Every US President's Love Life Explained in 23 Minutes

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]From writing love letters so steamy they had to be sealed for 50 years to getting caught with a White House intern on national television to marrying a woman 30 years younger and having 15 kids while still being president. This is every US president's love life explained. And some of these are so scandalous they didn't just break hearts, they nearly broke the nation.

[00:00:24]But let's go back to George Washington.

[00:00:27]Cuz before Martha, young George was down bad for a woman named Sally Fairfax, his neighbor's wife. He wrote her love letters, flirted hard, the whole thing.

[00:00:37]But in the end, George played it safe and married Martha Dandridge Custous, a wealthy widow with two kids and one of the richest women in Virginia. Was it true, love? Probably. But was it also a killer real estate deal? Absolutely.

[00:00:54]Although they never had biological children together, the 40-year marriage was rock solid. Martha even rode out to Valley Forge to be with him during the war. Sir, that's a ride or die right there. But if George and Martha were solid, John and Abigail Adams were soulmates cuz these two exchanged over,00 love letters where Abigail wrote, "My dearest friend, my heart is as light as a feather." And John, he called her Miss Adorable. Devoted for 54 years until Abigail's death, Jon had no scandals, no drama, just pure old school love. On the flip side, Thomas Jefferson's love life is one of the most controversial in American history cuz he married Martha Whales Skelton and by all accounts, they were deeply in love. But Martha died just 10 years later. And Jefferson was so devastated he promised her on her deathbed he'd never remarry.

[00:01:53]And although he kept that promise, things got a little complicated cuz Jefferson began a relationship with Sally Hemings, a slave at Montichello, who was also the halfsister of his late wife. And Sally was just 16 years old when it began. Over four decades, Hemings bore six children. And modern DNA tests confirm Jefferson was almost certainly the father of at least one of them. Meanwhile, James Madison was 43 when he married 26-year-old widow Dolly Payne Todd. And honestly, they were a good match. Dolly brought energy, charm, and quickly became one of the most iconic first ladies ever when she saved George Washington's portrait after the British burned the White House. Clutch move. But then James Monroe married Elizabeth Courtright, one of the most beautiful women in New York. It was love at first sight. And hey, I know the feeling. The first time I saw Miss Flappy, she was soaring over the battoic, and I flew straight into a tree. Still the most gorgeous eagle I've ever seen. Anyways, John Quincy Adams married Louisa Catherine Johnson, the first foreignb born first lady. She was born in London, but their marriage not exactly a love story. It was tense and shaped by long separations, cultural differences, and Adam's cold, rigid personality. Louisa once described it as a life of perpetual disappointment.

[00:03:23]Yikes.

[00:03:25]But if you thought that was rough, Andrew Jackson's love life nearly destroyed him. Kazzy married Rachel Donaldelsson, believing her divorce from her first husband was final. Spoiler, it wasn't. And this technically made Rachel a biggamist. The old school b- word. And during the 1828 campaign, his opponents publicly branded her a biggamist and dragged her name through the mud. It was relentless. And just weeks before Jackson took office, Rachel died of a heart attack. It was devastating. And Jackson blamed his enemies for the rest of his life. At her funeral, he said, "May God Almighty forgive her murderers.

[00:04:07]I never can." Bringing us to Martin Van Beern, who married Hannah Hose. Yes, that was really her name. But poor Hannah died of tuberculosis 18 years before Van Beern ever became president, and he never remarried. Meanwhile, William Henry Harrison married Anna Tuttle Sims against her father's wishes.

[00:04:29]Her dad literally said, "How do you expect to support my daughter?" And hey, that's a fair question considering Harrison spent years bouncing between debt and military life. But somehow they made it work and had 10 kids. Sir, that's a roster. And speaking of rosters, John Tyler takes the crown cuz the dude had 15 kids. more than any president in history. Starting with his first wife, Leticia, who had the first eight kids before dying in the White House. Then 54year-old John Tyler married 24year-old Julia Gardner, making him the first sitting president to get married while in office. How' they meet?

[00:05:11]Well, Julia's father was killed in that cannon explosion aboard the USS Princeton, and Tyler comforted her through the grief. So, yeah, a 30-year age gap. the first White House wedding and 15 total kids. Sir, how do you have time to govern the country? But while Tyler was getting busy, my man James Pulp was strictly business. Cuz he and his wife Sarah Childris had zero children. And Sarah served as his personal secretary, political adviser, and first lady. More of a power couple than a romance. But hey, it worked.

