out for hamburger, but he sure goes out for Bacon,'" the Hollywood journalist gloated. According to the Irish Independent, news of the alleged tryst made its way back to Newman's widow. "Joanne is devastated and furious," a friend of the family told the outlet.

While cheating had never been confirmed, Newman and Woodward's daughter, Melissa Newman, later revealed that the picturesque Hollywood couple had problems. "There was a vibe of tension in the house that would sort of come and go," their daughter told Closer Weekly in October 2022.

A major factor in the couple's issues was that their son, Scott Newman, died of a drug overdose in 1978. In fact, it's believed that Newman was never the same after his son's death. "We seem constantly to be projected as some sort of ideal couple and wonderful parents, which isn't true and is a terrible burden to carry around," Woodward told McCall's a couple of years later in October 1980.