Barbara Eden has been married to Jon Eicholtz for more than three decades now. However, she faced many personal setbacks before meeting the love of her life.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 30, 2023. It has since been updated.
Actor, singer, and producer, Barbara Eden was surprised by the impact of her 60s show, I Dream of Jeannie, even after so many years. She wrote in her autobiography, Jeannie Out of The Bottle, "There are still Jeannie machines in casinos all over America. There are Jeannie board games."
Eden has successfully etched her notch in Hollywood and has become a cultural phenomenon. However, this is not her only success story. She has also had a three-decade-strong marriage with her husband, Jon Eicholtz. For Eden, this path of a nourishing personal life was not free of obstacles from the beginning.
Eden, 91, first tied the knot with Michael Ansara, who was also an icon in Hollywood. The actor was handsome and charming and crossed paths with Eden in 1958. They got engaged and married in the same year. Eden recalled in her autobiography that, one afternoon, the actor showed up on the set of How To Marry A Millionaire and proposed to her. She said yes. After a few months, the couple got married. Seven years later in 1965, they welcomed their only child, Matthew. Talking about him in the autobiography, she wrote "We called him our lucky-charm baby. We had a child at last, and we loved him more than words could say. Our joy was boundless, and our hopes that he would live a healthy and happy life were unlimited. Matthew meant everything to both of us."
Soon, Eden was pregnant again. But she began to feel unwell with time and she soon found out that she was carrying a dead baby and it was a stillbirth. Hereon, Eden became acutely stressed and suffered from depression. She did not even have enough support from her husband. As she became more depressed, she and her husband grew apart. Finally, Eden asked for a divorce. In 1973, they both parted ways.
Eden found love again in a Hollywood man, Charles Donald Fegert. The pair met in 1974. Fegert kept on sending flowers and calling her and warmed her heart. Soon, they fell for each other. Three years later, they tied the knot. However, the marriage did not work out and both filed for divorce in 1982.
Finally, in her late 50s, she found a love that would last forever. She met her now husband, Jon Eicholtz, a structural engineer and real estate developer. Her friend had mentioned him. Four weeks later, they went on their first date. It was a "quick dinner." He was a widower, who had lost his wife to breast cancer. She felt peaceful with him.
Trouble still awaited Eden. Her son Matthew began to use drugs and became addicted to them. Eden found a friend in Eicholtz during this tough phase of her life. In 1991, the couple got married in a small ceremony. But in 2001, Eden lost her son to a drug overdose. She also discussed her grief with Closer Weekly, "The only way I can honor him is to talk about him. Don’t pretend like he never was. Because he was [a] super, superhuman being.” She had support from her husband during these testing times. "I am so blessed that Jon was always by my side through it all," said Eden.
Years after Matthew's death, Eden and Eicholtz are still each other's support system. In another interview with Closer Weekly, she spoke of prioritizing one's partner as a key to a successful marriage. She also gave an example, that she watches sports with her husband because she adores him, even though it is not her favorite thing to watch. They have given each other company for more than three decades now, as they celebrated 32 years of marital bliss on January 5, 2023!
References:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10309013-jeannie-out-of-the-bottle
https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/barbara-eden-talks-happy-marriage-with-husband-jon-eicholtz/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo By Mike Coppola / Staff