[00:05:48]Unlike Zachary Taylor and his wife Margaret Mal Smith, cuz she hated politics so much, she literally prayed he'd lose the 1848 election. And when he wanted, she refused to appear publicly as first lady. Um, sir, I guess I can stand in for her. On the other hand, Millard Filillmore married his former teacher, Abigail Powers. But before you freak out, she was only 2 years older than him. Sadly, Abigail's time as first lady was cut short and Filillmore remarried a wealthy widow named Caroline Macintosh.

[00:06:25]But things got darker with Franklin Pierce. Kazzy married Jane Means Appleton and their marriage was haunted by tragedy when all three of their sons died. Two died in infancy and the third, 11-year-old Benny, was killed in a train derailment right before their eyes, just two months before Pierce took office.

[00:06:46]And man, poor Jane never recovered. She spent most of her time in the White House writing letters to her dead son.

[00:06:54]But up next came James Buchanan, the only president who never married.

[00:06:59]Buchanan was once engaged to Anne Coleman, but she broke it off. And for a long time, historians long speculated about his unusually close relationship with Senator Williams Rufus King, whom Andrew Jackson nicknamed Miss Nancy.

[00:07:15]Hey, no judgment here, sir. But let's get to Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd, one of the most turbulent marriages in presidential history. Cuz Lincoln initially called off their engagement before they finally tied the knot. And the rest of their years were filled with intense arguments, political pressure, and constant stress until the breaking point. Cuz in 1862, their son Willie died in the White House. And the grief sent Mary into a devastating emotional spiral. Bringing us to Andrew Johnson, who married Eliza Mardle when he was just 18 and she was 16. But the craziest part, Alisa actually taught him to read and write. While Johnson worked as a tailor, she'd help him learn, improve his speeches, and shape his ideas. They had a love like Ulisses Srant and Julia Dent. Cuz these two were inseparable.

[00:08:10]Julia even followed Grant to his Civil War camps, something unheard of at the time. And Grant once wrote, "The happiest day of my life was the day I married Mrs. Grant."

[00:08:22]Don't you just love love? Afterwards, Rutherford B. Hayes married Lucy Webb, the first first lady with a college degree. So, right off the bat, not your average 1800's couple. She was smart, religious, and didn't play around when it came to her values. Cuz when Hayes took office, Lucy made a bold call. No alcohol in the White House. No wine, no whiskey, just lemonade. And just like that, she earned the nickname Lemonade Lucy. But now it's time for some drama cuz James Garfield was engaged to Lucricia Rudolph when he cheated on her with a family friend named Rancy Celich.

[00:09:04]Lucricia found out and called it the keenest dagger to my heart. And afterwards, Garfield didn't exactly clean up his act cuz he had another fling with an 18-year-old reporter. But eventually, he settled down with Lucricia and somehow their marriage grew stronger over time. On the flip side, Chester Arthur held his wife Ellen near and dear to his heart. Cuz although she died before he became president, Arthur would place fresh flowers in front of her portrait every single day of his presidency. No exceptions. And it didn't stop there, cuz he even donated a stained glass window to a nearby church in her honor, positioned so he could see it glowing from the White House at night. Now, that's true love. But when it came to Grover Cleveland, we got something pretty different. Cuz during his presidential campaign, a scandal broke out. Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child with a woman named Maria Halpin. His opponents went all in, chanting, "Ma, ma, where's my paw?" But Cleveland's response, he told his team, "Tell the truth." He admitted responsibility and still won the election. And his supporters clapped right back. gone to the White House.

[00:10:21]Haha. Oh, and then at 49 years old, President Cleveland married 21-year-old Francis Folsam, a woman he had known since she was a baby. He'd been close with her family and her father's law partner, and had even helped oversee her upbringing. Sir, what the heck are you doing? But speaking of bizarre marriages, Benjamin Harrison takes it up a notch cuz his first wife Caroline died in the White House. And not long after, Harrison remarried Mary Dimmick, his late wife's niece. Yeah, it was so controversial his own children refused to attend the wedding. But let's get back to something more wholesome, like William McKinley and Ida Saxton, a deeply devoted couple whose story took a tragic turn. Cuz after the deaths of their two young daughters, Ida developed epilepsy and her health never recovered.

