Meat Loaf’s Wife: All About His Relationship With Deborah Gillespie & Past Marriage

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To the world, he was Meat Loaf, but to Deborah Gillespie, he was known as a devoted husband. Learn about Meat Life’s wife and his previous marriage with Leslie Edmonds.

“Our hearts are broken to announce the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight,” the family of the 74-year-old rocker wrote in a message posted to Meat Loaf’s official Facebook page. Meat Loaf (Michael Aday, fka Marvin Aday) passed on January 20, surrounded by his two daughters, his close friends, and his wife of nearly 15 years, Deborah Gillespie. “We know how much he meant to so many of you, and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man,” the message read.

Meat Loaf’s family thanks fans for “understanding of our need for privacy at this time.” While Meat Loaf lived the past six decades in the spotlight – recording songs like “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad,” “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” and “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” and acting in films like Fight Club and The Rocky Horror Picture Show – he kept his private life far from the glitz and glam of Hollywood. Here’s what we know about Meat Loaf’s wife, Deborah, and his past relationship with his ex-wife, Leslie Edmonds. ‘

Deborah Gillespie

Deborah Gillespie married Meat Loaf in 2007 and remained by his side until his death. The two appeared together in public before their nuptials, attending the 2006 American Music Awards together, per Newsweek. Deborah was also Meat Loaf’s date to the season 4 finale of The Celebrity Apprentice at Trump SoHo in 2011. She also appeared in two of Meat Loaf’s concert films” Meat Loaf: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2004) and Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise (2007), per IMDB.

Details about how Meat Loaf and Deborah met are scant, though it’s reported that the two split their time between Los Angeles and Meat Loaf’s home state of Texas.

Leslie Edmonds

When Bat Out Of Hell celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2017, the album’s producer, Todd Rundgren, spoke to Billboard about making the album that would define Meat Loaf’s career. However, Todd shared a memory that gave insight into Meat Loaf’s approach to love. “One of the things I look most fondly on is unrelated actually to the record. It was Meat Loaf proposing to his wife. We were up in Bearsville, there was a secretary at Bearsville Records, Leslie, and Meat Loaf kind of fell for her,” said Rundgren. “I remember when he kind of like did his first big move on her. We were in the Bear Cafe, and he had a package that he had brought up from New York and presented it to her, and it was a giant whole salmon. And it was as if a bear had proposed to his mate. Instead of a ring, a salmon.”

The proposal worked because the two got married – Insider and the BBC report it was in 1978, while The Guardian reported they were wed in 1979. Pearl Aday, Leslie’s daughter from a previous marriage, told Gold Mine magazine in 2016, “We like to say that my mom and I married my dad in 1979 and thus began our marriage with hard rock and grand stage production, theatrics, and bombast.”

“They got married in my house,” said Rundgren, who noted that the priest who married Leslie and Meat Loaf was so old that he couldn’t tell them apart. “So he looked at Leslie and said, ‘Do you Marvin, take Leslie as your lawful wedded wife?’ The guy next to him had to whisper everything into his ear. It was such a sight.”

The marriage lasted until 2001. During that time, Meat Loaf and Leslie would start a family. Pearl followed her adoptive father’s footsteps into the music business. She fronts her own band, sang backing vocals with her father, and married Scott Ian of Anthrax.

Meat Loaf and Leslie welcomed a daughter, Amanda Lee Aday, in 1981. Amanda is an actress, best known for her role as Dora Mae Dreifuss in Carnivàle. Both Amanda and Pearl were by their father’s side when he passed.

Inside Meat Loaf’s love story with first wife Leslie Aday who he proposed to with a whole SALMON after meeting at studio

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LATE-ROCK legend Meat Loaf was known for his flamboyant performances on stage, yet his vivid personality was showcased off-stage with his unorthodox proposal to his first wife.

In the late 1970s, The rocker, born Marvin Lee Aday, married his first wife Leslie Aday, a secretary at the Bearsville Records studio, where Meat Loaf recorded his album Bat out of Hell.

4 Meat Loaf adopted Leslie’s daughter, Pearl, and welcomed their second daughter, Amanda, in 1981 Credit: Getty

4 Meat Loaf married his first wife Leslie Aday in the 1970s Credit: AFP

Musician Todd Rundgren recalled Meat Loaf’s “special” proposal to Aday at a local cafe in Bearsville, New York.

“One of the things I look most fondly on is unrelated actually to the record. It was Meat Loaf proposing to his wife,” Rundgren told Billboard.

“We were up in Bearsville, there was a secretary at Bearsville Records, Leslie, and Meat Loaf kind of fell for her. She was a pretty girl, and he fell for her, and I remember when he kind of like did his first big move on her.”

