Robert Redford’s Wife Sibylle Szaggars: Everything To Know About Their 13-Year Marriage, Plus His 1st Wife Lola

Robert Redford is one of the most iconic actors of all time. Since making his TV debut in the 1960s, he’s appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows for over 60 years. After an early appearance on Alcoa Premiere earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination, Robert, 85, went on to appear in a number of different projects, including his widely popular performance in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. He earned his lone Oscar in 1980 for directing the film Ordinary People, and he’s continued to work on projects well-into his 80s.

Throughout his life, Robert’s been married twice. His first marriage was to Lola Van Wagenen for almost 30 years, and he’s been with his wife Sibylle Szaggars since the 90s. Find out everything you need to know about Sibylle and Robert’s ex here.

Robert married Sibylle in 2009

While Robert and Sibylle had a longstanding relationship, the pair didn’t tie the knot until July 2009, after having been together for years. Even though they were together for a long time, Robert gushed about marrying the German-born Sibylle, 65, two years after the couple got married in a 2011 interview for AARP Magazine. “She’s a very special person,” he told the outlet. “She’s younger than I am, and European, which I like, so that’s a whole new life.”

They’ve been together since the 90s

While the couple have only been married for 13 years, their relationship stretches back much further than that! The couple reportedly first got together in 1996 (per Telegraph), meaning their relationship has lasted over 25 years. When the two did tie the knot, it was in Sibylle’s home country of Germany, per IMDb.

Sibylle is an environmental artist

Like Robert, Sibylle is also very creative, but she has a different approach to him. She’s a visual artist, who has explored a number of different mediums. Her website explains that she’s worked with all sorts of different styles from oil paintings to photography, but her key factor is spreading environmental awareness. “Szaggars Redford creates art in order to speak to a deeper universal consciousness that’s connected to and dependent on the earth and its environments,” her bio on the website says.

Aside from her pictures, she’s experimented with video and performance art as well. Working with musician David Thor Jonsson, she has created a series called “The Way Of The Rain,” which was originally a stage show, inspired by monsoon rains in the Southwest desert plateaus. Aside from the performance piece, Sibylle also co-created a video series titled “The Way Of The Rain — Reflections on Earth,” with composer Tim Janis. 

Her art has been featured in a U.S. Embassy

While many people may think of art as primarily shown in museums, Sibylle has gotten to display hers in an unlikely place. She was featured as part of the Bureau of Overseas Building Operation’s “Art In Embassies” program, and some of her work was put on display in a U.S. Embassy in Suriname, per the embassy website. As part of the program, she visited indigenous people living in Suriname, and her meetings were documented in a video.

Robert was married to Lola Van Wagenen first

While he’s been wed to Sibylle for over a decade, Robert was first married to historian Lola Van Wagenen, 83, from 1958 to 1985. Lola has a PhD in American History from New York University. The pair got married when they were both very young adults, and throughout their relationship, they had four kids. Their first son Scott tragically died from sudden-infant-death syndrome when he was just two months old in 1959. Their second son James died from cancer at 58 in October 2020. The couple also had two daughters Shauna, 61, and Amy, 51. James was a director, and his daughter Amy is also an actress.