Longtime The Price Is Right host Bob Barker reportedly had suicidal thoughts and a marked change in behavior on the set of the game show after the death of his first wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon.
In the E! docuseries Dirty Rotten Scandals, individuals who worked closely with the game show host detailed the impact of Dorothy’s death. Barker and Gideon were high school sweethearts who were married from 1945 to 1981. Tragically, she died at 57 after a short battle with cancer.
“They went to Hawaii in August, and she was diagnosed with lung cancer and died two months later,” Barbara Hunter, a former Price Is Right producer, said in the docuseries, per People. “Bob really went into a funk after that. He was ready to take his own life. That’s what he shared with me.”
In addition to having suicidal thoughts, Barker reportedly underwent a change in personality following the death of his wife.
“He was devastated, really, by her death,” Holly Hallstrom, who worked s one of Barker’s Beauties for almost two decades, explained. “There was a long period of mourning. And then, all of a sudden, he became Mr. Man About Town, you know?”
Hallstrom added, “He knew he was the star of the biggest show in daytime, and Dorothy Jo wasn’t there anymore, keeping him reined in. It was like he was unleashed and turned into this narcissistic egomaniac.”
Ultimately, Barker began dating Nancy Burnet two years after Gideon died. They remained together until he died at 99 in 2023.
The iconic TV personality told Esquire in 2007, “For some men, maybe a second or third marriage would work out fine. In my case, I had my marriage, and she was the love of my life.”
Dirty Rotten Scandals: The Price Is Right, first two episodes premiere on Wednesday, March 18 at 9 p.m. ET on E!; The Price Is Right, weekdays, 11a/10c, CBS, stream next day on Paramount+
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