Did you know that Mayim Bialik from The Big Bang Theory and Larry King both married Mormons? Find out which other famous people have married Mormons.
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Rodney Dangerfield
Married to: Joan Child
Famous for the line "I don't get no respect," comedian and actor Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Rodney Cohen) married Latter-day Saint Joan Child in 1993. According to The Washington Post, the pair actually first met back in the '70s when Dangerfield approached the flower shop counter where Child was working and asked her, "What kind of drugs do you like?"
More confused than anything, Child replied, "Antibiotics, I guess."
Dangerfield was intrigued by her endearing answer, and the pair dated on and off throughout the years until their marriage in 1993.
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Chris Dodd
Married to: Jackie Clegg
While US Senator Chris Dodd is devoutly Catholic, his wife, Jackie Clegg, is LDS. Clegg met Dodd while working in the Senate, and they dated for years--eleven and a half years to be precise.
Now parents to two daughters, the pair makes sure their children have plenty of opportunities to learn about faith in all its forms. Each of their two girls has been baptized Catholic and Mormon, Dodd said in an interview with Pew Forum, so that they can think for themselves and choose their faith. “They’re attending both and they’re going to have to form some decisions about that,” he said.
Clegg has since taken her husband's last name and is now know as Jackie Clegg Dodd. The pair is still happily married to this day.
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Mike Weir
Formerly Married to: Bricia Weir
Though not LDS, famous pro-golfer Mike Weir attended BYU where he met his wife, Bricia. Weir was actually on a date with another girl when they were first introduced, but as soon as Bricia walked in, he says, "I was blown away." He asked her out for the next weekend.
Weir admits, at first, it was difficult, saying it wasn't the greatest at the start. "I don't think her mom was too thrilled about it." However, after time courting and working to prove himself a worthy suitor for her daughter, he says, "We got along pretty well."
The pair was eventually married in 1994 but later divorced in 2014.
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Mayim Bialik
Formerly Married to: Michael Stone
The Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Bialik married Michael Stone in 2003. Stone, who was raised in a Latter-day Saint family, actually left the Church at around age 12 and eventually converted to Judaism around the time he married Bialik.
In an article for a Jewish parenting site, Bialik wrote, "My husband was raised Mormon. How Mormon? Well, let’s see… Sunday school, accepting the priesthood, baptizing the dead, family in Utah who don’t drink hot beverages and strongly disapprove of Big Love. Should I stop now? Yes. Very Mormon."
Though the pair parted ways equitably last year, they continue to co-parent their two children, and Bialik still respects her Mormon in-laws and LDS beliefs at large.
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Larry King
Married to: Shawn Ora Engemann
Larry King's married his current wife, Shawn Engemann, in 1997. Speaking to GQ magazine, he shared about Mormons, "They're nice people, they're very nice to me, and I respect the family, and they do a lot of good for other people. I'm not a churchgoer. I used to go sometimes with my wife."
The article also talked about the couple's doctrinal discussions, in particular, life after death and baptism. "As a Mormon, [Engemann] devoutly believes he will come back, and he knows that as an unbeliever he will be retroactively baptized by her church in death. 'Strange to me,' he says. 'I'll die, and at my funeral they'll baptize me. And I'm Jewish.' He and his wife used to argue about such things, but he says he has now learned to stay away from it. 'You can't argue religion.'"
Though they don't necessarily talk religion anymore, Engemann is still involved in her religion. In 2009, she joined the Book of Mormon Reader project, and earlier this year, she was even listed in Utah Valley 360's list, "100 Coolest LDS Women Alive Today."
King's marriage to Engemann has been the longest of his seven marriages after 20 years of matrimony.
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Robert Redford
Formerly Married to: Lola Van Wagenen
Actor Robert Redford's first experience with Utah came in the '50s when he was exploring routes between the University of Colorado in Boulder and L.A. He recalled in an interview with Mens Journal, "I didn't know anything about Utah. I'd heard Mormons had rings in their noses."
He later found out that they didn't, eventually marrying Mormon Lola Van Wagenen in 1958, though in a 2005 interview, he described her as "non-practicing."
Redford and Van Wagenen have four children together, and Redford reports, they were raised in "a zone of neutrality so they can make up their own minds."
In 1985, the pair divorced.
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Isaac Asimov
Married to: Dr. Janet Opal Jeppson
Isaac Asimov, one of the "big three" most influential science fiction writers, is noted for how his works are never hostile towards religion. Perhaps part of that can be credited to the influence of his LDS wife, Dr. Janet Opal Jeppson.
Another influence she had on her husband was to persuade him to quit drinking coffee. In Laughing Space, Asimov writes, "Janet likes this story because she doesn't drink coffee. She turns up her nose even at mocha icing."
Asimov even included a pro-Mormon joke in his book Asimov Laughs Again: More than 700 Favorite Jokes, Limericks, and Anecdotes:
The Pope had called together a meeting of the cardinals and said, "I have some good news for you and some bad news. The good news is this. Our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has returned to earth for the long-awaited Second Coming, and the Day of Judgment is at hand."
There was an exalted silence for a few moments and then one cardinal said, "But Holy Father, with good news like that, what's the bad news?"
The Pope mopped his forehead with his handkerchief and said, "The information has reached us from Salt Lake City.
The two remained married until 1992 when Asimov passed away due to heart and kidney failure.