Ron Sheppard has tied the knot eight times, with his longest marriage lasting 13 years and the shortest just 10 months, but now at 74 years old, he says his romancing days are behind him.
Ron Sheppard, whose eight weddings make him the UK’s most married man, says his romancing days are over and he’s moving into a care home because all his wives have “tired his body out”.
Ron Sheppard on his wedding day to his first wife Margaret in 1966
Ron, who turns 75 in May, is leaving his little flat in Somerton, Somerset, for a new life in a care home close to where his family live in the Isle of Wight.
Ron, who suffers from a range of conditions including Parkinson’s Disease, says: “My health is not good now.“I think it’s possible all my wives have worn my body out over the years,” he added. “The mental and physical stress of the divorces have taken their toll.”
“I don’t regret any of my marriages,” Ron told Somerset Live, “because I have my eight children.” Ron married his first wife Margaret in 1966. The couple had three children before their marriage ended in divorce two years later.
Ron with Weng, the most recent – and he says final –Mrs Sheppard
His latest, and he says last, wedding was to Weng in 2004. Ron’s longest marriage was 13 years and the shortest just 10 months.
He’s not in touch with any of his ex-wives but says he’s looking forward to moving to the Isle of Wight to be close to his sons and their families. Ron believes that his lifelong search for ‘the one’ stems from the fact he was sexually abused as a child.
“It left me with a lot of problems,” he revealed. “I was constantly craving companionship and I turned to women… I felt safe in the company of women.” His days now are very different to those when he was a serial groom. Now he is largely confined to his flat, apart from occasional shopping trips with his carers.
Ron came close to marrying Cristel Marquez – who would have been wife number nine – in 2016 but called the wedding off
“I spend my days in a lot of pain,” Ron says. “I can’t do anything really as I shake so much. “I have carers come in to help me three times a day. They cook me meals and check on me and do shopping.”