[00:11:18]But McKinley never left her side. Even at formal state dinners, if she had a seizure, he'd calmly place a napkin over her face to shield her from embarrassment and just kept talking like nothing happened. That's real love right there. But then there's Theodore Roosevelt. And this one is brutal cuz on February 14th, 1884, Valentine's Day, he lost both his wife Alice Lee and his mother in the same house just hours apart. He was shattered. In his diary, he wrote, "The light has gone out of my life." And in his grief, Teddy left New York and headed out west to the Dakota Territory to try and rebuild himself.

[00:12:03]Eventually, Teddy remarried Edith Kermit Carro and started a new chapter, but some wounds never fully heal. Meanwhile, William Howard Taft and Nelly Herren were a team on the outside, but behind closed doors, Nelly wore the pants. Cuz even though Taft really wanted to be on the Supreme Court, Nelly pushed him to run for president. And hey, it worked out. Cuz after Taft served as president, he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But Woodro Wilson is where things get spicy. Cuz after his first wife, Ellen, died in the White House, Wilson was a broken man. At least that's what I thought. But just 7 months later, he was head over heels for Edith Bowling Galt, another widow in DC. They married that same year, and it immediately got the people talking. Some critics even spread wild rumors that Wilson and Edith had something to do with Ellen's death. And if that wasn't messy enough, before all of this, Wilson had been exchanging very flirtatious letters with a woman named Mary Alan Hbert Peek while still married. letters so intimate his own advisors were worried about blackmail.

[00:13:20]Sir, this is the Oval Office. Can we focus, please? But if Wilson was messy, Warren G. Harding was a full-blown disaster cuz he was married to Florence Harding, a politically savvy wife who actually helped build his career.

[00:13:36]However, Harding was out here living a double life. He carried on a 15-year affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips, the wife of one of his closest friends. And it wasn't subtle, cuz their love letters consisted of over 1,000 pages of explicit content and were sealed at the Library of Congress for 50 years. He begged her to destroy them, but she didn't. Instead, during his presidential campaign, Phillips blackmailed him and the Republican National Committee quietly paid her $20,000 and sent her on a trip to Japan to keep quiet. But we're not done yet, cuz then there's Nan Britain, who claimed Harding had an affair with her, too, saying they met in a White House coat closet and that she gave birth to his daughter, Elizabeth Anne. For years, people doubted it until DNA testing later confirmed it was true.

[00:14:33]But after all that insanity, Calvin Culage was a breath of fresh air cuz he married Grace Good Hugh after she spotted him through a window shaving in his underwear. She burst out laughing.

[00:14:46]It was love at first sight. Koolage was quiet, reserved, almost painfully serious, and Grace was warm, outgoing, and full of energy. Total opposites, but you know what they say, opposites attract. On the other hand, Herbert Hoover and Lou Henry were cut from the same cloth cuz they met at Stanford, gushed over geology, and basically built their relationship on intellect. Then they leveled it up even more, learning Mandarin Chinese. is so that they could have private conversations in the White House. Yeah, that's next level couple goals. But behind the scenes, Franklin Roosevelt's marriage was a different story cuz he married Eleanor Roosevelt, his fifth cousin. And on paper, they were the ultimate power couple. But one day, Eleanor found love letters in his suitcase from Lucy Mercer, her own personal secretary, and she was ready to divorce him. But then FDR's mother threatened to cut them off financially and his advisers warned it would destroy his political career. So they stayed married, but man, their relationship was strained. Their son James later called it an armed truce that endured until the day he died. And although FDR promised to never see Lucy again, he lied cuz they quietly resumed their relationship years later. And on the day he collapsed and died, guess who just happened to be there? Lucy. Man, that's cold. But after all that, Harry and Beth Truman are a pallet cleanser. Two childhood sweethearts from Missouri. Cuz Truman pursued her for years before she finally said yes. And once she did, that was it.

[00:16:36]Throughout their life together, Harry wrote her over 1,300 letters. That's Missouri love right there. But when it came to Dwight Eisenhower, oh boy, the rumors were swirling cuz he was married to Manny Eisenhower, his wife of decades and the one who stood by him through his entire military rise. But during World War II, Ike cozied up with his driver and secretary, a young Irish woman named K. Summersby. They spent long hours together traveling across war zones, and naturally the people started talking.

[00:17:10]Some accounts even claim Eisenhower asked General George Marshall for permission to divorce my marry Kay and Marshall shut that idea down immediately. Was it an actual affair or just rumors? That's debated to this day.

[00:17:27]Behave, sir. Behave.

