Willie Nelson is opening up about some of the toughest moments of his life, including the way his ex-wife discovered he was having an affair. He’s opening up about his past in a new Paramount+ docuseries, Willie Nelson & Family, where he goes into detail about the exact moment his second wife, Shirley Collie, found out about his longtime affair.
Nelson, 90, said Shirley stumbled upon a hospital bill from Houston for the birth of a baby girl named Paula Carlene, born to Nelson’s longtime mistress, Connie Koepke, who was identified on the bill as “Mrs. Connie Nelson.” “Shirley wanted to know who in the hell was Connie Nelson,” Willie Nelson recalled on the show. “The truth is, Connie had been my girlfriend for several years before becoming pregnant.”
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Nelson’s daughter, Lana Nelson – from his first marriage to Martha Matthews – added that Shirley “had no idea there was a Connie” until that exact moment. Lana said that Shirley was “completely oblivious until she got the hospital bill. That’s how she found out about Connie. That’s how I found out about Connie!”
In the documentary, Connie said that at the time, “the farthest thing from my mind was getting pregnant and telling my mom and dad. … Anyway, it happened. Honestly, I was the next one, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just Shirley wasn’t their mother, she was gone. I bonded with those kids so much. I loved those kids. They all became my kids, too.”
Shirley and Nelson separated two years after Paula was born, divorcing in 1971. Nelson married Connie – and stayed married until 1988, during which time they had another daughter together, Amy. Despite the 17-year marriage, Nelson started another affair with makeup artist Annie D’Angelo, whom he married in 1991 following his ’88 divorce from Connie. The two have been married ever since and have two children together: Lukas Nelson, 34, and Micah Nelson, 33.
In addition to daughter Lana Nelson, 70, Willie had two other children with his first wife Martha: Susie Nelson, 67, and Billy Nelson, who died in 1991. He also fathered an eighth child, a daughter named Renee, with his friend Mary Haney, but did not learn of her existence until 2012.
All four episodes of Willie Nelson & Family are streaming now on Paramount+.
