Where Are Raquel Welch's 4 Ex-Husbands Now?

During Hollywood's golden era, it wasn't out of the ordinary for A-listers to be married more than once (or twice, or even thrice), and '60s bombshell Raquel Welch was no exception. The star was wed four times — and while one ex became a multimillionaire real estate developer, two have since passed away, and another is still running his restaurant empire, whatever happened to her exes?

Like many of the oft-wed stars of yore, Raquel's first husband pre-dated her fame. In fact, she only became Raquel Welch after marrying her high school sweetheart, James Wesley Welch (Jim for short). In her 2010 autobiography, "Beyond the Cleavage," Raquel wrote that theirs was a love-at-first-sight romance, beginning when they were just 15. Sadly, soon after marrying as teenagers, they realized they wanted different things and divorced in 1964. As for his life post-split, she shared, "Jim became a multimillionaire real estate developer. He's married, and he and his wife Jean have a son." That said, he's not in the public eye, so we don't know much else about him today. 

In 1967, Raquel remarried, this time to producer Patrick Curtis. Despite being involved and invested in her career early on, Raquel wrote in "Beyond the Cleavage" that the relationship fizzled as her star rose, and they divorced in 1970. However, they did seem to be friendly in 1974, when Rolling Stone asked Curtis if his ex could really act, and he clapped back, "Can Steve McQueen act? Can John Wayne?" Curtis continued his work as a producer into the mid-'90s and passed away in 2022.

Raquel Welch tied the knot a third time in 1980, with director André Weinfeld. The couple worked together on a number of Welch's fitness videos, like "Raquel: Total Beauty and Fitness" and "Raquel: Body and Mind," and were together for a number of years, only divorcing in 1990. However, they remained friendly even after their split, and in 2015, Weinfeld shared in an interview with Closer Weekly, "We had a very happy marriage." As for why they parted ways, he shared that they wanted to live and work in different places, but it was clear there was no resentment. What's more, he joked that because they were husband and wife for a decade, he was the clear "Champion" amongst her exes. He didn't do any further interviews and passed away in December 2024. 

Welch's final husband was Richard Palmer, the high-profile restaurateur behind Mulberry Street Pizzeria, whom she met at the ESPY Awards. The pair wed in 1996, but announced in 2003 that they had separated. Palmer has continued with his pizza business, though in a 2025 appearance on "Live Well and Thrive with Mike Torchia," he revealed that he had Parkinson's disease. "I'm not going to retire, but I'm definitely going to slow down," he shared. 

As for Welch, she poked fun at her marriages not working out in an interview with Piers Morgan, joking, "I don't think I'm that good at it" (via Trevor Gilbey). Even so, the "Legally Blonde" star also told Morgan she had no regrets about any of her previous attempts. Tragically, Welch died in 2023. She had not married again, but as she'd told Morgan, she was happy. "I've had a very lovely, beautiful life," she'd said — and that's what matters most.