Last updated: 2026
Jeanette Adair Bradshaw is an American woman best known as the first wife of actor Morgan Freeman. She is not a celebrity in her own right, and she has stayed out of the public eye for decades. Because of that, very little about her is confirmed, and many websites fill the gap with made-up details. This article separates what is reported by reliable news outlets from what is rumor or guesswork.
Assumption note: the keyword matches only one widely searched person, so this profile is about Morgan Freeman’s first wife.
Quick Facts About Jeanette Adair Bradshaw
| Detail | What We Know |
|---|---|
| Full name | Jeanette Adair Bradshaw |
| Known as | First wife of actor Morgan Freeman |
| Nationality | American |
| Date and place of birth | Not publicly confirmed (online sites give conflicting dates) |
| Profession | No confirmed career found in reliable sources |
| Marriage | Married Morgan Freeman in 1967 (some sites give October 22, 1967, but this exact date is not confirmed by major news sources) |
| Divorce | 1979, after about 12 years of marriage |
| Known family | Daughter Deena Adair (adopted by Freeman); granddaughter E’Dena Hines (died 2015) |
| Current status | Not confirmed in reliable sources |
| Net worth | No verified figure exists |
Who Is Jeanette Adair Bradshaw?
Jeanette Adair Bradshaw’s name appears in news stories almost only because of her link to Morgan Freeman. Reports from outlets such as the Christian Science Monitor and Sowetan describe her as his first wife, and they place the marriage between 1967 and 1979.
Unlike Freeman, she has not given public interviews, and no official biography, website, or social media account has been confirmed. This is why searching for her Jeanette Adair Bradshaw life story often leads to pages that repeat the same few facts.
What Do We Know About Her Early Life?
Honestly, almost nothing is verified. No reliable source gives her birth date, hometown, education, or parents.
This matters because many websites claim to know these details. One page says she was born in 1937, another says 1951, another says 1975, and others say “the 1940s.” These claims cannot all be true, and none of them is backed by a trustworthy source. This article does not repeat them.
Jeanette Adair Bradshaw and Morgan Freeman: The Marriage Timeline
Several sources say the couple met in the early 1960s, before Freeman became a famous actor. That detail comes mainly from smaller websites, so it should be treated as likely but not fully confirmed.
Here is what major reports agree on:
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1967 | Jeanette Adair Bradshaw marries Morgan Freeman |
| 1979 | The couple divorces after about 12 years |
| 1984 | Freeman marries costume designer Myrna Colley-Lee |
| 2010 | Freeman and Colley-Lee divorce |
| 2015 | Bradshaw’s granddaughter E’Dena Hines dies, bringing the family into the news |
This Jeanette Adair Bradshaw Morgan Freeman timeline is simple, but it is the part that is best supported. Details about why the marriage ended have not been shared publicly, so any claim about the reason is speculation.
Jeanette Adair Bradshaw’s Family
Her family is the most documented part of her story, mainly because of news coverage in 2015 and during a later court case.
Deena Adair
Deena Adair is described in news reports as Bradshaw’s daughter from an earlier relationship with another man. Morgan Freeman adopted her, which made her his stepdaughter in news language. She spoke in court in 2018 during the trial connected to her daughter’s death, according to reporting by the New York Post and others.
Morgana Freeman
Many websites say Morgana Freeman is the daughter of Freeman and Bradshaw. However, the major news reports reviewed for this article did not clearly confirm this. Because sources disagree, this article treats it as reported but unconfirmed.
E’Dena Hines
E’Dena Hines was Bradshaw’s granddaughter and Freeman’s step-granddaughter. She was an actress and writer who studied at New York University’s graduate acting program. She was 33 when she died after being stabbed in New York City on August 16, 2015. Her boyfriend, Lamar Davenport, was arrested and later sentenced to 20 years in prison.
During the trial, claims about Hines and Freeman were raised by the defense. Freeman had denied similar rumors in 2012, calling them false stories from tabloids. These claims were never proven, and they concern Freeman and Hines rather than Bradshaw.
Fact Check: Wrong Claims About Jeanette Adair Bradshaw
Because there is so little confirmed information, low-quality websites have invented a lot. Here are the most common false or unsupported claims found during research:
- “She was a teacher or education leader.” Some pages describe an education career and awards. No reliable source supports this. These pages appear to be generic text that could describe anyone.
- “She was married to Gregory Hines or Robert Redford.” These claims appear on a few sites. No credible source supports them.
- “She was a dancer or choreographer.” This appears on some pages but is not confirmed by major reports.
- “Her daughter Deena died in 2008.” One site makes this claim, but Deena Adair gave testimony in court in 2018, so the claim is wrong.
A good rule for readers: if a page gives exact birth dates, career awards, and personal quotes for someone who has never given interviews, be careful.
Life After the Divorce: Is She Still Alive?
After 1979, Bradshaw does not appear in public records or interviews covered by major news outlets. Her name returned to headlines only in 2015, when her granddaughter died, and again during the court case.
Some websites say she is alive, give an age of 84, and place her in a specific state. None of these claims comes from a reliable source, so this article does not confirm her age, location, or current status. A search for 2026 news found no verified update about her.
Career and Net Worth
No confirmed career is linked to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw. Net worth websites sometimes show large numbers for her, but no financial records or trusted reports support them. Any figure should be seen as a guess, not a fact.
Why People Still Search for Her
There are three main reasons. First, Morgan Freeman is one of the most recognized actors in the world, so people look into his early life. Second, the 2015 news story about E’Dena Hines brought her family into the spotlight. Third, her private life makes people curious, and that curiosity is often answered with low-quality articles.
How This Was Researched
I researched this biography by reading major news coverage from 2015 and 2018, along with several recent web articles about her and Morgan Freeman’s marriages. Many of those pages contradicted each other, so I only treated facts as reliable when credible outlets or several sources agreed. Where details were missing or conflicting, such as her birth date and current status, I said so clearly instead of guessing. The gap I tried to fill is a clear fact-check, which most existing articles do not offer.
Accuracy Note
This biography is based on publicly available information, including verified news coverage and public court reporting. Because Jeanette Adair Bradshaw is a private person, some details remain unconfirmed. If you spot anything outdated or incorrect, please let us know so we can update it.
