Robert Redford’s wife at the time of his death on Sept. 16, 2025, was Sibylle Szaggars Redford, a German-born multimedia environmental artist. The couple held a wedding ceremony in Hamburg, Germany, in July 2009, and remained married until Redford’s death at age 89. In current terms, Szaggars Redford is his widow. The Associated Press obituary for Redford identified her as his most recent wife.
Their relationship was only one part of Redford’s long public life, but it connected with interests that stretched beyond Hollywood. Szaggars Redford developed an environmental-art career of her own, while Redford—an actor, Oscar-winning director and founder of the Sundance Institute—had long maintained interests in visual art, conservation and independent filmmaking.
Need to know
- Sibylle Szaggars Redford was Robert Redford’s second wife and was married to him when he died in September 2025.
- They held their wedding ceremony in Hamburg in July 2009 after a relationship they later said began with a 1996 meeting at Sundance.
- Szaggars Redford is a multimedia environmental artist and the founder of the nonprofit The Way of the Rain.
- Redford was previously married to Lola Van Wagenen, with whom he had four children.
- Contemporary accounts conflict over exactly when Redford and Van Wagenen’s divorce became legally final, so a precise divorce year should be treated cautiously.
Sibylle Szaggars Redford
Sibylle Szaggars Redford has a public career independent of her marriage. The U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program describes her as a German-born multimedia environmental artist whose work has included painting and multidisciplinary performances concerned with the natural world.
Her environmental work developed in part through experiments involving rain and watercolor. State Department records say she began working with rain in that way around 2010, eventually developing the performance concept that became The Way of the Rain.
In 2015, she founded the nonprofit organization of the same name. Its official website lists her as Founder, President and Artistic Director. Robert Redford is listed as Vice President Emeritus.
That distinction matters because some secondary biographies blur the couple’s roles and describe them as co-founders. The organization’s own record credits Sibylle as the founder.
Her work also received institutional recognition outside the Redford name. In 2016, the State Department’s Art in Embassies program documented her participation in a commission and cultural exchange in Suriname, where she continued developing her rain-based artwork.
How Robert Redford and Sibylle Szaggars met
The couple later said they met at Sundance in 1996. A 2025 People profile of Sibylle Szaggars Redford traced that account to a 2014 YoungArts Salon in which the two appeared together.
According to that later recollection, Szaggars had gone to Sundance to ski. The meeting therefore predated their marriage by more than a decade.
Redford also spoke publicly, though sparingly, about the relationship. In a 2011 AARP interview, he called Sibylle a “very special person” and said that being with her had brought a “whole new life.” The comments were reproduced in an AARP-issued interview release.
The same interview also highlighted an interesting connection between their public lives: before acting became his career, Redford had imagined pursuing visual art. He said he had wanted formal art education and at one point hoped to return to Europe to paint. That background does not explain the couple’s private relationship, but it does provide context for Redford’s later participation in Szaggars Redford’s creative work.
Their 2009 wedding in Hamburg
Redford and Szaggars held their wedding ceremony in Hamburg in July 2009.
A contemporary Associated Press report carried by CBS News said the ceremony took place at the Louis C. Jacob Hotel and was conducted by Pastor Frank Engelbrecht of St. Catherine Church. The report, published July 15, said the ceremony had been held the previous Saturday, making July 11, 2009, the documented wedding-ceremony date.
That date should not automatically be treated as the exact civil-registration date of the marriage, because the available record distinguishes the public ceremony from the legal paperwork.
Reports at the time described the gathering as small, with roughly 30 guests.
Their work together
One of the clearest publicly documented connections between Redford and his wife was their collaboration on The Way of the Rain.
Szaggars Redford conceived and directed the multidisciplinary environmental performances. Redford participated as a spoken-word performer in productions documented by the State Department and the organization itself.
That makes the collaboration more specific than a vague description of the couple as sharing environmental interests. Sibylle developed the project and founded the nonprofit; Robert contributed publicly to performances and supported the work.
The project combined visual art, music, movement, film and spoken word to address the relationship between people and the natural environment.