[00:17:30]But speaking of bad behavior, next up is John F. Kennedy. And man, where do we even start? because he married Jackie Bouvier in what looked like a fairy tale wedding. But behind the Camela image, Kennedy was a serial philanderer. And it wasn't exactly a secret. Staff, Secret Service, people knew. They just look the other way. With the most famous name being Marilyn Monroe, who sang Happy Birthday, Mr. President, at Madison Square Garden. Whether it was a full-blown affair or just a fling is still debated, but the chemistry was undeniable.

[00:18:08]Then there was Judith Exner, who claimed she was involved with both JFK and mob boss Sam Jankana, raising serious concerns about national security. And then Mimi Alford, a 19-year-old White House intern, later described a months-long relationship that started inside the White House itself. And that's just the ones we know about. From interns to Hollywood starlets, the pattern was constant. And Jackie, by most accounts, she knew and endured it to protect the image. I am so sorry, Jackie. Get it together, sir. But speaking of unfaithful, Lynden Johnson was right there with him cuz he married Lady Bird Johnson after proposing on their first date. But behind the scenes, LBJ carried on multiple affairs throughout his life. Most notably, a decadesl long relationship with socialite Alice Marsh. But if you thought things couldn't get any weirder, Richard Nixon married Pat Ryan. And before they ever dated, Nixon used to drive Pat on dates with other men before she finally agreed to go out with them.

[00:19:19]Eventually, she did. They got married, built a life together. And even though Nixon got wrapped up in a big scandal, at least it didn't come from having an affair. But then Gerald Ford married Betty Bloomer. And she was anything but a timid first lady cuz Betty openly talked about her breast cancer diagnosis, struggles with addiction, and even spoke out in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. But speaking of radical honesty, Jimmy Carter might have taken it a little too far. Kazzy married Rosalyn Smith and they stayed together for 77 years, the longest presidential marriage in history. I mean, that's impressive. However, it almost didn't last cuz during his campaign, Carter told Playboy he had committed adultery in his heart many times. The quote was so wild it almost tanked his entire campaign. Sir, if I said that to Miss Flappy, I'd be sleeping on the branch tonight. kind of like Ronald Reagan, the first divorce president. Kazzy married actress Jane Wyman and their marriage fell apart after she grew frustrated with his obsession with politics. Then came Nancy Davis and this time it stuck.

[00:20:34]He called her mommy and she called him Ronnie. Yeah, a little unusual but undeniably close. Just like George HW Bush and Barbara Pierce, who stayed together for 73 years. Barbara even joked she'd married the first man she ever kissed. But then came Bill Clinton, who married Hillary Rodm in a marriage that seemed purely political because Clinton quickly started having affairs.

[00:21:03]First with Jennifer Flowers, who claimed a 12-year affair during his first campaign, and then with Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old White House intern who had an inappropriate relationship with Clinton in the Oval Office. Multiple hookups over several months. And when the story broke, Clinton delivered the now infamous line, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Sir, you can't lie your way out of this one.

[00:21:31]Clinton was impeached by the House, acquitted by the Senate, and the entire country watched it unfold in real time.

[00:21:38]Meanwhile, George W. Bush and Laura Welch married 3 months after dating, and she was a good influence on him. She pushed him to give up drinking, and Bush later said she helped save his life. And then Barack Obama met Michelle Robinson when she was assigned to mentor him at a Chicago law firm. She was his boss and she turned him down at first, but then they got married, built a life together, and became one of the most publicly affectionate presidential couples in modern history. Uh, sir, please. The executive rooms down the hall and to the left. But up next is Donald Trump, who had three marriages in counting. cuz first was Ivana Nichkova and that ended in a public messy divorce after Trump's affair with Mara Maples became tabloid gold. He married Maples and then they divorced too. But he didn't quit there cuz in 2005 Trump married Melania Nos, a Slovenian model he met in New York who became the first lady in 2017 and 2025.

[00:22:44]But finally, we have Joe Biden. And this one's heartbreaking cuz he married Nelia Hunter. And just weeks after winning his Senate seats, a car accident killed Nelia and their baby daughter Naomi.

[00:22:57]Tragic. But years later, Biden met Jill Jacobs on a blind date. And she played pretty hard to get cuz Biden proposed five times before she finally said yes.

[00:23:09]I like that strategy, sir. Just keep asking till they say yes. Luckily, my babe said yes on the first try. I love you, honey. But while some days are filled with love, other days are filled with complete darkness. Cuz this is every US president's darkest day. From watching the White House burn to the ground to cradling the body of your decapitated son to having your entire cabinet blown up by a cannon. If you want to know just how impossible it is to be president, I'm going to need you to click right here and keep watching.