Gene Hackman and His First Wife Were Married for 30 Years Before Their Divorce

Although he was about as private as a movie star of his stature can be, Gene Hackman did occasionally discuss his private life in public. Gene, who died in late February 2025 at the age of 95, was one of the most important screen actors of his generation, and he was married twice over the course of his life.

His second wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found dead with him in their New Mexico home. Now, many want to know more about Gene's first wife, including how long the two of them were married. Here's what we know.

Gene Hackman's first wife was Faye Maltese, a secretary at a New York bank whom Gene married in 1956. This was before Gene was a well-known actor, but the two of them stayed married for 30 years, all the way until 1986, 15 years after he won his first Oscar.

Later in life, though, Gene admitted that the marriage eventually fell apart because Gene had totally neglected his family in favor of his career.

"You become very selfish as an actor," he said per The Daily Mail. "You spend so many years wanting desperately to be recognized as having the talent and then when you're starting to be offered these parts, it's very tough to turn anything down."

"Even though I had a family, I took jobs that would separate us for three or four months at a time," he explained. "The temptations in that, the money and recognition, it was too much for the poor boy in me. I wasn't able to handle that.”

Gene also admitted that his time away led to strained relationships with his three children, Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne Hackman.

“I lost touch with my son in terms of advice early on. Maybe it had to do with being gone so much, doing location films when he was at an age where he needed support and guidance. It was very tough for me to be gone for three months and then come home and start bossing him around," he told GQ.

Faye reportedly died in 2017 at the age of 88, preceding her ex-husband in death but living a long life herself. She was not a celebrity herself, and so she receded from public view following her divorce from Gene.

In spite of his incredible success, it seems that Gene didn't want to be considered a celebrity either, and to some extent, his career was always more focused on his work than anything else.

"If you look at yourself as a star, you've already lost something in the portrayal of any human being," he told The New York Times in 1989.

Now, more than a decade after he stepped away from acting for good, Gene's death has led many to reconsider his remarkable onscreen legacy, and the more complicated offscreen legacy that accompanies it. He may have been a great actor, but it seems like he wasn't a superb husband, at least the first time.