The 82-year-old actress, best known for playing rebellious teenager Betty Rizzo in Grease, opened up about her personal life in a candid essay for The Sunday Times, published Aug. 5.
Channing said Gillham’s death in 2014 affected her more deeply than she initially understood.
“My partner, Daniel, died in 2014 and it was more devastating than I realised; it had a lag effect,” she wrote. “The pattern of my life shifted, so I shifted my life from Maine.”
After Gillham’s death, Channing eventually moved from New England to London on her own, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she has lived alone ever since and has come to enjoy a quieter lifestyle.
“I’ve lived alone since I lost Daniel and I’m happy being a recluse,” she wrote.
Channing also said the move was partly influenced by the changing political climate in the United States. She noted that it “vaguely coincided with Donald Trump getting elected and the way politics has changed in the U.S.”
The actress has been married four times, to Walter Channing Jr., Paul Schmidt, David Debin and David Rawle. She was single for two years before beginning her relationship with Gillham in 1990.
Channing also reflected on the possibility of having children. She said she had thought about becoming a mother, and occasionally still wonders what that life might have been like.
“Children were thought about,” she wrote, adding that it “would be great to have someone taking care of me.”
But she quickly added a dose of humor and realism: “But hey, children can be just as selfish as everybody else out there.”
Channing has previously made it clear that she is not looking for another romantic relationship. In an interview with The Sunday Times in January 2025, she dismissed the idea of dating again.
“No, I think that would be such a pain in the ass. I’m consolidating, thank you very much,” she said. “I’m very happy with the friends I have. No. Life is good. Life is very good.”
Looking back at her career and relationships, Channing said different periods of her life feel connected to different movies. Younger audiences may recognize her from Practical Magic, while others know her from The West Wing. For “real grown-ups,” she joked, there is Grease.
“I guess films are like songs: they take you back to a particular time in your life,” she wrote. “Maybe a more innocent time.”
Despite her desire for a quieter life, Channing is not stepping away from work just yet. She is returning as Aunt Franny in Practical Magic 2, reprising the character alongside Sandra Bullock as Sally and Nicole Kidman as Gillian. Dianne Wiest is also returning as Aunt Jet.
Channing is also set to direct a production of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape later this year.
After that, however, she may take a break.
“I’m not sure I’ll do anything after that,” Channing wrote. “Acting is like everything in life; you never know what’s going to happen.”
For now, Channing appears content with a life built around solitude, friendship and the work she still chooses to pursue—on her own terms.
Tags:
Celebrity
