Bill Murray’s Wives: Everything To Know About His 2 Marriages & Reported Split From Singer Kelis
Bill Murray has been married twice. Learn about his late second wife, Jennifer Butler, and his reported breakup from singer Kelis.
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From Ghostbusters to Lost in Translation and beyond, Bill Murray has been enormously successful and highly versatile as an actor. But despite having six sons across two marriages, both of the unions ended in divorce — and the 72-year-old actor has never remarried since he split from his second wife Jennifer Butler back in 2008. Allegations of inappropriate behavior were leveled against him in 2022, further complicating his personal life.
Bill Murray and Kelis reportedly dated from Jun. 2023 to Aug. 2023. (DAVID SWANSON/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock / Christopher Polk/Shutterstock)But in June of 2023, more than two years after the 2021 death of Jennifer, a report claimed Bill is dating “Milkshake” hitmaker Kelis, a mom of three and widow after her husband passed away in March of 2022. Learn everything there is to know about Bill’s marriages, and divorces, including his rumored split from Kelis below.
Margaret Kelly
Bill Murray (David Fisher/Shutterstock)Bill married Margaret “Mickey” Kelley in Las Vegas on January 25,1981, then had a second ceremony for their families in Chicago. “I thought he was trying to drive me insane,” Mickey told Rolling Stone of the night they eloped. The couple had two sons together, Homer, 40, now a well-known Brooklyn restaurateur, and Luke, an assistant coach for University of Louisville’s men’s basketball, 37. But by 1996 the relationship had run its course, and amid rumors of an affair with costume designer Jennifer Butler, they divorced.
Still, Margaret, who reportedly met Bill on the set of his movie Stripes, saw the actor though many of his most visible successes, including Ghostbusters 1 and 2, Ed Wood, Tootsie, Scrooged, What About Bob, and Groundhog Day. Bill’s marriage to Margaret has flown under the radar, but he did give a hint of insight as to why it didn’t work out in a radio interview.
“Not to diminish a relationship with a woman … I can’t take on another relationship if I’m not taking care of the things I really need to take care of the most,” he told Howard Stern in a 2014 radio appearance. “It’s not a selfish thing … it’s sort of an obligation.”
Bill Murray and Jennifer Butler (Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock)Shortly after his divorce from Margaret, Bill married costume designer Jennifer Butler, who is known for her work on films like Groundhog Day, Firestarter, and Last of the Mohicans. The 1997 wedding was the start of something big — Bill and Jennifer would ultimately have four sons together and last over a decade before finally divorcing in 2008. Unfortunately, however, Bill and Jennifer’s entanglement wasn’t so easily untangled, and the parents of Caleb, 27, Jackson, 25, Cooper, 24, and Lincoln, 20, publicly butted heads.
By the time it was all said and done, Jennifer accused Bill of domestic violence, sex, marijuana, and alcohol addictions, and infidelity. She filed for divorce from him and obtained a finalized judgment in June of 2008. Sadly, Jennifer died on January 19, 2021 and a cause of death was never released. “Those that knew her will remember an extraordinarily kind and generous person, a woman of principle, an absolute spitfire and a fiercely loyal mother,” her obituary read.
Kelis
ShutterstockIn June of 2023, a report emerged that Bill was dating “Milkshake” singer Kelis. The U.S Sun claimed for the June 8, 2023 report that he’d been seen at multiple Kelis shows — particularly one in London the previous weekend. They were also reportedly at the same hotel and had been “getting close for a while.”
“They’ve met up in the States before which got people in the industry talking, and now are meeting up in London while they’re both here,” the insider reportedly told the outlet. “They’ve clearly hit it off. They were both seen at the same hotel, and he’s been to watch her perform several times before he went to Mighty Hoopla. But they’ve also both shared relatively recent bereavements and have that common bond between them. Whatever it is that has brought them together, and however unlikely it seems, they are both single and are having fun despite the fairly big age gap.” Kelis is 44 years old and has three young children with her late husband Mike Mora.
Kelis confirmed she was not dating Bill on Aug. 24, 2023. (Instagram)Just a few short weeks into their rumored romance, Kelis broke her silence on her relationship with Bill via Instagram. “Ma’am would you care to address these Bill Murray allegations?!? Cuz damn! What he doing with all that?!?”, a fan commented on her bikini post from Jun. 10. Kelis then wrote back, “Lol no babe, I wouldn’t bother at all.” Over two months later, on Aug. 24, the brunette beauty confirmed that she was not dating Bill.
An admirer took to the comments of her video regarding her chic overalls to inquire about her rumored connection to Bill. “Kelis are you really dating Bill murray,” the fan asked, to which she clapped back, “ugh , no !” One day later, on Aug. 25, a report filed by The US Sun claimed that Kelis had broken up with Bill after dating for two months. “Kelis and Bill were — and still are — very fond of each other but things just ran their course,” the insider told the outlet at the time of the separation.
The source close to the duo also claimed that despite the breakup, Kelis and Bill hope to keep it amicable. “They both have busy schedules and after a whirlwind romance decided to go their separate ways,” they added. “They hope to remain friends but also plan to get on with their lives.”
