“I Was Going to Hell”: FOX’s Terry Bradshaw Says He’s Ashamed After 3 Divorces

Ishani Jayara Mon, October 5, 2026 at 1:30 AM UTC

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NFL, American Football Herren, USA Super Bowl LVII-Fox Sports Media Day Feb 7, 2023 Phoenix, AZ, USA Terry Bradshaw at Fox Sports media day at the Phoenix Convention Center. Phoenix Phoenix Convention Center Arizona United States, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKirbyxLeex 20230206_ojr_al2_032 ©IMAGO/USA TODAY Network

Terry Bradshaw has never been shy about his past, but this time the admission carries real weight. The FOX NFL Sunday analyst and four-time Super Bowl champion opened up about his three failed marriages. Despite a Hall of Fame career and decades on television, Bradshaw now says he believed his choices were taking him somewhere dark, and he is speaking candidly about it.

“I am a product of three divorces, okay?” Terry Bradshaw told Lewis Howes. “Am I proud of that? Absolutely not. Now, you said ashamed earlier. I am ashamed that I’ve been divorced three times or once or twice, whatever. That is not something certainly that I’m proud of. I grew up in a Baptist family, a Christian family. You get married once, okay? I got divorced, and I’ll never forget my preacher telling me I was going to hell.

“I never went back to that church. It’s not that I was looking for someone to say it’s okay to get divorced. I wasn’t trying to find someone that agreed with me. I just didn’t think, according to my study of the scriptures, that I was going to hell because God will forgive you.”

His first marriage was to former pageant queen Melissa Babish, and it lasted only from 1972 to 1973. Not long after, in 1976, he married famous ice skater JoJo Starbuck. That one held on until 1983.

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His third wife was Charla Hopkins, the daughter of Denton councilman Charles Hopkins. They wed in 1986 and went on to have two daughters, Erin and Rachel. Unfortunately, Terry and Charla divorced in 1999.

Now the retired Steelers great is talking about what he had to figure out so his fourth marriage, to Tammy, would actually last.

On the Glass Half Full podcast with Craig Melvin podcast in July, he put it plainly.

“I’m embarrassed by it,” Bradshaw said of his past divorces. “I know exactly why I got divorced now. I know exactly why I married those women. And I only know that because I spent three years in therapy to try to figure out what the hell is wrong with me.”

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Things clearly went differently with Tammy. Bradshaw says he waited 12 years to propose, and she “never once brought up marriage” in all that time together. They finally married on July 8, 2014, after more than a decade as a couple. Bradshaw had said that after his three divorces, he never thought he would find true love.

Bradshaw is a celebrated figure in football because of his four Super Bowl wins. But off the field, the former quarterback suffered a lot because of his mental health. He also used to suffer from anxiety attacks after games.

In 1999, Terry Bradshaw was diagnosed with clinical depression. Things turned really difficult after his third divorce.

According to TODAY, Bradshaw sought help in a counselor, a preacher and a psychologist until he found a therapist who could help. He was prescribed medication to deal with the issue. It all worked out for him in the end, and he has since been extremely upfront about his struggle with depression.

Bradshaw has also spoken about what counseling did for him.

“I felt I didn’t understand why I got married three times and it didn’t work. It was embarrassing. I was ashamed of myself. I went to counseling for three years, and realized it’s not my partner’s fault, but mine. I’m one, and they’re three. And I had to break the chain. Through counseling, I was able to do that.”

In the end, it is a pretty honest story from someone with every reason to keep it private. Bradshaw stopped blaming the people around him, did the uncomfortable work on himself, and came out with a marriage that has now stood strong for years.

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