Talk Show Legend’s Infamous Ex-Wife Dead at 93 originally appeared on Parade.
A bygone era of Hollywood glamour and late-night television drama has officially dimmed. Joanna Carson, the model whose whirlwind romance and famously expensive divorce from talk show kingJohnny Carson became a legendary part of his act, has died at 93. Her death closes the door on a life defined by high fashion, powerful men, and a resilience that saw her become more than just a punchline.
The news of her death trickled out not through a press release, but in the modern way: through friends online and a touching tribute from the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which remembered her alongside billionaire Wallis Annenberg. It was a subtle final chapter for a woman whose life was often anything but.
Her saga with Carson was pure, uncut 20th-century celebrity lore. It began in 1971 at New York’s iconic 21 Club, the ultimate playground for the rich and famous. He was the undisputed king of television; she was one of Manhattan’s top models, a ravishing divorcée making her own way. Johnny himself admitted to PEOPLE he was “flirting like a sophomore,” instantly captivated. Their first date, his 46th birthday, kicked off a courtship so intense he was compelled to call her every afternoon at 4:30 p.m. for an entire year.
Their decade-long marriage was a fixture in the society pages, but it was their spectacular divorce that became permanently etched in pop culture. Johnny, in a stroke of comedic genius, transformed his personal and financial pain into ratings gold. Night after night on The Tonight Show, he would lean into his microphone and crack wise about the fortune his third wife was costing him, making their costly split one of America’s most famous inside jokes.
But before she was the subject of a monologue, Joanna Ulrich was a woman of ambition. Raised in New York, she had her first taste of a high-profile life with her marriage to world-famous backgammon player Tim Holland, with whom she had her son, Joe. When that marriage ended, she didn’t retreat; she pivoted, becoming a highly paid model in a competitive fashion world.
Carson was a fixture of a certain jet-set class, a woman who understood the currency of beauty and connections. Her death, quiet and dignified, stands in stark contrast to the public life she led, forever linked to a TV titan who turned their ending into his greatest running gag.
Talk Show Legend’s Infamous Ex-Wife Dead at 93 first appeared on Parade on Aug 5, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