The former Utopia band member continued: “We were in the Bear Cafe and he had a package that he had brought up from New York and presented it to her, and it was a giant whole salmon.

“And it was as if a bear had proposed to his mate. Instead of a ring, a salmon.”

Meat Loaf’s bizarre courtship worked as the two were married within a month and the rocker adopted his new wife’s daughter, Pearl.

Their wedding was almost as wild as the proposal.

It took place at Rundgren’s house, with the ceremony performed by a priest who, according to Rundgren, “was so old that he couldn’t tell the difference between them. So he looked at Leslie and said, ‘Do you Marvin, take Leslie as your lawful wedded wife?’”

🔵 Read our Meat Loaf death blog for the latest updates

The couple welcomed their second daughter, Amanda, in 1981.

Meat Loaf and Aday eventually divorced in 2001.

MEAT LOAF DIES AFTER ‘CATCHING COVID’

Meat Loaf died on Thursday at the age of 74 - reportedly after catching Covid-19.

Sources reportedly told TMZ the singer canceled a business dinner for a new TV show he was due to be part of earlier this week after becoming seriously ill with Covid.

It is unclear whether Meat Loaf was vaccinated - but just months before his death, he declared, “if I die, I die - I’m not going to be controlled” when discussing Covid.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published last August, he also labeled face masks a “nuisance”.

“I’m sorry, I understood stopping life for a little while, but they cannot continue to stop life because of politics,” he told the outlet.

“And right now they’re stopping because of politics. And on CNN last night, it finally came out that the masks we’re all wearing are useless. But I’ve known that for six months.

“They don’t do anything. They don’t stop you from getting Covid. They’re just a nuisance and make your nose itch and make it so you can’t breathe.”

4 Born Marvin Lee Aday, Meat Loaf passed away on Friday after ‘catching Covid’ Credit: Getty

4 Meat Loaf reportedly passed away on Thursday night with wife Deborah Gillespie by his side Credit: Getty Images - Getty

After the interviewer said: “We’re being controlled by everybody,” he replied: “Yeah, I know. But not me. If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled.”

He also previously branded Covid “a drag” in a post from October 2020, where he wrote: “Hello everyone, nothing going on at all. That’s a drag. Covid is a drag. Where I live things are open and thriving. The entertainment world hubs are in lockdown. WHY?”

But months prior, he had urged his fans to “be caring and considering” as he warned “everyone is at risk” from the virus.

Posting in March 2020, he said: “We all need to come together to fight the outbreak of this deadly virus. So, please know how to protect yourself and others around you.”

‘DON’T EVER STOP ROCKING!’

In a heartbreaking tribute posted on the star’s official Facebook page, it was revealed he passed away on Thursday night with wife Deborah Gillespie by his side.

The statement reads: “Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight with his wife Deborah by his side.

“Daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends have been with him throughout the last 24 hours.

“His amazing career spanned 6 decades that saw him sell over 100 Million albums worldwide and star in over 65 movies, including Fight Club, Focus, Rocky Horror Picture Show and Wayne’s World. Bat Out of Hell remains one of the top 10 selling albums of all time.

“We know how much he meant to so many of you and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man.

“We thank you for your understanding of our need for privacy at this time. From his heart to your souls…don’t ever stop rocking!”

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from childhood threesome to ‘murderous’ dad & ’trying to shove Prince Andrew in moat’

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HE flew into the music charts like a Bat Out Of Hell and spent the rest of his career beguiling fans and journalists with a mixture of fact and fiction.

But today, it was revealed Meat Loaf has passed away at the age of 74 - a year after he retired from music.

9 Rock legend Meat Loaf has passed away Credit: Alamy

9 Meat Loaf with Sarah Ferguson during The Grand Knockout tournament in 1987 Credit: � USA Network / courtesy Everett Collection / Mary Evans

Few musicians can claim they managed to irritate the Queen, Prince Andrew and half of the entertainment industry over their career.

Yet the singer, whose real name is Michael Lee Aday, lived life to the full after overcoming a childhood of abuse at the hands of his alcoholic father, who allegedly tried to attack him with a knife after his mum’s tragic death.

In his school days, Meat Loaf claimed he experienced his first threesome and got his incredible voice due to a freak accident - the first in a long line of eyebrow-raising tales.

After conquering the music world with his iconic record Bat Out of Hell, the rock legend went on to cheat death, row with Donald Trump and even appear in the Spice World movie.

He married his first love, Leslie, within just a month of meeting, but passed away this week with his second wife, Deborah, by his side.

‘I fought for my life as dad plunged knife’

9 The singer, pictured in his school days, had a tumultuous childhood Credit: Handout

Meat Loaf’s mother, Wilma, spent her days teaching and her nights going from bar to bar in a bid to find her missing husband around their hometown of Dallas, Texas.