Redford’s first marriage to Lola Van Wagenen
Before marrying Sibylle, Redford was married to Lola Van Wagenen. They married in 1958 and had four children together.
The marriage later ended, but the exact legal date of the divorce is less certain than many modern biographies suggest.
A frequently repeated date is 1985. However, contemporary reporting does not line up neatly with that version. A December 1985 report in El País said Redford and Van Wagenen had divorced, while another El País report in January 1988 described Redford as having decided to divorce and said the division of assets was still being negotiated. In December 1990, the Los Angeles Times still referred to Van Wagenen as Redford’s estranged wife.
Because those accounts conflict, it is safer to say that the marriage ended after their separation rather than present 1985 as an unquestionably established legal-finalization date.
Redford and Sibylle did not have children together, according to the reviewed public record. His four publicly documented children were from his marriage to Van Wagenen.
Redford’s career beyond his marriages
Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born on Aug. 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California. He became one of the defining American film stars of the late 20th century before developing an equally important career as a director and institution builder.
His breakthrough as a major screen presence came through films including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He later starred in The Sting, All the President’s Men, Out of Africa and many other widely recognized films.
Redford also moved behind the camera. His directing debut, Ordinary People, won the Academy Award for Best Director at the 1981 Oscars.
That transition mattered because it showed that his influence was not limited to acting. He increasingly worked as a director, producer and advocate for independent filmmaking.
Sundance and his wider public impact
Redford’s name became closely associated with Sundance, but the history is more precise than the common shorthand that he simply “founded the Sundance Film Festival in 1978.”
The Sundance Institute’s own history says Redford established its filmmaking laboratories, beginning with the first Directors Lab in 1981. In 1985, the Institute assumed control of the existing U.S. Film Festival in Park City.
That structure eventually developed into the Sundance Film Festival known internationally for independent cinema.
Through the Institute, Redford helped create a system that supported filmmakers outside the traditional studio pipeline. That institutional legacy became one of the most durable parts of his public career.
His final years and current legacy
Redford died on Sept. 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in Utah. He was 89.
His publicist told the Associated Press that he died in his sleep. No cause of death was provided, so descriptions such as “natural causes” should not be presented as established fact.
Sibylle Szaggars Redford remained his wife at the time of his death. As of Aug. 26, 2026, The Way of the Rain continued to list her as its Founder, President and Artistic Director, with Redford named posthumously as Vice President Emeritus.
His film and Sundance legacy also continued to be publicly commemorated. In March 2026, Sundance Institute documented an Academy Awards tribute to its late founder.
FAQ
Who was Robert Redford’s wife when he died?
His wife was Sibylle Szaggars Redford, a German-born multimedia environmental artist. They remained married until his death in September 2025.
Who was Robert Redford’s first wife?
His first wife was Lola Van Wagenen. They married in 1958 and had four children together.
When did Robert Redford marry Sibylle Szaggars?
Their documented wedding ceremony took place in Hamburg in July 2009, with contemporary reporting placing the ceremony on July 11.
How did Robert Redford meet Sibylle Szaggars?
The couple later recalled that they met at Sundance in 1996, when Szaggars was there to ski.
What does Sibylle Szaggars Redford do?
She is a multimedia environmental artist. Her work includes painting and interdisciplinary performance, and she founded the nonprofit The Way of the Rain in 2015.
Did Robert Redford and Sibylle Szaggars have children together?
The reviewed public record says they did not. Redford’s four publicly documented children were from his first marriage to Lola Van Wagenen.
Conclusion
For readers searching for Robert Redford’s wife, the clearest answer is Sibylle Szaggars Redford: the artist he married in 2009 and who remained his wife until his death in 2025. Her own career in environmental art—and her founding of The Way of the Rain—gives the relationship a public story beyond celebrity marriage alone.
Redford’s broader legacy rests on decades of acting, directing and support for independent film through Sundance. Sibylle’s place in that story is best understood not simply as the wife of a famous actor, but as an artist whose work became one of the areas in which their public lives intersected.