Sir Roger Moore: My first two wives used to beat me up

The James Bond actor confessed that his former wives used to punch him repeatedly and that his second wife even smashed a guitar on his head...

16:44 16 September 2012

Sir Roger Moore’s television interview wasn’t the typical interview that James Bond fanatics expected to see and hear. Talking to Piers Morgan of ITV1 Life Stories, Moore admitted that although he plays a witty and very capable James Bond on his movies, he used to be beaten up by his first and second wife. 

 

Talking about the domestic violence he endured, he claimed that is first wife Doorn Van Steyn, whom he married in 1946 and divorced in 1953, repeatedly punched and scratched him. Not only that, she also threw a teapot at him. 

 

He said: “I'd been sunbathing in the garden, I came up and I'd taken off my pants and I gave her some smart Alec answer and this teapot came hurtling at me. I said, 'right, that's it, I'm leaving'. 

 

''She storms off out of the room and I hear the bath running. I thought, 'What a cow, I'm leaving her and she's having a bath'.” 

 

When Moore broke the bathroom door down he realized that his then wife put all his clothes in the bath. He said he needed to wait for his clothes to dry up before he left. 

 

After divorcing Steyn, Moore married Dorothy Squires. Unfortunately, Moore found himself again in the same abusive relationship. He said: “I remember, to avoid confrontation, I used to strum the guitar and one day I was sitting on the edge of the table strumming and she was ranting on about something and I wasn't taking any notice. 

 

''Next thing I know, it was like slow motion, I could feel the guitar coming out of my hands and I could see it up above my head and... bash, it came down. She ruined the guitar. She had a great temper.” 

 

When asked about why his second wife flared up, Moore was quick to admit that it was because she found out he was having an affair with young Italian actress named Luisa Mattioli who became his third wife in 1969. 

 

Moore divorced Mattioli in 1996 and he is now happily married with Christina Tholstrup, a Danish-Swedish socialite. Finally, Moore is now content with his married life saying: ''It's a tranquil relationship, there are no arguments.'