Ted Danson is best known for his role as Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom Cheers, which ran from 1982 to 1993. Off camera, his relationships have often been in the spotlight, and the actor has been married three times.
His first wife was Randall “Randy” Gosch, and the couple divorced in 1975. A few years later, Ted married producer Cassandra “Casey” Coates. They had two daughters together, including one adopted, but the marriage collapsed after Danson’s affair with Whoopi Goldberg made headlines. The divorce came with one of Hollywood’s most expensive settlements.
Danson eventually found lasting happiness with his third wife, Mary Steenburgen. In 2025, the two appeared at the Emmy Awards after being honored with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. At the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, they shared the stage to deliver a joint speech that remembered Bob Hope’s legacy and looked ahead to the next generation of entertainers.
“It’s named after a man whose very name was hope, and that is what Bob Hope brought to people for 50 years as he traveled the world, entertaining our troops,” Danson, now 77, told the audience. “There’s no honor that would mean more to Mary and me than this one, and the fact that it’s been given to both of us means the world.”
That was the Emmy stage. Behind the lights, though, Danson’s love life has its own drama. His third marriage to Mary Steenburgen is the one that lasted, but it came after two breakups — one early split and another that unraveled in scandal. Here’s how the marriages played out and why the first two never survived.
Who Is Ted Danson’s Wife, Mary Steenburgen?
On October 7, 1995, Danson and Steenburgen married on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. He wore a white jacket with black trousers, while the bride chose an Elizabethan-style gown with lace sleeves.
Among the guests were President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton.
The two had first met in 1983 when Danson auditioned to play her husband in Cross Creek. They didn’t start dating then, but a decade later, while working together on Pontiac Moon in 1993, their relationship turned into something more.
He proposed on February 8, 1995, Steenburgen’s birthday, flying to Houston, while his future wife was working on Powder.
Nearly thirty years later, they remain together and have even shared the screen in projects such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and It Must Be Love.
How Is Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen’s Marriage Going?
The power couple is still happily together, and their marriage shows no signs of slowing down.
Back in October 2017, however, they had to laugh off a wave of confusion. On Curb Your Enthusiasm, the couple plays fictionalized versions of themselves. When the storyline introduced a breakup between their characters, many fans — and even close friends — thought the split was real. Steenburgen later recalled on The Jess Cagle Show how Danson first mentioned the plot twist to her. “I go, ‘Wait, that’s the story? That you and I are divorced?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ I go, ‘Ted, it’s our names. We’re playing two characters that happen to have the same names as us.’”
By the time the episode aired, their “divorce” was trending online. The couple’s phones lit up with worried messages from friends who believed the news. Danson admitted it felt surreal to watch people react so seriously to a storyline written for laughs.
Danson’s Wife Mary Was Also Married Before, and Has Two Kids
Before her life with Danson, Mary Steenburgen was married to actor Malcolm McDowell. The two met in 1978 while working together on the film Time After Time and tied the knot in September 1980.
Their marriage went on for ten years and brought two children, Charlie and Lilly McDowell. When the relationship ended in 1990, Steenburgen continued raising them while moving forward in her career.
Ted Danson’s First Wife, Randall “Randy” Gosch
Danson married Randall Lee Gosch on August 8, 1970. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on April 30, 1950, Gosch also worked as an actress and appeared in projects such as The Scenic Route (1978), The Equalizer (1985), and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).
Their marital union ended in 1975, and they did not have any children together.
His Second Marriage to Casey Coates
Danson’s second wife was Cassandra “Casey” Coates. The couple wed in 1977.
Coates worked as an environmental economist, interior designer, and film producer. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in environmental design from Parsons School of Design, graduating with honors in 1975. Her design work included solar-powered homes, which were featured in Angels Unawares.
The marriage lasted more than a decade but came apart in 1993 after reports of Danson’s affair with actress Whoopi Goldberg. The breakup turned into one of Hollywood’s most expensive divorces at the time, with Danson reportedly paying Coates about $30 million in the settlement.
Ted Has Two Kids, Kate and Alexis, With His Second Wife
The actor became a father during his marriage to Casey Coates. Their first daughter, Kate, was born on December 24, 1979. The delivery was complicated when Coates suffered a stroke, leaving Danson to devote the following years to her recovery while raising their newborn.
Kate later studied at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. She eventually built a career in Hollywood, following a creative path much like her father’s.
In June 1985, Danson and Coates welcomed their second child, Alexis, through adoption. Years later, Alexis reflected on her upbringing in a 2009 interview with PRO MOTION. “It’s not normal or natural to have attention on your family all the time, but I’m truly blessed with the most loving family,” she said.
