John Cleese Blames His Mother’s ‘Egotistical Impulses’ For His Failed Marriages


Arch-comedian and Monty Python star John Cleese just released an autobiography in which he made some shocking revelations about his life, including his relationship with his mother, whom he blames for his four failed marriages.

Cleese says in the new book that his mother, Muriel, had “utterly egotistical impulses,” and he lacked any affection from her as he was growing up.

John Cleese co-wrote the British comedy Fawlty Towers with his then-wife Connie Booth, who starred alongside him in the TV comedy. Cleese and Booth had one child together but divorced some years later.

Cleese’s second marriage to Barbara Trentham lasted nine years, and he remained good friends with her, even after their divorce in 1990.

Some years later he married Alyce Eichelberger, a marriage he reportedly told close friend Michael Winner he regretted, but nevertheless they stayed together for a full 16 years.

In 2012, John Cleese married his fourth and current wife Jennifer Wade, who is 31 years his junior.

The Sunday Times reported that Cleese said that his mother, who died aged 101, “dominated” his relationships, and he even sought therapy due to the issues he had with women, caused in his mind by his mother.

He told the publication, “It is said you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead but it seems to me an ideal opportunity,’ he said. I don’t want to get too dark and depressing but she was emotionally difficult. She was a tyrant.”

In speaking about his perceived issues with women, caused by his mother, Cleese writes in his book,

“It cannot be a coincidence that I spent such a large part of my life in some form of therapy and that the vast majority of the problems I was dealing with involved relationships with women. My ingrained habit of walking on eggshells when dealing with my mother dominated my romantic liaisons for many years.”

Difficult relationships with women aren’t the only issues John Cleese had as his divorces cost him severely and almost left him bankrupt. His last divorce from Eichelberger cost him $20 million.

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