James Cameron’s Blockbuster Love Life: Inside the ‘Avatar’ Director’s 5 Marriages, From a ‘Terminator’ Star to a Fellow Director to a ‘Titanic’ Actress
Plus, learn about how the filmmaker became part of Oscar history when he faced off for Best Director with one of his ex-wives
As the director of high-concept blockbusters like The Terminator (1984), Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009), James Cameron has long been known for his bold approach to storytelling, and his offscreen life is nearly as dramatic as his films. The award-winning filmmaker has been married five times, and many of his wives have also been his creative collaborators. With Cameron’s latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, now in theaters, we’re taking a look back at his wild personal life and seeing how his marriages to producers, directors and actresses forever changed the face of film.
How James Cameron’s first wife, Sharon Williams, inspired Sarah Connor from ‘The Terminator’
James Cameron married his first wife, Sharon Williams, in 1978, before he made his first feature. When they met, he was working as a truck driver and she was a waitress, but he soon moved into the film industry, directing a low-budget short film and working behind the scenes doing visual effects and production design for early ’80s genre movies. Cameron and Williams divorced in 1984, shortly before he had his cinematic breakthrough with The Terminator.
Interestingly, Cameron said that his first wife inspired the film’s powerful female protagonist, Sarah Connor, explaining, “When I was writing The Terminator, I wanted the heroine, Sarah Connor, to be this working-class gal who would never suspect she was destined to play an important role in the future. I just said to myself, ‘That’s Sharon.’”
James Cameron and Gale Ann Hurd: The power couple behind his ’80s and ’90s hits
In 1985, the year after The Terminator was released, Cameron married Gale Ann Hurd, who cowrote the film with him, as well as producing it. The runaway success of The Terminator made Cameron and Hurd into a power couple in the world of ’80s film, and she produced a number of his projects, including Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989) and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991).
Cameron and Hurd divorced in 1989, but the director has spoken fondly of her in the decades since their breakup, and this year, he shared appreciative words about her talent, saying, “I watched her learn and practice the craft of producing with brilliant intellect and fierce determination, encountering so many headwinds because of her gender, but overcoming them with grace and discipline and raw grit. I can safely say these films would not have been made without her. And I cherish those years together in which we rose to meet so many challenges and made four iconic films that still stand the test of time.”
James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow: From husband and wife to dueling Best Director nominees
Cameron married fellow director Kathryn Bigelow in 1989. At the time, Cameron was well-established, while Bigelow was an up-and-comer forging a path for herself as one of the few women directing action movies. Once they married, Cameron and Bigelow began to work together, with Cameron serving as executive producer on her 1991 film Point Break. They divorced that same year.
While Cameron and Bigelow’s marriage was short-lived, they continued collaborating, and in 1995, he wrote the screenplay for her film Strange Days, which he also produced. In 2010, both Cameron and Bigelow were nominated for the Best Director Oscar, for Avatar and The Hurt Locker, respectively. Bigelow made history as the first woman to win the award, and the media had a field day with the former couple being pitted against each other.
In a recent New York Times interview, Cameron said that he and Bigelow remain close, and recalled, “Kathryn and I thought the whole meta-narrative around us was pretty funny. I was a little concerned that it would just take away from her credibility as a filmmaker. It started to turn into a conversation that wasn’t about her film, and that bothered both of us.” He also called her a “remarkable person” and said that they still often advise one another on their creative projects.
The director and star of ‘The Terminator’ settle down together: James Cameron and Linda Hamilton
James Cameron and Linda Hamilton, who played Sarah Connor, got together during the making of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and their daughter, Josephine, was born in 1993. Cameron and Hamilton tied the knot in 1997, but the marriage soon fell apart, as the director began having an affair with actress Suzy Amis during the making of Titanic, leading to their 1999 divorce.
Looking back at his dramatic relationship with Hamilton, Cameron said, “I fell in love with her initially because I thought she was a little closer to Sarah than she actually is, but that doesn’t mean that much once you get to know somebody. I think we were just in this high-velocity spiral around each other for a long time. We were fascinated by each other.” In 2019, Cameron personally requested that Hamilton reprise her signature role in Terminator: Dark Fate, which he produced, continuing his trend of collaborating with his ex-wives.
James Cameron’s 25-year marriage to ‘Titanic’ actress Suzy Amis
Cameron has been married to Suzy Amis, who had a supporting role in Titanic, since 2000. The couple has three children. While Cameron and Amis met through the film world, Amis has since retired from acting, but she often works with her husband on projects related to their shared passion for environmental activism.
In his New York Times interview, Cameron acknowledged that he was in “the judgmental phase” in his previous four marriages, and has had a change of heart since marrying Amis, saying, “I find it satisfying to see Suzy really enjoy our interactions, because I’m a little more thoughtful.” Looking back at his storied love life in an interview with The Guardian, Cameron quipped, “Being attracted to strong independent women has the downside that they’re strong independent women—they inherently don’t need you! Fortunately, I’m married now to a strong independent woman who does believe she needs me,” and given that he’s now been married for 25 years, it seems like he’s finally found lasting love.
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