But in 1966 she died from cancer, devastating the teenager, then 19, who claimed he grabbed her dead body at the funeral and screamed at undertakers “you can’t have her”.

Shortly after the funeral his father, Orvis, allegedly attempted to attack him with a knife and Meat Loaf had to fight him off, breaking his father’s nose and ribs in the process.

“I rolled off the bed just as he put that knife right in the mattress,” he said.

“I fought for my life. Apparently I broke three ribs and his nose, and left the house barefoot in a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt.”

Meat Loaf never went home. Instead, he moved to LA in 1967 and began singing in bands and acting - getting an understudy role for John Belushi in National Lampoon Show.

He has since forgiven his father, explaining in a 2016 interview: “He tried to kill me with a butcher knife but all of that is just life. Alcoholism is a disease. You deal with it, you go on, you don’t hold grudges.”

Cat with ‘48 lives’

9 Star Jones, Marlee Matlin, Donald Trump, Meat Loaf and John Rich attend An Evening with ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ Credit: Getty

Meat Loaf’s baffling number of injuries and near death experiences led him to describe himself as a “cat with 48 lives”.

In 2013, he told Ultimate Classic Rock he suffered 18 concussions, survived eight car crashes, and had close calls on planes.

He also claimed he had “fallen three storeys” and had so many near misses and collisions that he “should have died” - but the truth of these accidents has never been verified.

Meat Loaf even claims his singing voice came as the result of a 12-pound shot put being thrown at his head from 62-feet away during school.

He told The Telegraph: “Didn’t even knock me out. Weird.”

Shortly after he was trying out for a choir and found he suddenly had a three-and-a-half-octave vocal range. He was also left with a dent in his head.

But school wasn’t all bullies and injuries - Meal Loaf also got to experience his first ‘threesome’ at just 11 despite his large size.

“I had my first three-way in my mother’s car in the fifth grade,” he said. “OK, it was a make-out session with two girls, but that’s still a threesome.”

‘I was a perfect monster’

9 Meat Loaf was known for his seminal record Bat Out of Hell Credit: Rex

Before Meat Loaf made it big in the music industry, he worked as a jobbing actor and starred in The Rocky Horror Show film and Fight Club.

His big breakthrough came with 1977’s Bat Out Of Hell, which has since sold 43 million copies globally.

Meat Loaf’s larger-than-life persona dazzled listeners.

He stepped his antics up a notch on tour, opting to make out with singing partner Karla Devito on stage while performing “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”.

She had no idea it was coming.

The drummer in his band claimed Karla went through hell, with Meat Loaf allegedly hurling “a giant heavy steel mic stand bottom” at her and one time he got so carried way he chucked her off stage.

But he tortured himself just as much, requiring oxygen after some performances where he pushed himself too hard.

After one performance when Meat Loaf opted to begin with speeches rather than singing, his band was booed - leading to him trashing his dressing room backstage in a characteristic fit of rage.

“I was a perfect monster,” he recalled. Quickly the broken furniture turned into broken bones, with Meat Loaf fracturing his leg falling off the stage which ended the tour.

Furious, devastated and high on cocaine, the singer suffered a nervous breakdown and threatened to throw himself off the edge of a high-rise building.

Thankfully he was talked down by road manager Sam Ellis and continued his rise to world stardom.

Married first wife after a month

9 The 73-year-old passed away with second wife Deborah by his side Credit: PA

By 1978 Meat Loaf was one of the most high-profile performers on Earth.

He and his band teetered on the edge of self-destruction - fuelled by insurrection, drugs, and infighting.

The same year, he met his first wife Leslie, then a secretary for Bearsville Records. He married her within a month of their first meeting.

His proposal to her at The Bear Cafe was bizarre to say the least.

Producer Todd Rundgren recalled Meat Loaf got down on one knee with “a giant whole salmon. And it was as if a bear had proposed to his mate. Instead of a ring, a salmon.”

The pair moved to Stamford, Connecticut, with Leslie’s daughter Pearl from a previous relationship.

In 1981 they welcomed their daughter Amanda Aday and Meat Loaf coached baseball and softball while the girls grew up.

By 2001 the marriage had collapsed and the pair divorced. The singer later found love again with Deborah Gillespie who he married in 2007 and stayed with until his death.

The couple split their time between LA and Texas and while her husband may be comfortable in the public eye, it appears Deborah was not.

Little is known about her, despite being credited on two of Meat Loaf’s documentaries.

The pair did not go on to have children, but Deborah was a step mum to his two children with Leslie.

Bankruptcy troubles after voice disappeared

9 The Bat Out Of Hell legend, pictured with singer Karla Devito, was known for his larger than life personality Credit: Corbis - Getty

Shortly after Bat Out Of Hell was released, Meat Loaf was unable to sing for psychological reasons.

