{"id":9629,"date":"2025-09-19T18:11:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=9629"},"modified":"2025-09-19T18:11:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:11:23","slug":"how-robert-redford-found-true-love-with-wife-who-was-unimpressed-with-his-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2025\/09\/how-robert-redford-found-true-love-with-wife-who-was-unimpressed-with-his-fame.html","title":{"rendered":"How Robert Redford Found True Love With Wife Who Was Unimpressed With His Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Matteo Chinellato \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robert Redford may have been one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest stars, but when it came to love, his most meaningful story began far away from the red carpets and bright lights of Los Angeles. The legendary actor, who passed away at age 89 on Sept. 16 at his beloved Sundance home in Utah, found a partner in Sibylle Szaggars \u2014 an artist who wasn\u2019t impressed by his fame.<\/p>\n

Their paths first crossed in 1996, when Szaggars, a German-born painter, visited Sundance Mountain Resort on a ski trip with friends. Redford, who founded the resort and the Sundance Institute to support independent filmmakers, invited her group to dinner. But Szaggars admitted she wasn\u2019t well-versed in his long list of film credits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew of him,\u201d Szaggars recalled during a 2014 National YoungArts Foundation panel. \u201cI had seen Jeremiah Johnson, one of my favorite films, and Barefoot in the Park. But I have to also say: I\u2019m not a film person, and I hadn\u2019t been a film person. I was more interested in musicals, opera and painting and artists and Salvador Dal\u00ed and Picasso.\u201d<\/p>\n

She even rented several of his movies at the resort\u2019s reception desk in case Redford brought them up in conversation. \u201cI thought, \u2018What if he wants to talk about his movies? I have no idea \u2014 that would be so embarrassing. I probably would have mixed everything.\u2019 Of course, he did not talk about it so I was rescued and saved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Redford, her lack of Hollywood fascination was refreshing. Sitting beside her during that same panel, he admitted, \u201cThat\u2019s one of the things that attracted me to her\u2014she didn\u2019t know much about me. So we started from a more even playing field. I didn\u2019t have to worry about any agenda. I\u2019d been through that before. And so it was a wonderful beginning of a relationship because it began as two human beings meeting each other and finding a connection as two human beings rather than being colored by success or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple quietly nurtured their relationship for more than a decade before marrying in 2009 in Szaggars\u2019 hometown of Hamburg, Germany. Only 30 close friends and family attended the intimate wedding. A year earlier, Redford told German magazine Bunte, \u201cWe are engaged and very happy with that. She is my fianc\u00e9e and that says everything, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Szaggars was 21 years younger than Redford, and he later reflected on how her different background and perspective brought him new joy. \u201cShe\u2019s a very special person. She\u2019s younger than I am, and European, which I like, so that\u2019s a whole new life,\u201d Redford told AARP The Magazine in 2011.<\/p>\n

Together, they also shared a passion for activism. In 2015, the pair founded The Way of the Rain, a nonprofit that combines art and performance to highlight environmental awareness and the need to protect the earth. Their shared work underscored a partnership that was more than romantic \u2014 it was purposeful.<\/p>\n

Though they mostly stayed out of the spotlight, Redford and Szaggars occasionally appeared together at events, including a 2021 ceremony in Monaco honoring conservation efforts.<\/p>\n

After Redford\u2019s passing, Utah Governor Spencer Cox summed up his deep connection to both the state and his marriage. \u201cDecades ago, Robert Redford came to Utah and fell in love with this place. He cherished our landscapes and built a legacy that made Utah a home for storytelling and creativity,\u201d Cox shared.<\/p>\n

Robert Redford\u2019s movies will always be remembered, but perhaps the most beautiful story he lived out wasn\u2019t on screen \u2014 it was the love and quiet companionship he found in the mountains of Utah with a woman who simply saw him for who he was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Redford may have been one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest stars, but when it came to love, his most meaningful story began far away from the red carpets and bright lights of Los Angeles. The legendary actor, who passed away at age 89 on Sept. 16 at his beloved Sundance home in Utah, found a partner…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":9632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Robert Redford Found True Love With Wife Who Was Unimpressed With His Fame<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Redford found lasting love in Utah with Sibylle Szaggars, a woman who saw the man, not the movie star, and built a life by his side.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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