Sean Connery married actress Diane Cilento in 1962, the same year he was cast as James Bond, launching him into a level of global fame few marriages could withstand. Eleven years later, the marriage ended after Connery admitted to affairs during their time together.
It was a rare moment of candor from a star otherwise famously guarded about his personal life.
A Marriage That Began Alongside a Career-Defining Role
Connery and Cilento, an accomplished Australian actress in her own right, married in 1962 just as Connery’s career was about to explode with the release of Dr. No. The timing meant Cilento’s own career often took a back seat to her husband’s rapidly rising global fame.
The couple had one son together, Jason Connery, who was born the same year they married and would go on to become an actor in his own right.
Strains of Sudden Fame
The pressures of Connery’s newfound international stardom, including near-constant travel and public attention, put significant strain on the marriage over the following decade. Cilento later spoke about the difficulty of maintaining her own identity and career while married to one of the most famous men on the planet.
By the early 1970s, the relationship had deteriorated significantly, and the couple separated before formally divorcing in 1973.
A Rare Public Admission
In later interviews, Connery acknowledged that infidelity during the marriage had contributed to its breakdown, a candid admission that stood in contrast to his otherwise carefully guarded public image. Cilento also wrote about the difficulties of the marriage in her own memoirs published years later.
Despite the painful end, both maintained relationships with their son Jason, who has spoken publicly about his parents’ complicated history with a measured, understanding perspective.
A Second Marriage, and a Different Kind of Partnership
Connery later married French-Moroccan artist Micheline Roquebrune in 1975, a marriage that lasted until his death in 2020, nearly five decades later.
Friends often noted that his second marriage seemed to offer the stability that fame had made so difficult to find during his first, a lasting partnership that outlived his most famous on-screen role by decades.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons (public domain / Creative Commons).