Stockard Channing was once one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces, but these days, the Grease legend says she’s living a much quieter — and increasingly reclusive — life.
The 82-year-old actress, beloved for playing tough-talking Betty Rizzo in the 1978 classic Grease, has revealed that the death of her longtime partner, cinematographer Daniel Gillham, changed her life more deeply than she initially understood.
“I’ve lived alone since I lost Daniel and I’m happy being a recluse,” Channing told The Sunday Times.
Channing, who also starred in The West Wing, Practical Magic and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, now lives in London after leaving her longtime home in Maine.
Her move came after Gillham died in 2014.
“My partner, Daniel, died in 2014 and it was more devastating than I realised; it had a lag effect,” Channing said. “The pattern of my life shifted, so I shifted my life from Maine.”
Channing and Gillham had been together since 1990 after meeting while working on the war drama A Time of Destiny.
Their relationship lasted nearly 25 years, until his death.
Before Gillham, Channing had already experienced a complicated romantic history that included four marriages — all of which ended in divorce.
She first married sculptor Walter Channing Jr. in 1963. They divorced in 1967.
Her second marriage was to Slavic languages professor Paul Schmidt. The pair were married from 1970 until 1976.
That same year, Channing married writer and producer David Debin, but the marriage ended four years later.
In 1980, she wed businessman David Rawle. They remained married for eight years before divorcing.
Looking back, Channing said she doesn’t necessarily view those marriages as failures.
Instead, she said they “all represent epochs of me.”
The actress also admitted she once considered becoming a mother but ultimately decided not to have children.
Now, at 82, she occasionally wonders what life might have been like if she had.
“I think about them now because it’d be great to have someone taking care of me,” Channing joked.
But she quickly added a characteristically blunt observation: “But hey, children can be just as selfish as everybody else out there.”
Despite describing herself as a recluse, Channing hasn’t disappeared entirely from show business.
She is currently directing a production of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, although she admitted she has no idea whether she will continue working afterward.
“Acting is like everything in life; you never know what’s going to happen,” she said.
Channing’s most recent television appearance came in Paramount+’s 2024 miniseries Knuckles, the Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off.
She played Wendy Whipple, mother of bumbling deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, portrayed by Adam Pally.
She has also continued working onstage, appearing as Clytemnestra in the Greek tragedy Elektra at Brighton’s Theatre Royal last year.
And fans of Practical Magic will soon get another chance to see Channing in one of her most beloved roles.
In September, she is expected to return as Frances Owens in the upcoming Practical Magic sequel, once again playing one of the eccentric witch aunts alongside returning stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
Nearly five decades after Grease turned her into a star, Channing appears increasingly comfortable keeping Hollywood at arm’s length.
After losing the man she spent nearly a quarter-century with, the actress says her entire life changed — and instead of fighting that change, she built a new one thousands of miles away.
