Why Did ‘The Price is Right’ Host Bob Barker Never Have Children?

Bob Barker is back in the news following the release of the new E! docuseries Dirty Rotten Scandals, which concludes tonight (Wednesday, March 18) with a two-episode instalment on The Price is Right.

The docuseries details behind-the-scenes drama on the iconic game show, including accusations of sexual harassment from female staff members leveled at male crew members. Barker, who hosted the show from 1972 to 2007, was not accused of any inappropriate behavior.

However, the episodes do dive into the later game show host’s personal life, including his marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Dorothy Jo Gideon. Barker and Gideon tied the knot in 1945 and were married until 1981, when Gideon sadly died at 57 after a short battle with cancer.

Barker went into a suicidal “funk” following his wife’s passing, according to former PIR producer Barbara Hunter. However, two years later, he met Nancy Burnet at an animal shelter event in Orange County, California. The pair began dating and spent many years helping animals across the world.

The legendary host never had children with Gideon or Burnet, a topic which he’d touched on throughout his lifetime. In a 2007 interview with Esquire, Barker said he and Gideon “didn’t have time for children,” noting that they were kept busy caring for several animals, including cats, dogs, and ducks.

“I don’t regret it, not when so many of my friends are having so much trouble with their children,” he added. “I have 13 ducks, and that’s a lot of work.”

Barker was well known for his animal rights activism and ended each episode of PIR with the phrase, “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.”

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Despite not having kids of his own, Barker revealed in his 2009 memoir Priceless Memories that he enjoyed working with children on set. “Little kids can be marvelous contestants,” he wrote, per Hello. “If a little girl or little boy will talk in a natural way with you and you can’t get laughs with him or her, you’re in the wrong business.”

Following his wife’s passing, Barker continued his work with animals, which eventually led him to meet Burnet. Barker died in August 2023 at 99 years old, following several years with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that Burnet and Barker had kept hidden from the public.

“I am so proud of the trailblazing work Barker and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry…including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally,” Burnet said following Barker’s passing.

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