Paul Simon’s Wives and Muses: From Carrie Fisher to 30 Years With Edie Brickell
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As half of Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon helped define the folk scene of the ’60s with mellow, gorgeously harmonic vocals and poignant lyrics, and as the dynamic duo went their separate ways in 1970, Simon embarked on a successful solo career with a variety of hit singles, earning praise for his sharp songwriting and incorporation of diverse musical influences.
Like many singer-songwriters of his day, Simon frequently drew musical inspiration from his personal life, and his high-profile relationships with stars like Shelley Duvall and Carrie Fisher were the subject of cultural fascination.
With Simon now on his first tour after his 2018 retirement, we’re taking a look at the iconic musician’s relationships, from his earliest muses to his three-decade musical marriage to Edie Brickell.
Paul Simon’s early muse: Kathy Chitty
In 1964, Paul Simon met Kathy Chitty, who worked as a ticket-taker at a folk club where he performed in England. They began dating, and he referred to her by name in the Simon & Garfunkel songs “Kathy’s Song” (1966) and “America” (1968).
Simon & Garfunkel’s 1966 ballad “Homeward Bound” was inspired by his experience of missing Chitty while on the road, and in 1983, he included a reference to her on his solo track “The Late Great Johnny Ace,” which was based on his memories of the ’60s. Simon’s debut solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook (1965), featured an image of him and Chitty on the cover.
As Simon & Garfunkel’s fame grew, the pressure strained their romance. The couple broke up in the late ’60s, and Chitty went on to live a quiet life outside of the spotlight. Looking back on his earliest muse in a 2024 interview with The Guardian, Simon said, “It really was a beautiful time.”
Paul Simon’s first wife: Peggy Harper
Simon married his first wife, Peggy Harper, in 1969. They had a son, Harper, who is now a writer and musician. In a Playboy interview, Simon revealed that the line “Sail on, silver girl” from Simon & Garfunkel’s 1970 classic “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was a reference to Peggy noticing her first gray hairs.
Peggy encouraged Simon to start his solo career, but their marriage didn’t last, and they divorced in 1975. Their split inspired his hit song “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” that same year, and in 1983, he revisited his first marriage in “Train in the Distance.” Simon’s divorce is also thought to have informed the 1980 film One-Trick Pony, which he wrote and starred in.
Paul Simon’s ’70s girlfriend: Shelley Duvall
Simon met actress Shelley Duvall during the filming of the classic 1977 rom-com Annie Hall, in which he played a producer who dates Diane Keaton’s character while Duvall had a small part as a Rolling Stone reporter. They quickly started dating and lived together for two years.
Simon and Duvall’s relationship came to a dramatic end when she introduced him to her friend, fellow actress Carrie Fisher, and the musician left her for the Star Wars star. Following Duvall’s passing at age 75 in 2024, Simon called her “sweet, talented, eccentric.”
Paul Simon’s A-list second wife: Carrie Fisher
Paul Simon began dating Carrie Fisher in 1978, and the famous pair married in 1983. They had a turbulent relationship and divorced in 1984, after just a year of marriage, but saw each other on and off for years after that.
Fisher inspired the songs “Hearts and Bones” (1983), “Graceland” (1986) and “She Moves On” (1990), and in a Rolling Stone interview, she quipped, “I do like the songs he wrote about our relationship. Even when he’s insulting me, I like it very much. If you’re gonna be insulted, that’s the way to go.” She also appeared alongside Simon in the music video for his 1983 song “Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War.”
Given the fact that Simon and Fisher were two of the biggest stars of their day and Fisher battled drug addiction and mental illness, there was a lot of stress on their relationship, and by the end of the ’80s, they broke up for good.
After Fisher’s untimely passing in 2016 at age 60, Simon said, “Carrie was a special, wonderful girl. It’s too soon.” In the 2024 documentary In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, the musician was candid about the challenges of his second marriage, saying it had, “All types of mistakes on top of mistakes on top of mistakes,” and calling it a time of “emotional upheaval.”
Paul Simon’s current wife: Edie Brickell
After his failed marriage to a movie star, Simon found lasting love with a fellow musician. He met Edie Brickell, who had a breakout hit with her band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’ 1988 song “What I Am,” when she was performing on Saturday Night Live that year, and was instantly intrigued by her. The singer-songwriters began dating shortly after that and married in 1992. They have three children, Adrian, Lulu and Gabriel, all of whom are now musicians like their parents.
Simon and Brickell have performed together onstage a number of times, and have dueted on the songs “Like to Get to Know You” (2014), “I Wonder If I Care As Much” (2020) and “Bad Dream” (2024). They planned to record an album of duets in 2016, but the project ended up getting scrapped. Simon’s 2011 song “Dazzling Blue” was dedicated to Brickell, and he said, “That’s Edie’s favorite color, blue. That’s really our story, Edie and I.”
While Simon and Brickell have been happily married for over 30 years, there’s been occasional drama. In 2014, they were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct following a domestic dispute, but the charges were ultimately dropped.
Reflecting on his partnership with Brickell, Simon simply said, “This is a good marriage,” and in his recent documentary, he gushed, “I never met anybody like Edie. She’s very interested in the mystery—the big mystery about life. You can never solve the mystery, and that’s what’s so great about it. You don’t want to solve it. But you try to plug into it, and I follow what she’s thinking. I follow her instincts.” Clearly, Simon and Brickell have a deep musical and romantic connection.
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