The Star Trek Icon Behind Ted Danson’s Divorce
Cheers icon Ted Danson was thrust into a 90s Hollywood firestorm in 1992, with reports alleging an on-set affair with a Made in America co-star while he was still married to Casey Coates.
Here’s a throwback that still makes jaws drop: Ted Danson was on top of the world with Cheers, and at the exact same time, his personal life went nuclear. The early 90s gave us the Danson/Whoopi Goldberg scandal, the kind of tabloid wildfire that doesn’t just trend for a week — it wrecks lives and costs real money.
The affair and the fallout
In 1992, while shooting the comedy Made in America, rumors swirled that Danson was having an affair with his co-star Whoopi Goldberg. One big problem: he was married, and had been for a long time. The story really blew up in 1993, turning into a full-on media circus and a very public split from his second wife, Casey Coates.
Context matters here. Danson married Coates in 1977, before he became TV royalty. In December 1979, while giving birth to their first daughter, Kate, Coates suffered a massive stroke at just 31. It left her paralyzed on her left side. Danson took care of her for years, and by his own admission, it was incredibly hard. After 16 years of marriage, the relationship fell apart — right as he got involved with Goldberg — and the pressure of Cheers fame did not help.
'I blew my personal life up so badly in that moment of leaving that it didn’t even dawn on me that I had quit Cheers for months because I was just dealing with myself and my personal stuff.'
That’s Danson looking back on the chaos around the end of Cheers — peak career, Emmys, all of it — while his private life burned down.
One of Hollywood’s priciest splits
The divorce from Coates in 1993 was not just messy; it was famously expensive. The settlement reportedly hit $30 million, which, for the era, was staggering. The whole thing hammered his image and became one of those 90s celebrity scandals everyone knew about whether they wanted to or not.
The Whoopi relationship — and the infamous roast
Danson’s relationship with Goldberg lasted less than 18 months. It ended in 1993, shortly after his widely condemned blackface routine at a Friars Club roast for Goldberg. Even by the anything-goes standards of 90s shock comedy, it was a career-torching move, and the breakup followed fast.
Enter Mary Steenburgen
Right after the divorce and the breakup, 1993 gave him a reset: he reconnected with Mary Steenburgen while filming Pontiac Moon. Neither of them was looking for anything, but then life did what life does.
'It wasn’t love at first sight. It was this gradual getting to know who a person was. We came back [from a canoe trip] in love, to be honest, or I’ll say smitten.'
They married in 1995 on Martha’s Vineyard. Steenburgen has said she still has her wedding dress. About 150 guests showed up, including President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, and the President even gave a speech at the rehearsal dinner. The two later worked together again, including a project called A Man on the Inside.
The fast version
- 1977: Danson marries TV producer Casey Coates, years before Cheers fame.
- Dec. 1979: Coates suffers a stroke giving birth to their daughter Kate; left-side paralysis at 31.
- 1992: Affair with Whoopi Goldberg reportedly starts during Made in America.
- 1993: Tabloid explosion leads to a high-profile divorce from Coates; settlement reportedly $30 million.
- 1993: Danson and Goldberg split after his blackface routine at her Friars Club roast.
- 1993: Danson and Mary Steenburgen connect on Pontiac Moon.
- 1995: Danson and Steenburgen marry on Martha’s Vineyard; the Clintons attend, and the President speaks at the rehearsal dinner.
- Later: Danson and Steenburgen appear together again, including in A Man on the Inside.
It’s a wild arc: megastar sitcom run, scandal that costs a fortune, and then a long second act with a partner who stuck. Very 90s. Very Hollywood. And somehow, very Ted Danson.