Jackie Wilson - Personal Life

Personal Life

Wilson's personal life was full of tragedy. In 1960 in New Orleans, Wilson was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer when fans tried to climb onstage with Wilson. He shoved a policeman who had shoved one of the fans. Wilson had a reputation of being rather quick-tempered. On February 15, 1961 in Manhattan, Wilson was injured in a shooting. It is said the real story behind this incident is that one of his girlfriends, Juanita Jones, shot and wounded him in a jealous rage when he returned to his Manhattan apartment with another woman, fashion model Harlean Harris, an ex-girlfriend of Sam Cooke's.

Supposedly, his management concocted a story to protect Wilson's reputation; that Jones was an obsessed fan who had threatened to shoot herself, and that Wilson's intervention resulted in him being shot. Wilson was shot twice in the back: One bullet would result in the loss of a kidney, the other lodged too close to his spine to be operated on. However, in early 1975, in an interview conducted by author Arnold Shaw, Wilson maintained it actually was an overzealous fan whom he didn't know, that shot him. "We also had some trouble in 1961. That was when some crazy chick took a shot at me and nearly put me away for good..." Nonetheless, the story of the overzealous fan was accepted, and no charges were brought against Jones. A month and a half later after the shooting incident, Jackie was discharged and apart from a limp and discomfort for a while, he was quickly on the mend. He discovered that despite being at the peak of success, he was broke. Around this time the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized Jackie's Detroit family home. Tarnopol and his accountant were supposed to take care of such matters. At the time Jackie had declared annual earnings of $263,000, while the average salary a man earned then was just $5,000 a year. Yet the fact was he was nearly broke. Fortunately Jackie made arrangements with the IRS to make restitution on the unpaid taxes and to re-purchase the family home at auction. In March 1967, Wilson and friend/drummer Jimmy Smith were arrested in South Carolina on "morals charges"; the two were entertaining two 24-year old white women in their motel room.

Freda Hood, Wilson's first wife, with whom he had four children, divorced him in 1965 after 14 years of marriage, frustrated with his notorious womanizing. Although the divorce was amicable, Freda would regret her decision. Freda never stopped loving him, and Jackie treated her as though she were still his wife. His 16-year-old son, Jackie Jr. was shot and killed on a neighbor's porch in 1970 and two of Wilson's daughters also died at a young age. His daughter Sandra died in 1977 at the age of 24 of an apparent heart attack. Jacqueline Wilson was killed in 1988 in a drug related incident in Highland Park, Michigan. The death of Jackie Jr. devastated Wilson. He sank into a period of depression, and for the next couple of years he remained mostly a recluse, drinking and using marijuana and cocaine.

Wilson's second marriage was to model Harlean Harris in 1967 with whom he had three children, but they separated soon after. Wilson later met and lived with Lynn Crochet. He was with Crochet until his heart attack in 1975. However, as he and Harris never officially divorced, Harris took the role of Wilson's caregiver for the singer's remaining nine years.

Wilson converted to Judaism as an adult. Wilson is also said to be the father of author and speaker Alexyss K. Tylor, who claims that her mother was raped and impregnated by the entertainer. Patti LaBelle also wrote in her biography that Wilson once tried to force himself on her as she waited backstage to meet him after one of his performances, in her teenage years.