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They’re one of country music’s most famous couples, partly because George Jones and Tammy Wynette had a turbulent marriage. For example, she said he chased her with a loaded rifle, though he denied that story was true. But that illustrates how things sometimes grew contentious between them.
Still, fans loved them and ate up their sporadic reunions through the decades after their divorce. And when Wynette died, Jones released a statement to reveal his true feelings about her.
George Jones and Tammy Wynette’s marriage couldn’t withstand their tempers
After marrying Jones in 1969, Wynette filed for divorce for the first time in 1973. But they reconciled, and she said it was just an attempt to shock him into sobriety. But when she filed again in 1975, she told People, “It’s over. This is it.”
Their divorce was finalized soon after, and in 1977 Jones said, “I drank a little more than I should even though I hated my daddy for drinking.”
“I let Tammy have everything — didn’t fight it,” he later said. “I got a car and a couple thousand bucks in my pocket.”
According to him, the root of their marital woes was: “[Our] tempers flared before we could find the time to talk about what was bothering us.”
He also said divorce improved their relationship. “Tammy and I are getting along better than we ever did when we were married,” he claimed. “I think we still love each other. I know I love her.”
George Jones said he lost a friend when Tammy Wynette died: ‘I couldn’t be sadder’
In 1998, Wynette died in her sleep. Her cause of death was initially listed as blood clots in her lungs, but a later exhumation and autopsy showed she died of heart failure caused by repeated blood clots (per Los Angeles Times). Her daughters filed a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging inadequate medical care contributed to her death.
In a statement released after Wynette died, Jones said, “I am just very glad that we were able to work together and tour together again. It was very important for us to close the chapter on everything that we had been through. I know Tammy felt the same way.”
“Life is too short. In the end, we were very close friends, and now I have lost that friend,” he concluded (per Rolling Stone via People). “And I couldn’t be sadder.”
George Jones said his relationship with Tammy Wynette was strictly platonic until she died
Some people might have difficulty remaining friendly with an ex, maybe feeling confused about old romantic feelings. But Jones told People that wasn’t the case when he worked with Wynette. He even once gifted her a Cadillac for her birthday after their divorce.
They reconnected several times before her death, including in 1995, when he said performing with her brought back “a lot of memories of old stage things when we used to work together.”
“But as far as bringing back old memories of other things, it don’t,” he declared. “We’ve completely blocked all that out of our minds.”
Wynette added, “More than anything in the whole business, I missed the duets with George. I’ve [sung] with a lot of artists, but there’s something about George and me that makes our voices blend.”
