Robert Redford, the Academy Award–winning actor and director, died in his sleep at his home in Sundance on September 16, 2025. He was 89. He is survived by two of his children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
At the time of his passing, Redford was married to Sibylle Szaggars, whom the actor wed on July 11, 2009. The two remained together until his death.
Earlier in life, Redford had been married to his first wife, historian and activist Lola Van Wagenen. They met during their college years, though Lola’s parents initially opposed the match. The couple went on to have four children — James, Amy, Shauna, and Scott Anthony. Two of them, James and Scott, died before their father.
Who Is Robert Redford’s First Wife, Lola Van Wagenen?
Lola Van Wagenen, born on December 19, 1938, in Provo, Utah, is an American historian and activist. Raised in a Mormon family, she went on to explore other traditions and ideas as an adult.
In 1970, she co-founded Consumer Action Now, an organization dedicated to consumer and environmental education, and in 1995, she co-founded Clio Visualizing History to create educational films and online exhibits. She studied history later in life, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1982, a master’s at NYU in 1984, and completing her Ph.D. in American History in 1994. Her dissertation was published in 2003 as Sister-Wives and Suffragists: Polygamy and the Politics of Woman Suffrage 1870–1896.
In addition to her academic work, Van Wagenen has been active in film and nonprofit projects. She was an executive producer of PBS’s Miss America: A Documentary Film and the 2015 release The State of Marriage. She has served on the boards of several cultural and environmental organizations, launched public initiatives on renewable energy in the 1970s, and received recognition for her efforts, including an honorary doctorate from Pratt Institute.
Their First Meeting and Wedding
Robert Redford and Lola Van Wagenen first met during their college years, and their connection was immediate. Redford once recalled that she was “a world apart from the women I’d been with in Europe.”
Lola had been active at Provo High, where she won a beauty pageant, performed in a production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, and sang with a doo-wop group called the Downbeats.
While their relationship grew stronger, her parents disapproved. Redford remembered that her cousins were even sent to Los Angeles to investigate, but by then, as he put it, “we had crossed the river.” He explained, “We were in love. We thought, we have too much in common to let it go. Neither of us was conformist. We liked challenges. So we ignored them and started making plans.”
When Lola returned to her studies in Utah, the couple decided to build a future together in New York. On August 9, 1958, they were married in Las Vegas, followed by a second reception a month later at her grandmother’s home on September 12.
They Divorced After 27 Years of Marriage
Neither Robert nor his ex-wife, Lola Van, ever made a public announcement about their separation. In 1982, columnist Shirley Eder noted that the two had “been very much apart for a number of years.” In 1991, Parade magazine reported that it was still unclear whether their divorce had been finalized.
Most sources agree that the marriage formally ended in 1985 after 27 years together. The split was quiet and without public disputes. Redford later acknowledged that his difficulty in being emotionally present and dealing with personal pain had played a role in the marriage breaking down.
Robert Redford and His First Wife Lola Van Wagenen Had Four Children
The former couple became parents to four children during their marriage.
Their first child, Scott Anthony, was born in September 1959 but died of sudden infant death syndrome on November 19 of the same year, when he was just two and a half months old.
Their second child, Shauna Jean, arrived in 1960. She later studied at the University of Colorado Boulder, graduating with a degree in art in 1985. She married author Eric Schlosser. The couple has two children, Mica and Conor.
Their third child, James, was born in 1962. He also studied at the University of Colorado Boulder before earning a master’s degree in literature from Northwestern University. James pursued a career in filmmaking and activism but died in October 2020 at the age of 58 from liver cancer. He and his wife, Kyle, had two children, Dylan and Lena.
The youngest, Amy Hart, was born in 1970. She attended the Dalton School in New York and later studied theater at San Francisco State University. Over the years, she has pursued filmmaking, directing movies, television episodes, and music videos. Her work includes the 2008 film The Guitar and Jeff Buckley’s 2016 music video “Everyday People.” Amy is also a mother to one child.
Where Is Lola Van Wagenen Now?
Lola Van Wagenen now resides in Vermont. On July 17, 2002, she married her second husband, George Burrill, in Shelburne. Burrill, the founder of the international development firm ARD, also serves as the Honorary Consul for New Zealand in Vermont.
In 2011, he was part of the United States delegation to the U.S.–New Zealand Partnership Forum in Christchurch. When the city was struck by a devastating earthquake during that time, he and Van Wagenen returned to Vermont and helped organize a fundraiser that raised more than $70,000 for recovery programs.
