Kelly Bishop Was Married for More Than 30 Years, but Never Had Any Kids

Actor Kelly Bishop has had a long and decorated career on the stage and screen, perhaps most notoriously as Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls. In her new memoir, The Third Gilmore Girl, Kelly discusses her life, and details everything from her time on the legendary series to her decision not to have children.

Among the details that many want to know most about are the ones around Kelly's marriage. She was married for more than 30 years, and her husband was quite a bit older than her.

Kelly Bishop was married to ESPN and CNN host Lee Leonard from 1981 until his death in 2018, and in speaking with People, she explained that their 15-year age gap never led to a power imbalance.

“There was just so much love and respect between the two of us,” she explained. “He didn't try to lord it over me. Which is tricky because he was 15 years my senior, from a completely different generation, really.”

Kelly's memoir also offers some detail about her first marriage, which was to a compulsive gambler.

Kelly and Lee never had any children, and she has tended to live a relatively private life in spite of her success on screen. In her new memoir, though, she tells the story of her decision to have an abortion. Kelly told People that she only decided to include her abortion story following the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade.

“That's something private that I just was not going to put in until the Supreme Court got rid of Roe v. Wade,” she explained. “And more and more women — actresses, but other celebrity-type women — were coming out of my generation, saying, ‘I had an abortion. I had an abortion.’”

Kelly does not have any biological children, but she is the step-mother to Norma Sheryl Leonard, Lee's child from a previous relationship.

While Gilmore Girls may be the biggest piece of Kelly's legacy today, Kelly had a long and successful career before she ever played the matriarch of the Gilmore family. She was part of the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line all the way back in 1975, and she also played Jennifer Grey's mother in Dirty Dancing.

Today, Kelly resides in New Jersey along with her dog, and she told People that she wants to keep learning for as long as she can. “You can learn things every single day. Even little tiny things,” she explained. "Because when you're learning, you're growing. You continue to grow, and that's what I want.”

Kelly's memoir, The Other Gilmore Girl, comes out on Sept. 17, and will have even more details about her marriage, her decision not to have children, and the rest of her life. At the age of 80, Kelly is still exploring and learning, but she's already had the kind of career most only dream of.