EXCLUSIVE: The Brutal Words That Tormented Loni Anderson to The End — How Ex-Husband Burt Reynolds Drove a Dagger Into Her Heart… Declaring Their Marriage Was an 'Empty Shell' After He Was Busted in Torrid 2-Year Extramarital Affair
Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson had a tumultuous marriage in the early 1990s.
Aug. 4 2025, Published 1:25 p.m. ET
Loni Anderson, the celebrated actress who died Sunday at 79, thought she had found the love of her life when she married Hollywood icon Burt Reynolds.
However, allegations and confirmations of secret affairs would drive the two into a messy and brutal divorce, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The couple were married from 1988-1994.
Anderson and Reynolds were famously married from 1988 to 1994, and adopted son Quinton together. But the Smokey and the Bandit star spent nearly their entire union infatuated with another woman.
Reynolds, who died in 2018 at age 82, first met Tampa, Florida, cocktail waitress Pam Seals a month before his wedding with Anderson. The two would enter into a two-year secret affair that would eventually drive Reynolds and Anderson apart.
After his death, Seals exclusively told RadarOnline.com that she was "devastated" by the news.
"I’m just very sad," she told Radar in 2018. "There’s a lot of wonderful things I’d like to say about Burt, who was a truly wonderful man."
Flirty Friendship
The couple split amid affair rumors.
In a 1993 exclusive interview, Seals reminisced: "When I was with Burt, I forgot about him being Mr. Movie Star. He was so charming, so nice. I found myself thinking I really liked him."
The two entered into a flirty friendship that intensified two years later when the Cop and a Half star told the waitress things weren't going well in his marriage.
"He thought Loni was having an affair with Terry Warren, an apprentice at his acting institute," Seals revealed. "Burt told me he should have walked out the door right then with Quinton, but Loni had begged him for a second chance and he'd agreed for the sake of the child.
"But he said he'd never sleep with Loni again. He just couldn't bring himself to sleep with her, thinking that she'd been unfaithful. When they touched in bed he said he literally recoiled."
Best Actors
Anderson died over the weekend.
Reynolds himself reflected on his doomed marriage in 1993, admitting: "The truth is our marriage had been an empty shell for the past year - but we kept it a total secret.
"Remember, Loni and I are both pretty good actors. Not even our closest friends knew about our personal troubles."
Reynolds said at the time the two tried marriage counseling, but it didn't help.
"Finally I realized we should go our separate ways," he concluded.
Sad Passing
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Her death comes seven years after Reynold's passing.
Anderson died just days before her 80th birthday on Sunday, August 3. The WKRP in Cincinnati star passed away at a Los Angeles hospital following a "prolonged" illness, according to her longtime publicist, Cheryl J. Lagan.
"We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother," Anderson’s family said in a statement.
The ‘80s actress is survived by her husband, Bob Flick, daughter Deidra and son-in-law Charlie Hoffman, son Quinton Anderson Reynolds, grandchildren McKenzie and Megan Hoffman, stepson Adam Flick and step-grandchildren Felix and Maximilian.
