×
Tom Selleck's Ex-Wife Was Uncomfortable With the Attention He Was Getting With Fame | She Thought "He Was Playing the Field"
ADVERTISEMENT

Tom Selleck's Ex-Wife Was Uncomfortable With the Attention He Was Getting With Fame | She Thought "He Was Playing the Field"

Tom Selleck and Jacqueline Ray met on the set of popular T.V show, Magnum P.I.

Source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Hulton Archive, (R) Jamie McCarthy

Tom Selleck was named the sexiest man in the world according to a PEOPLE poll in 1987. Everyone wanted a piece of him and why wouldn't they? Take one look at that handsome face and you're sure to feel your heart beating out of your chest.

The 72-year-old star was filming for the film Lassiter when he met his wife Jillie Joan Mack. It was in London that the actor started to have an obsession with the musical Cats. He told everyone that the show was great as he watched it a dozen times. Turns out, it was Mack who had stolen his heart, not the show.

ADVERTISEMENT



 

When he met Mack, Selleck had just gone through a divorce. That's true, the Friends actor was married even before he secretly tie the knot with Mack. He was first married to his Magnum P.I co-star, Jacqueline Mary Ray. The two met on the sets of the hit T.V series which is also one of the best works in their career, and love didn't take time to blossom between the pair.

ADVERTISEMENT

Soon they decided to cement their relationship with matrimony on 15 May, 1971, as per DnB Stories, and became the "It Couple" of Hollywood. Even though it was Selleck's first marriage, Ray had experience in this front before. Very little is known about the actress but reports say that her first husband was a man named Shepard. They were parents to a son, Kevin, who was born in 1966.

ADVERTISEMENT



 

After the Blue Blood actor and Ray married, they were always under the scrutiny of media which resulted in them lacking privacy. Selleck openheartedly accepted Ray's son from her previous marriage by officially adopting him and giving Kevin his last name. However, the couple shocked the world when they announced their divorce after 11 years together.

ADVERTISEMENT

To the world, their relationship was perfect but there were problems in the very roots of the relationship. Their marriage lacked the one very important quality required for a successful relationship - trust. It was speculated that jealousy led to their divorce in 1982.

Selleck was climbing the ladder of fame because of his role in Magnum P.I when he was with Ray and in turn was getting a lot of attention from the media, especially from his female fans. This made the In Like Flint actress very uncomfortable as she didn't like the idea of sharing her husband in any way with strange women, even if they were his fans.

ADVERTISEMENT



 

According to The Great Celebrity, many inside sources reported that with fame, Selleck's sexual appetite increased as well and he was often found surrounded by women. A publication, My Celeb Crush, noted that when the Three Men and A Baby actor moved to Hawaii to film a movie, he enjoyed the female attention a little more than Ray could handle.

ADVERTISEMENT

When The Killings at Outpost Zeta actress flew there to meet him, the scenario made her question their marriage and that's when the cracks began to appear in the once happy relationship. Radar Online reported that according to the sources, the actress "hit the roof" after that trip and soon filed a divorce.

ADVERTISEMENT

The source said, "Soon after seeing them [Selleck and the other women], she [Ray] filed for divorce, telling pals she couldn’t stand the pain of seeing Tom have a good time with other women... He was playing the field — and enjoying it!"

Another source revealed, “She never suspected Tom would dump her after she had stood behind him during all the lean years when he was a struggling actor looking for a major role.” It left her heartbroken and "crushed by the way their marriage hit the skids when he hit the big time — and thought it showed how fickle Tom could be,” the insider added.

After their divorce, Selleck gave his heart to Mack and has been married to her for over 32 years. They have a daughter together, and Selleck has chosen to keep his family life away from the limelight. Ray too walked down the aisle a third time with Clarence Barry Witmer but that came to an end as well. Once again, nothing much is known about her as she's succeeded in keeping her life away from the limelight.

References:

https://dnbstories.com/2020/06/meet-jacqueline-ray-actress-once-married-to-tom-selleck.html

https://thegreatcelebrity.com/tv-movies/why-did-blue-bloods-star-tom-selleck-and-jacqueline-ray-divorce/

https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2016/09/tom-selleck-cries-failed-marriage-model-jacki-ray/