Jamie Lee Curtis Mourns 'First Love' Robert Carradine After His Death: 'We Became a Little Family'
Jamie Lee Curtis Mourns 'First Love' Robert Carradine After His Death: 'We Became a Little Family'
Benjamin VanHooseTue, February 24, 2026 at 4:33 PM UTC
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Jamie Lee Curtis; Robert Carradine
Neil Mockford/WireImage; Tommaso Boddi/Variety/Getty
Jamie Lee Curtis mourned her ex-boyfriend Robert Carradine after the actor's death at 71
The actress recalled their "very public meet cute" on live TV and shared that he and his daughter Ever became "my first loves"
Carradine's family announced Monday, Feb. 23, that the actor died after a "nearly two-decade battle with bipolar disorder"
Jamie Lee Curtis is paying tribute to ex-boyfriend Robert Carradine after the actor's death at age 71.
"I woke up to the news that Robert Carradine died," Curtis wrote on Instagram Tuesday, Feb. 24, later adding in her caption that her friend Melanie Griffith, who starred with Carradine in 1977's Joyride, was "the one who told me about his passing."
Curtis, 67, recalled meeting Carradine during a live appearance on The Dinah Shore Show when "they had a bunch of second generation actors, we would call them now Nepo babies." (He is the son of actors John Carradine and Sonia Sorel; her parents are actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.)
"Bobby and I came on last and Bobby rearranged where we were all sitting so that he could sit next to me and he kissed me, live on television," recalled Curtis. "A very public meet cute."
Curtis, who has previously referred to Carradine as "my first love," added that his then-3-year-old daughter Ever "had suffered a terrible burn from hot water and was in the burn unit and I met her for the first time there, this little girl wrapped in gauze with the biggest smile on her face and the most beautiful eyes."
"We became a little family, in a dirt floored house in Laurel Canyon, and it was my first experience with domesticity and motherhood and partnership," she continued. "I remember walking with Ever to the little Canyon market and bringing our laundry down to the laundromat below and folding her little clothes for the first time and the simplicity and beauty of Laurel Canyon in the late 70s."
Robert Carradine and Ever Carradine on July 14, 1993
Ron Galella Collection via Getty
"Bobby was a racecar driver and he drove fast and furious in a Corvette on Mulholland. It's a miracle we weren't killed," said Curtis. "One day I remember the sun hitting his face and me turning and looking at him and saying 'Wait, were you in the movie The Cowboys? Were you Slim?' He was my first crush in the movies and I didn't realize it."
Curtis noted that Carradine also made a movie, 1980's The Long Riders, with her husband Christopher Guest, whom she married in 1984.
"We were remained friends after we broke up and Ever and I have as well," Curtis wrote. "The long and winding road. Rest in speed and humor and love, Bobby."
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Carradine's family announced his death in a statement on Monday, Feb. 23, saying, "In a world that can feel so dark, Bobby was always a beacon on light to everyone around him. We are bereft at the loss of this beautiful soul and want to acknowledge Bobby’s valiant struggle against his nearly two-decade battle with Bipolar Disorder."
Robert Carradine in 1986
Bob Riha, Jr./Getty
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"We hope his journey can shine a light and encourage addressing the stigma that attaches to mental illness," they continued. "At this time we ask for the privacy to grieve this unfathomable loss. With gratitude for your understanding and compassion."
After a breakout role opposite John Wayne in The Cowboys in 1972, Carradine went on to appear in movies like Mean Streets, Coming Home and Escape From L.A. He was perhaps best known for Revenge of the Nerds and as Hilary Duff's onscreen dad in the early-2000s Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire.
He had three children: daughter Ever with Susan Snyder, and Marika and Ian with wife Edith Mani.
The Handmaid's Tale actress Ever, 51, mourned her dad in an Instagram tribute, writing, in part, "Growing up in the 70s and 80 with a single dad in Laurel Canyon is not exactly the recipe for a grounded childhood, but somehow mine was. Whenever anyone asks me how I turned out so normal, I always tell them it’s because of my dad."
"I knew my dad loved me, I knew it deep in my bones, and I always knew he had my back. I think it’s partly because we basically grew up together," she wrote. "Twenty years age difference really isn’t that much, and while I never ever thought of him as a sibling, I did always think of him as my partner. We were in it together."
Griffith, 68, wrote in the comment section to Ever's post, "A long time ago I was in love with your Dad. He was an extraordinary man. What a heart! I’m so sorry for your loss." Curtis also commented, "You both were my first loves. You so little and scared? Him so fast and funny and strong. He taught me what a father was. Laurel Canyon in the late 70s. Another time, another place."
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