Longtime collaborator Jim Steinman said Meat “sounded literally like the little girl in The Exorcist … like a dragon trying to sing. It was a horrifying sound.”

His inability to sing lasted for years and required six months of psychological therapy to restore his voice.

In 1983 he was forced to declare bankruptcy - his road to financial hell paved with poor money management and expensive lawsuits.

He became more insular and admitted: “I was nuts. I mostly turned it inward. And it was all over being famous. I didn’t want people to call me a star.”

The singer claimed coaching little league baseball got him through the rough patch - and it’s no surprise he turned to sport.

Meat Loaf has had a long love affair with the beautiful game and was a proud supporter of Hartlepool FC despite growing up across the pond. He was allegedly planning to move to the town but never made it over.

He was also a devoted Yankees fan and owned a large collection of memorabilia and made history by drafting the first girl to a Stamford Little League team.

‘I don’t care if you’re Prince Andrew - you’re going in the moat’

9 Meat Loaf greeted at Stafford railway station by Prince Edward for rehearsals of the Grand Knockout Tournament in 1987 Credit: PA

By 1987 he was back on his feet and performing in England and even managed to have an alleged scuffle with the Royal Family.

Meat Loaf took part in the UK’s Royal Knockout tournament. The event involved celebrities and members of the royal family dressed as damsels, squires, and minstrels at an amusement park.

The event, broadcast on TV, raised £1.5million for charity and had more than 18million people tune in to see royals prodding celebrities in the bottom and messing around.

Allegedly, the Queen was furious for it making royals look ridiculous and Meat Loaf claimed he riled Her Majesty by putting his hands on Prince Andrew.

In one of his typically tall-tales, the singer joked that Sarah Ferguson - then still married to the Prince - wanted a piece of him, and her husband was less than impressed.

He explained in a 2003 interview: “Fergie wasn’t exactly flirting with me, but she was paying attention to me.”

Andrew allegedly tried to shove Meat into a moat, but the singer grabbed Andrew instead.

“You can’t touch me. I’m royal,” the prince supposedly said, to which Meat replied, “Well you try to push me in the moat, Jack, I don’t give a s**t who you are, you’re going in the moat.”

Not one to be pigeon-holed, Meat Loaf even made waves on reality TV when he appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice in 2011.

During the show, he became pally with Donald Trump but things went sour after he was asked a question about Trump running to be president.

Meat Loaf said: “And I answered honestly – ‘Well he’s not running for President. But if I was President I would see if I couldn’t get him to join the staff in a finance position and give me advice on finances and the economy as the man is really smart at that.’”

It resulted in the pair having a heated row backstage at an Emmy nomination ceremony - with Trump being furious that Meat Loaf didn’t think he should run for president. He did anyway.

But music was always Meat Loaf’s first love, and he even hoped to die on stage - saying it would be the best thing that could happen to him.

He said: “Because then I’m dying doing what I love.”

When the time came, he didn’t pass away in front of a large audience.

Instead it was in bed surrounded by friends and family, who remained his most loyal fans.

9 He was also an actor, appearing in hits like Fight Club and Spice World Credit: Supplied by LMK

Meat Loaf’s Daughter Pens Tribute Following Rock Legend’s Death

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Meat Loaf’s daughter vows to have the rock legend’s back “forever” following his sudden passing.

Pearl Aday took to Instagram on Saturday morning and shared a photo of them onstage. She captioned it, “I love you always, no matter what. I love you with my whole heart. We got you. Forever.”

Meat Loaf, whose real name was Marvin Lee Aday, adopted Pearl as a young child when he was married to Pearl’s mother, Leslie Edmonds. Pearl, once a member of Meat Loaf’s touring band in the mid 90s, has a younger sister, Amanda. The rock star married Leslie in 1979 and they got divorced in 2001. He would later marry Deborah Gillespie in 2007.

Meat Loaf was surrounded by his wife, daughters and close friends when he died. Meat Loaf’s manager, Michael Green, confirmed the news early Friday morning, and the artists’s official Facebook page released a statement. Meat Loaf was 74.

“Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight surrounded by his wife Deborah, daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends,” the statement read. “His amazing career spanned 6 decades that saw him sell over 100 Million albums worldwide and star in over 65 movies, including Fight Club, Focus, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Wayne’s World.”

“We know how much he meant to so many of you and we truly appreciate all the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man,” the statement continues. “We thank you for your understanding of our need for privacy at this time. From his heart to your souls… don’t ever stop rocking!”

Edward Norton, Cher and Adam Lambert were just some of the many who paid tribute to Meat Loaf following the devastating news.

OPINION: That’s not what Meat Loaf said

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